Such data was cited by the head of the Department for Citizenship and Population Registration of the State Services Agency Aliaksandru Donich at the parliamentary hearings on the Law on Citizenship. According to him, in the period 2020-2025, over 23 thousand applications, i.e. more than 50% of the total number, came from Russian citizens.
“Of the European countries, the most applications for Moldovan citizenship came from Romania (about 200-plus) and Bulgaria (less than a hundred). The rest of the European countries together with all other states of the world gave a total of about 3 thousand applications for all five years,” Donici explained.
The deputy of “Our Party” Alexander Berlinski, who initiated consultations in Parliament, voiced statistics by year. Thus, in 2022, 6,255 applications were received, citizenship was granted to 5,741 people. In 2023 – 5,121 applications, of which citizenship was granted to 3,820. In 2024, 6,332 applications were submitted and 5,816 were approved. In 2025 – 5,134 applications, of which 2,288 were approved.
Reconnecting with the homeland
Note that this includes applications for all grounds for citizenship, including restoration of previously lost citizenship. Previously, in order to obtain citizenship, for example, of Russia or Germany, it was necessary to renounce Moldovan citizenship. Later the legislation was changed – obtaining citizenship of another country does not deprive of the former citizenship, and many people again seek to restore the citizenship of their homeland.
Maxim Lebedinschi, chairman of the Union of Lawyers of Moldova, said that if a former citizen of Moldova wants to restore the socio-political and legal connection with the state, with all actions taking place within the law, there is no problem. “Is he a criminal?” – Lebedinsky emphasized.
