DOC / Why do thousands of Romanians choose Belgian citizenship annually, even though they have the right to work as EU members?

Over 34,000 Romanians have obtained Belgian citizenship from 2000 to the present, and most of these naturalizations occurred after Romania's accession to the European Union in 2007, according to The Brussels Times. In 2025 alone, 4,366 Romanians acquired Belgian citizenship, representing the second largest category of new citizens, after Moroccans.

The phenomenon is relevant precisely because Romanians are European citizens, with the right to live and work in Belgium. For many of them, Belgian citizenship is not a condition for access to the labor market, but rather an expression of long-term settlement: years of residence, family, children born or educated in Belgium, property, professional activity, and the desire to fully participate in public life.

From a marginally visible community to a consolidated presence

Romanians have become one of the largest foreign-origin communities in Belgium since Romania's accession to the EU. Between 2008 and 2018, their number multiplied sixfold, according to VRT NWS. In 2017, over 18,000 Romanians arrived in Belgium, nearly double the flow recorded from the Netherlands and three times larger than the flows from Syria, Morocco, or Poland.

In 2019, Belgium recorded 96,034 Romanian citizens, compared to 87,616 the previous year. Official figures do not always capture the full extent of the community, as Romanian migration has long been characterized by frequent movements between Belgium and Romania, seasonal work, and varying periods of stay.

The community's profile was initially built around the labor market. Men arrived in large numbers in construction, while women worked in care, hospitals, cleaning, and services. Romanians are also present in agriculture, especially as seasonal workers, but also in entrepreneurship, international administration, and universities. In Belgium, approximately 29,000 Romanians were registered as self-employed, a status used by some workers for its flexibility, but which can sometimes conceal forms of pseudo-independence.

A decisive change occurred in 2014. Although Romania joined the EU in 2007, Belgium maintained transitional restrictions on Romanians' access to the labor market until 2014. Once these limits were lifted, Romanians became, year after year, one of the most important groups of newcomers.

Brussels, the center of the Romanian community

Brussels is the main hub of the Romanian community. In 2022, 45,243 Romanian citizens lived in the Brussels Capital Region, 192.1% more than in 2012. Thus, Romanians represented the second largest foreign community in Brussels, after the French.

The Romanian presence is more visible in the north-west of the region and in neighborhoods where living costs are more affordable: Anderlecht, Cureghem, Koekelberg, Quartier Maritime, and Laeken. These areas offered more affordable rents and allowed the formation of support networks among relatives, friends, colleagues, and newly arrived families.

Outside Brussels, Romanian communities have formed around areas with demand for labor. VRT NWS mentions localities such as Hoogstraten and Haspengouw, associated with seasonal work in horticulture and fruit picking, but also Antwerp and West Flanders, where Romanian workers have been attracted to construction and the manufacturing industry.

Available data and reports show a diverse community, not a uniform population. It includes manual workers and self-employed individuals, young families, students, entrepreneurs, and employees of international institutions. RTBF described the community as relatively young, with an average age under 30, coming from all regions of Romania.

Temporary migration becomes a life project

For many Romanians, Belgium was initially a destination for work and financial accumulation. There were individuals who came alone, saved money, and kept the plan to return to Romania. VRT NWS even reported on houses built in Romania with income earned abroad, but later left unoccupied, amid delays or abandonment of the return.

Over time, an individual project often transformed into a family one. Family reunification, the birth of children in Belgium, their education, and professional stabilization changed the relationship to residence in this country. For those who have lived for years in Belgium, citizenship becomes an option related to continuity, not necessarily a gesture of renunciation of Romania.

This is also evident from testimonies collected by The Brussels Times. Elena, a Romanian who has been settled in Belgium for over 15 years, says she did not view citizenship as a choice between two identities. Under the conditions in which Romania and Belgium allow dual citizenship, for her, the question was rather "why not?" She states that Romania will remain her country of origin, but she believes that the years spent in Belgium and the fact that she owns property here justify the desire to become a full citizen and to vote.

Community life maintains a strong connection with Romania. Over 80% of Romanians are Orthodox Christians, and Romanian parishes play a social, cultural, and religious role. VRT NWS mentions Romanian Orthodox communities in Hoogstraten, Turnhout, Aalst, and Schaerbeek, alongside other religious and cultural initiatives in the Romanian language.

