Children at the border · Romanian Law 248/2005 · Border Police page read on 7 November 2026
What documents does a minor need to leave Romania?
The rules apply when leaving Romania whether the destination is inside the Schengen area, the European border-free zone Romania joined in stages, or outside it. Choose your situation and the tool lights the documents asked for: the minor’s own travel document always, the notarial declaration only in the named cases, and proof of an exception when one exists.
The documents for the chosen case
Example: a minor under 16 travelling with only one parent
With one parent only, the authenticated declaration of the other parent is generally required.
The declaration is shown in the original and may be made for at most three years. A copy or a photograph does not replace it. Beside it, the minor carries their own valid travel document: a passport or an electronic identity card (CEI), available from birth and accepted in EU and Schengen states and in other states that recognize it; from age 14, they may also use a valid 1997-model identity card if the destination state accepts it. According to DGEP, the simple identity card (CIS) is not a travel document.
Who travels along decides the documents#
The starting rule of Romanian Law 248/2005, Romania’s law on its citizens travelling abroad, as the Border Police summarises it, says Romanian minors travel abroad on a valid individual travel document “only accompanied, with the consent of the parents or legal representatives”. The travel document is a passport or an electronic identity card (CEI), available from birth and accepted in EU and Schengen states and in other states that recognize it. From age 14, a valid 1997-model identity card may also be used if the destination state accepts it. According to DGEP, the simple identity card (CIS) is not a travel document. A birth certificate is not a travel document. From that rule the cases branch by companion.
| The companion | What is shown at exit |
|---|---|
| Both parents | The minor’s travel document, with no further papers |
| One parent | The other parent’s authenticated declaration, in the original, for at most three years; or proof of an exception (sole authority, death, a consent-supplying order) |
| The legal representative | The final court order showing parental rights and duties |
| Another adult | The authenticated declaration carrying consent and the companion’s identity; the companion’s record is checked electronically |
| Nobody, from age 16 | The parents’ authenticated consent; without consent, only to the state of domicile or residence |
The rules apply when leaving Romania whether the destination sits inside the Schengen area, the border-free zone Romania belongs to, or outside it, as the institution restated in July 2026. Exit checks happen where Romanian travel documents are inspected; a short queue at one airport changes nothing about the papers the law asks for.
When the other parent’s declaration is no longer asked#
The official page lists the situations that replace the declaration when travelling with one parent: the companion parent proves the minor was entrusted to them or that they hold sole parental authority under a final court order; proves the other parent’s death, with a death certificate valid in Romania, a declaration-of-death order or a consular communication; proves the other parent’s loss of parental rights, only through a final guardianship-court order; or presents the order by which a court supplies the other parent’s consent, final, with a separate regime for presidential ordinances (urgent interim orders).
The list does not end there. Article 30(3) of Law 248/2005 provides two more situations in which an accompanied minor may leave on the strength of documents, even without the consent of both parents: (a) medical treatment that is not possible on Romanian territory and without which the minor’s life or health is seriously endangered, proven with documents issued or endorsed by the Romanian medical authorities showing the period and the state or states of treatment, even if both parents, the other parent, the surviving parent or the legal representative have not consented; (b) studies or official competitions abroad, proven with documents showing the period and the state or states concerned, even if only one parent consents. The Border Police also check that the route chosen and the time of presentation at exit are justified in relation to the destination and the period of travel (Article 30(6)).
Orders given in other European Union member states on parental responsibility are recognised without a specific procedure, with a legalised translation at the crossing, under the European regulation cited on the official page. For third states, the recognition rules of the Romanian civil procedure code and the applicable conventions intervene. The safe road for a foreign order is confirming it before departure day, not arguing it at the desk.
The institution notes separately that the old fiction of a parent “declared disappeared” no longer has an express regime in current law and treats it as fallen into disuse; the tree above does not use it as a shortcut.
Two newer details: the electronic record check and residence at destination#
For a minor accompanied by someone other than the parents or the legal representative, the law also asks for the companion’s criminal-record extract. The Border Police has announced that it no longer needs presenting on paper: the check runs electronically at the control. The point changes how the file is prepared, because one office trip has left the family’s list while the check itself remains.
