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Question: I want to immigrate to Romania, but I am not aware of the legal conditions. Please advice, I come from Nigeria.
Answer: We are glad to know that our country is of interest for you. Let us assure you that our law firm has a large experience in immigration law, including the work permit application, invitations, short and long visas as well as temporary or permanent residency permits.
The services offered by our immigration lawyers in Romania include:
- Consultancy to obtain short and long visas;
- Obtaining work permits for foreign citizens;
- Short business invitations for a maximum period of 21 days;
- Representation in front of immigration authorities in Bucharest to obtain and to extend any type of visas;
- Extension of any type of residence permit;
- Establishing of permanent domicile in Romania.
If you need immigration services in a different jurisdiction, for example in Spain, we can put you in contact with our partners –Immigrate-Spain.com.
Question: How can I obtain a long stay visa in Romania?
Answer: In Romania, the long stay visa can be required for the following purposes:
The visa form shall be approved through the decision of the Romanian Government at the proposal of the Ministry of External Affairs, after consulting with the Ministry of Administration and External Affairs in accordance with the standards of the European Union in this field. Our team of Romanian lawyers can provide more details about this type of visa.
Our lawyers in Romania remind you that there are some limits of the rights conferred by the Romanian Visa.
The Romanian visa shall give the holder the right to enter the Romanian territory only if, at that specific moment, the foreigner presents himself / herself at the frontier crossing check-point and the Romanian Frontier Police Authorities ascertain that there is no reason to interdict the entry in Romania. In case you are interested in getting a long stay visa in another country, for example obtaining residency in Portugal, we recommend our partners.
Question: Are there any cases of exemption from the compulsory Romanian visa regime?
Answer: Please note the following cases:
1.Citizens of the state with which Romania has signed agreements in this respect are exempted from the Romanian visa’s compulsoriness, according to the conditions and for the staying intervals established through such agreements.
1.1 The foreigners who are plane pilots and other members of the crew, holders of a flight license or a crew certificate, as provided in annex no.9 of the Chicago convention in International Civil Aviation signed on the 7th of December 1944 shall be exempted from the obligation to bear a passport and visa only when on duty and :
- they do not leave the transit airport;
- they do not leave the destination airport;
- they do not leave the city next to the airport;
- they only leave the airport in order to get to another Romanian airport.
2. The government may establish, through decision, the unilateral exemption of citizens of certain states from the Romanian visa’s compulsoriness.
Question: Do I need a long term visa in Romania, if I plan to start a business in this country?
Answer: Depending on the purpose they are issued for, the visas can be:
- Airport transit visa
- Transit visa
- Short stay visa
- Long stay visa – depending on the activity to be performed in Romania by the foreigner receiving the Romanian visa
- o economic activities
o professional activities
o commercial activities
o employment
o studies
o family reunification
o humanitarian or religious activities
o scientific research activities
o diplomatic visa and work visa
o other purposes
Our lawyers in Romania describe each one of these types of Romanian visas below.
Romanian Airport Transit Visa
The airport visa shall be compulsory for citizens of the states included in the list established in appendix 3 to the Consular mutual instructions adopted through the decision of the Council of the European Union or based on the decisions of this institution.
The same regime shall be also applied to the foreigners who, without being citizens of these states, hold a state frontier crossing document issued by the authorities of the respective states.
Romanian Transit visa
The transit visa shall be the visa that allows the foreigner to transit the Romanian territory.
The transit visa may be issued for one, two or several transits; the length of such transit may not exceed 5 days.
Short Stay Visa Romania
Short stay Romanian visa is the visa which allows the foreigners to request entry on the Romanian territory, for other reasons than immigration, with the purpose of an uninterrupted stay or several stay intervals whose duration should not exceed 90 days, within 6 month, as of the first entry. Such type of Visa Romania may be issued with one or multiple entries.
In the case when entry date on the Romanian territory cannot be established based on the stipulation on the foreigner’s traveler document, the Authority of foreigners shall proceed in accordance with the stipulation of art.11 of the Regulation of European Parliament and of the Council no. 562/2006 regarding the establishment of a community code in respect to the rules which regulates the free frontier crossing of the persons (Schengen frontier code), published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) no. l105 from the 13th of April 2006.