Political participation of Belgians of Romanian origin

The political participation of individuals with Romanian origins shows an additional dimension of the community's stabilization in Belgium. Beyond access to the labor market, associative life, and family networks, presence in elections and civic structures indicates the desire of some community members to contribute directly to local decisions.

In Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Codrat-Alin Teclu, president of the local branch of the party Les Engagés, links his commitment to his own family history. He comes from a Romanian refugee family in Belgium, in Spa, to escape the difficulties of the post-communist period. Teclu recalls his family's poverty and the support they received in Belgium, which allowed them to gradually reach the middle class.

In his opinion piece, Teclu explains that he chose to live in Molenbeek out of the conviction that social and cultural diversity can support a model of coexistence. However, he insists that the discourse about "living together" must confront the concrete problems of the municipality. After seven years living in Molenbeek, he argues that the locality should not be described either through stigmatizing caricatures or idealized as a model without social cohesion problems. His position focuses on identity tensions, economic poverty, civic degradation, and the polarization of public discourse. Teclu asserts that the realities of diversity must be addressed without denying difficulties and without generalizations that call into question the entire Muslim community or the entire foreign-origin population.

In Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Cătălina Petrovan ran on the list of the Belgian Socialist Party, PS, while Gabriela Mara ran on the mayor's list, Liste du bourgmestre (LB), in the local elections reorganized in 2025. The election was repeated after the invalidation of the results of the municipal elections of October 13, 2024, decided on November 19, following complaints related to the unusually high proportion of proxy votes, approximately 7%.

Why do Romanians choose Belgian citizenship?

The motivations are not identical for all Romanians, but reports and available data indicate several recurring explanations. Belgian citizenship offers full access to political participation. A Belgian citizen can vote and run for federal and regional elections. For Romanians who have lived for many years in Belgium, work, pay taxes, and raise children here, this possibility can be perceived as a natural form of participation in the democratic life of the country in which they have settled.

A second explanation is stability. Carmen Solomie, president of the RomBel organization, believes that for many members of the community, Belgian citizenship represents a natural recognition of years of residence, work, family life, and contribution to Belgian society.

Another aspect mentioned in testimonies is international mobility. Some individuals consider that the Belgian passport is more advantageous in certain travel situations, including in relation to countries that still require visas from Romanian citizens.

The peak of naturalizations of Romanians before the pandemic was reached in 2019. The explanation is linked to 2014, the year in which Belgium fully extended the right to work for Romanian citizens. In accordance with the Belgian condition of five years of residence, 2019 was the first year in which many Romanians in this situation could become eligible for citizenship.

In 2018, Romanians already represented 6.1% of those who received Belgian citizenship, or 2,219 individuals. They were then the second nationality among new Belgian citizens, after Moroccans.

The lifting of restrictions in 2014 did not immediately eliminate all administrative difficulties or institutional perceptions. RomBel, a voluntary organization of Romanians in Belgium, was created in that context. The president of the organization, Carmen Solomie, says that its mission is to bring together Romanians, support their integration and representation, preserve Romanian identity and culture, and build bridges between communities.

Daria, a member of RomBel, recalls that in 2014, volunteers even went to hospitals and municipalities to explain the legislation regarding the rights of Romanians, as some institutions did not immediately understand or accept that the restrictions had been lifted.

Citizenship without renouncing Romania

The increasing number of Romanians becoming Belgian citizens does not automatically indicate a break from Romania. In many cases, it is the result of a path of integration: work, residence, family, property, children, and civic participation. Dual citizenship allows for the formal preservation of ties with Romania, and for many Romanians, identity remains a multiple one.

Carmen Solomie summarizes this logic by the idea that belonging to Belgium and preserving the Romanian language, culture, and connections do not exclude each other. On the contrary, they can transform the Romanian community into a bridge between the two countries.

Thus, Belgian citizenship is, for thousands of Romanians, less a choice between two identities and more a confirmation of a social reality: Belgium has become the place where they work, pay taxes, raise children, and want to have a full say in public life.

Analysis conducted with the support of Perplexity