The second side door concerns domicile. A minor domiciled or resident abroad who travels to that state leaves without the consent declaration, with two distinct proofs. Domicile or residence is proven with documents issued by the authorities of that state (for example the minor’s residence permit or residence card). The destination is attested by tickets for the whole journey; without convincing tickets, the companion handwrites, in front of the officers, a declaration on their own responsibility about the destination. Tickets and the declaration show where the minor is going, not where the minor lives. If the same minor travels instead to a country other than the one of domicile, the consent declaration returns.
For minors who have turned 16, the March 2024 amendment added the two unaccompanied forms: with the parents’ authenticated consent or, towards their own state of domicile or residence, without consent. Carriers may separately require enrolling the unaccompanied minor in their own flight procedures.
What a five-question tree cannot decide#
The tree covers Romanian minor citizens leaving Romania, along the official division of cases. It judges neither the validity of a concrete court order, nor whether an older declaration was revoked in authenticated form, nor the terms of an interim ordinance. Any document near an edge belongs in a talk, before departure, with a notary or directly with the institution, on the number published on its page.
Entry into the destination state can ask for its own proofs, from translated consents to evidence of staying with a relative. Airlines also keep additional conditions for children travelling with a single adult or unaccompanied, even where the Romanian border would allow the exit. The three checks, exit border, carrier and entry border, remain independent.
Frequently asked questions#
Can a child leave Romania with only one parent?
Yes, generally with the other parent’s authenticated declaration shown in the original, made for at most three years. Without it, these proven cases serve: sole parental authority under a final order, the other parent’s death, or an order supplying their consent; travel to the minor’s state of domicile or residence (with proof of that domicile or residence); and, under Article 30(3), medical treatment unavailable in Romania or documented studies or official competitions abroad.
Is a phone photograph of the notarial declaration enough?
No. The Border Police July 2026 notice states expressly that the declaration must be presented in the original and that a copy or photograph does not replace it.
The child goes on holiday with a grandmother. What papers?
The child’s travel document and the authenticated declaration of the parents, or of the one holding authority, carrying the consent and the grandmother’s identity as companion. Her criminal record is checked electronically at the control and is no longer presented on paper.
From what age can a Romanian minor travel alone?
From the age of 16, in two forms: with the parents’ consent by authenticated declaration or, without consent, when the destination is the state where their domicile or residence is established.
Does a birth certificate work at the border?
No, a birth certificate is not a travel document. The minor needs their own passport or an electronic identity card (CEI), available from birth and accepted in EU and Schengen states and in other states that recognize it. From age 14, they may also use a valid 1997-model identity card if the destination state accepts it. According to DGEP, CIS is not a travel document.
We live abroad and the child returns home from Romania. Is a declaration still needed?
For travel to the state of domicile or residence the consent declaration is not asked, if the minor’s domicile or residence in that state is proven with documents issued by its authorities and the destination is proven by tickets for the whole journey; without tickets, the companion handwrites at the border a declaration on their own responsibility about the destination. Tickets and the declaration do not prove residence.
Sources and how they were checked#
- Romanian Border Police, “Conditions for Romanian minor citizens leaving the country” (Romanian page read in full on 7 November 2026)
- Romanian Border Police, “Holidays begin with the papers ready: when the notarial declaration for minors is needed”, 10 July 2026, read on 7 November 2026
- Romanian Border Police, the notice on the electronic check of the companion’s criminal record
The tree follows the Border Police official conditions page for minors leaving Romania, fetched and read in full directly on 7 November 2026, together with the 10 July 2026 notice on the notarial declaration and the electronically checked criminal record. For travel documents, the official CEI page was also checked, which says CEI is issued from birth and may be used in EU and Schengen states and in other states that recognize it. The Border Police page gives the general rule on identity cards from age 14, while its separate CEI section also allows CEI use by minors in the legal categories; this wording retains the destination-acceptance condition. DGEP says CIS is not a travel document, and Article 6¹ of Law 248/2005, as amended by Law 174/2024 (in force from 3 July 2024), speaks only of the identity card and the electronic identity card. Review recommended on any amendment to Law 248/2005 and by May 2027 at the latest.