If you want to enter and stay in Romania, you will be required to accomplish a number of certain registrations or documentation applications.
Immigration compliancy processes for Romania are very complex and time consuming and they depend especially on the purpose of your stay in the country. As Romania joined the European Union in January 2007, the immigration regulations are much favorable for EU citizens then are for people coming from non-EU countries.
Romanian visas are divided into 4 main categories, depending on the period of stay in the country:
• A type (visas for airport transit)
• B type (visas for territory transit)
• C type (visas for short stay purposes – for maximum 90 days of stay)
• D type (visas for long stay purposes – for more than 90 days of stay)
Note: The difference in length between the short stay visa and the long stay visa is not given by the entry visa which is stamped in the passport; it is given by the fact that the type D visa can be extended over 90 days after the foreigner enters the country, with an application for a temporary residence permit.
Depending on the purpose of stay, both short and long types (C and D) are divided by the immigration law into several categories:
C type:
a) Tourism (C/TU) ;
b) Visit (C/VV) ;
c) Business (C/A) ;
d) Sport (C/CP) ;
e) Cultural, scientific and humanitarian activities, short term medical treatment or other activities (C/ZA) ;
D type:
a) Economic activities (D/AE) ;
b) Professional activities (D/AP) ;
c) Commercial activities (D/AC) ;
d) Employment (D/AM) ;
e) Studies (D/SD) ;
f) Family reunification (D/VF) ;
g) Aliens married to Romanian citizens entering the Romanian territory (D/CR) ;
h) Religious or humanitarian activities (D/RU) ;
i) Other purposes (D/AS).
*Only the Visa National Center under the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Romanian Office for Immigration under the Ministry of Internal Affairs are competent to ultimately approve or deny visa applications with the consulates abroad.
Note: The validity term of your passport must exceed the journey period with at least 6 months!
How to apply for a Romanian visa?
If you need to get an entry visa before traveling to Romania, you have to submit a request to the Romanian Embassy/Consulate in your home country, within its working hours with the public.
Processing time:
The general processing time of the visa approvals are as following:
• for transit visas: around 5 working days
• for short stay visas: 20 to 30 days
• for long term visas: 30 to 40 days and will only be granted after approval of the Romanian Office for Immigration.
Please note that the processing time length can also depend on the consulate and on the case specifics.
Visas give holders the right to stay within the territory of Romania for:
a. 90 days, with the possibility of extension in the country, in the case of long-stay visas (type D);
b. up to 90 days with NO possibility of extension in the country, in the case of short-stay visas (type C);
c. 5 days from the entry date, in the case of transit visas.
Work Authorizations
Foreign individuals performing work activities in Romania for a company can do it under:
• their home foreign employment agreements, or
• local employment agreement with a Romanian company/subsidiary/ branch, or
• both their foreign employment agreement and a local employment agreement
Nationals of non-EU countries are required to apply for a Romanian work authorization before obtaining their legal residence in Romania.
EU individuals working in Romania as local employees with a Romanian company are NOT required to obtain work authorizations. They have been granted free access to the Romanian labor market starting with the country’s accession to European Union’s structures.
Also, both EU citizens and non-EU citizens assigned to work in Romania by companies located in EU/EEA member states are NOT required to obtain a work authorization prior their beginning of activities here.
Local employment
If a local employment is to be undertaken by a non-EU individual, a work authorization for local employees must previously be obtained for this purpose.The work authorization application procedure for local employment is cumbersome and time consuming, taking approximately 2 months.
Once the work authorization is obtained, those nationals of countries with visa schemes in force need to obtain a Romanian long term visa for work purposes (type D/AM) in their passports before they travel to the country.
The long term visa for work purposes will be valid for a maximum 90 day period of stay; therefore it has to be extended with a temporary residence permit once the individual arrives in the country.
Cross-border assignment / secondment structure
If you are a non-EU individual assigned to work in Romania for a temporary period by a company located in a non-EU country, then you must obtain a work authorization for secondment purposes.Citizens of countries with visa schemes need also to apply for a long term visa for secondment purposes (type D/AS) prior traveling to the country and before starting the application for the work authorization.
You have to know that under the Romanian immigration legislation non-EU individuals can be seconded to Romania by companies from non-EU countries for a maximum total period of 1 year within 5 rolling years.
After Romania’s EU accession, the immigration legislation was changed to provide favorable regulations in what regards EU/EEA nationals entering and residing in the country, whereas the provisions for non-EU nationals remained mostly the same.
• Non-EU citizens who want to stay in Romania for more than 90 days within 6 rolling months need to apply for temporary residence permits. Applications for residence permits have to be made with the Romanian Office for Immigration where the individual establishes his residence.
For citizens of countries where an entry visa scheme is in place, residence permit applications can be made only based on long-term visas which should be obtained from the Romanian embassy or consulate abroad, prior to their travel in the country.
The documentation required for obtaining Romanian residence permits depends on the specific purpose of stay.
• EU/EEA citizens can enter and stay in Romania for 90 days without obtaining any formal residency documents. If they want to extend their stay, they have to obtain a "certificate of registration" with the Romanian Office for Immigration. The certificate can be applied for and issued in the same day and it has unlimited validity.
The documentation required for obtaining Romanian certificates of registration depends on the specific purpose of stay (e.g. employee, secondee, self-employed, etc.).
If you need information about other cases or if you have any other inquiries regarding visa/working permits, you can contact us by email at: contact@expatcenter.ro