the labor and employment practice area.
4-10 Muntii Tatra Street, 5th floor
Bucharest 1 RO-011022
Romania
+40 (21) 312 10 08 Phone
+40 (21) 312 10 09 Fax
mihaela.cracea@pachiu.com
www.pachiu.com
Romanian employment market is
recognized by domestic laws and has
been proven to be a very dynamic and
valuable influx channel providing a
highly qualified and trained work force.
The most demanding industries for
skilled foreign work force in Romania
are, broadly, the automotive industry,
telecommunications, trade and petroleum
industry, etc. While the most desired job
positions are CEO, CFO, sales managers,
marketing managers, supply planning
manager, as well as the technical
positions of engineer, operations
specialist and others.
Moreover, multinational companies
are frequently appointing employees
of the parent companies as directors of
their Romanian subsidiaries. In most
of the cases, they decide to relocate the
directors to oversee the development
and all the activities of the subsidiary
company, and sometimes they apply
to obtain a residence permit for such
directors in Romania.
Factors including how easy it is
to access the Romanian employment
submitted to public authorities, and how
long and time consuming the procedures
are, vary depending on the type of
residence you want to obtain for foreign
citizens. (In this article, the term "foreign
citizen" refers to citizens outside UE/
SEE/Swiss Confederation. The citizens of
the latter are assimilated with Romanian
nationals and benefit from the same
treatment with regard to access to the
Romanian employment market.)
Consequently, in relation to foreign
citizens, the most commonly used
procedures are those related to the
following types of residence permits:
(i) for commercial activities; (ii) as
director of a Romanian company; (iii) for
assigned employee; (iv) as employee of a
Romanian company.
The common feature of all the above
types of residence permits is the initial
term of validity, which is one year.
Further extensions, where possible, are
also provided for successive terms of
one year.
In other words, in order to maintain
the right of residence in Romania for
type of such residence, foreign citizens
are required to apply each year for the
relevant extensions.
Regarding the differences between
the above options, although we are
not aiming here to provide a detailed
description of each procedure, we will try
to provide an overview of the essential
features of such procedures, in terms of
the main conditions to be accomplished
when accessing them.
The residence permit for
commercial activities is open to the
shareholders of Romanian companies,
either limited liability companies or
joint-stock companies.
The approval of the Romanian Centre
for the Trade and Foreign Investments
Promotion (RCTFIP) is the main and
preliminary condition for obtaining the
residence permit as shareholder of a
Romanian company.
Such approval is issued under the
following conditions: the value of the
shares the applicant owes within a
Romanian company is at least EURO
100,000, if the company is a limited
liability one and of EURO 150,000 if
the company is a joint-stock company.
Moreover, the applicant is required
to submit a 12-month business plan
regarding the development of such
a Romanian company. For further
A Guide for Foreign Workers in Romania