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Work purpose Romanian residency

If you are contemplating emigrating to Romania for work, or if you are already in Romania and want to take up work, it is good to know the following general rules:

– foreigners’ access to the Romanian labour market is not free, a right to work must be obtained BEFORE the employment contract is signed and the work starts;

– there are two main avenues leading to getting work in Romania: employment (when your employer is a legal or natural person based in Romania) and secondment (when you are and remain employed by your employer abroad and you work in Romania for a Romanian partner);

– for either of these approaches, your employer, i.e. your Romanian partner, will take care of arrangements for obtaining your right to work / secondment in Romania, and the document is called work permit / secondment permit in Romania;

– once you have obtained this permit, you may find yourself in one of the following situations:

  • you are outside Romania – in which case you must receive the original work permit / posting permit through the mail service and apply for a Romanian long-stay visa;
  • you are in Romania, have not entered on the basis of a long-stay visa, do not have a residence permit and are not a citizen of the USA/Canada/Japan – in which case you must obtain the original work permit / posting permit, leave Romania, apply for the Romanian long-stay visa and enter Romania on the basis of such visa;
  • you are in Romania, you entered on the basis of a long-stay visa, or you already have a residence permit, in which case you must get hold of the original work permit and you do not have to leave the territory of Romania – ATTENTION!!! – for the purpose of posting you must, however, obtain a long-stay visa, because only employment in Romania exempts you from visa requirements, not the posting in Romania;

– once in possession of the long-stay visa related to employment / posting permit and after entering Romania on the basis of this authorisation, or if a visa is not necessary, you should start immediately to apply for your right of residence for employment / posting permit purposes.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE WORK PERMIT / POSTING RULE

If you are in one of the following situations, you do not need a work permit, i.e. you can obtain a work visa directly, or you can sign-up an employment contract directly, and then you can apply directly for the right of residence for work purposes:

– if there is an agreement concluded between Romania and the state which you are a citizen of, which provides for your free access to the Romanian labour market – this agreement can also be derived from agreements concluded by the European Union, such as the Agreement with Turkey, which provides that citizens of Turkey who have had worker status for 5 years, receive the right of free access to the labour market of that state (EU member);

– if you are going to conduct teaching, scientific or other specific activities on a temporary basis in accredited or provisionally licenced institutions in Romania, on the basis of bilateral agreements or as a holder of a temporary right of residence for scientific research activities, or if you obtain accreditation as specially qualified personnel, on the basis of an order of the Minister of National Education, as well as if you are going to carry out artistic activities in cultural institutions in Romania, on the basis of an order of the Minister of Culture;

– if you are going to carry out temporary activities on the territory of Romania at the request of ministries or other central or local public administration authorities or autonomous administrative authorities;

– if you are appointed to the management board of a subsidiary, representative or branch office in Romania of a company based abroad, in accordance with the relevant documents provided for by Romanian legislation;

– if you are a citizen of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the Republic of Serbia employed on the territory of Romania on a full-time individual employment contract, in which case your right of residence in Romania will be limited up to 9 months in a calendar year (January 1st – December 31st).

Accordingly, if you are in one of the following situations, you do not need a secondment permit, i.e. you can sign the secondment contract directly, obtain the secondment visa directly and then apply directly for the right of residence for secondment purposes:

– in case of an agreement concluded between Romania and the state of which you are a citizen, establishing your free access to the Romanian labour market – such agreement can also be derived from agreements concluded by the European Union, such as the Agreement with Turkey, which establishes that citizens of Turkey who have had worker status for 5 years, receive the right of free access to the labour market of that state (EU member).

– in case you are an employee of a legal entity incorporated in one of the Member States of the European Union or the European Economic Area or in the Swiss Confederation and you are seconded to Romania, provided that you hold a residence permit issued by that state;

– in case you are going to conduct teaching, scientific or other specific activities on a temporary basis in institutions accredited or provisionally licenced in Romania, on the basis of treaties concluded by Romania with other states or as a holder of a temporary right of residence for the purpose of conducting scientific research activities, or if you obtain the accreditation as personnel holding special qualifications, based on an order of the Minister of National Education, as well as if you are going to perform artistic activities in cultural institutions in Romania, based on an order of the Minister of Culture;

– in case you are going to conduct temporary activities on the territory of Romania at the request of ministries or other central or local public administration authorities or autonomous administrative authorities.