In case of foreigners traveling frequently to Romania, for business purposes, upon the request of the central administrative authorities or of the companies with far-reaching economic and financial power, the short stay visa with multiple entries may also be granted for one year, and in exceptional cases, for an interval up to 5 years. In such cases, the duration of the stay may not exceed 90 days within 6 month, as well.
Short stay visa shall be granted for the following purposes, described by our Romanian lawyers:
- mission – to foreigners who for reasons related to their political administrative or public utility office, have to travel to Romania. This type of visa shall be issued to foreigners working for governments, public administrations or international organizations, as well as to those who, by reason of their stay in Romania, are of interest for the relationship between the Romanian state and the state of their origin. Such visa can also be issued to the family members accompanying them;
- tourism – to the foreigner who is to travel to Romania for tourist purposes;
- visit – to the foreigner who intends to travel to Romania in order to visit Romanian citizens of foreigners with a valid stay permit;
- business – to the foreigner who intends to travel to Romania for economic and / or commercial purposes, for contracts negotiations, to learn or to verify the use and operation of goods acquired or sold under commercial and industrial co-operation contracts, as well as to the foreigner that is or will become an associate or shareholder of a Romanian trade company;
- transportation – to the foreigner who is to travel for short periods of time in order to carry out professional activities related to goods or persons transportation;
- sports – to the foreigner who is to enter Romania for a limited interval in order to participate to sportive competitions;
- cultural, scientific, humanitarian activities, short term medical treatment or other activities which do not breach the Romanian legislation – subject to justify the presence in Romania.
The stay right in Romania, granted to the foreigner through the short stay visa, cannot be renewed.
Romanian Long Stay Visa
A long-stay visa shall be granted to the foreigner, upon request for a period of 90 days, with one or multiple entries, for the following purposes:
- economic activities – to the foreigners that are to carry out independent economic activities or within family associations, according to the law regarding the organization and performance of certain economic activities by natural persons;
- professional activities – to foreigners who have the right to individually exercise professions on the Romanian territory based on certain special laws;
- carrying out commercial activities – to foreigners who are or will become shareholders or associates in Romanian trade companies, having responsibilities for running and administering them;
- employment – to foreigners who are to enter Romania in order to be employed. The visa granted for such purpose shall be issued also to sportsmen who are to perform in certain clubs and teams in Romania, based on an individual work contract or a civil convention under the terms of the law;
- studies – to foreigners who are to enter Romania for attending high school, university or post-university courses, as the case may be, or for obtaining scientific titles within public or accredited private institutions, according to the law;
- family reunification – to foreigners who are to enter Romania in order to regain family unity;
- religious or humanitarian activities – to foreigners who are to enter Romania in order to carry out activities in the field of recognized cults, at the request of such organizations, or for humanitarian purpose;
- scientific research activities – to foreigners who are to enter Romania in order to carry out scientific research activities;
- other purposes
2. Long stay visa allows the foreigners who enter the Romanian territory to request a renewal of the temporary stay and to obtain a stay permit. The immigration experts at our Romanian law firm can provide more details.
Diplomatic Visa and Business Visa
The diplomatic visa and business visa shall allow the entry in Romania usually for a long stay period of time, to the foreigners holding a diplomatic, respectively business passport, who are to occupy an official position as members of a diplomatic representative office or of a consular office of the state of origin in Romania. Those who wish to open a business in the country can reach out to our attorneys in Romania for more details.
Such types of visas shall be issued to the holder of diplomatic, respectively business passports or assimilated to those, upon request of the Ministry of External Affairs of the submitting state or of its diplomatic or consular representative office, as well as to the family members with whom the holder lives and shall be valid during their mission or in accordance with the agreement to which Romania is a party.
Collective Visa Romania
The collective visa is a transit or short-stay visa granted for tourist purposes and for a period which should not exceed 30 days, issued to a group of foreigners, established prior to the request, provided that its members should enter, stay and leave the Romanian territory in group.
This type of visa shall be issued for groups consisting of minimum 5 up to maximum 50 persons. The leader of the group should have an individual passport and, as the case may be, an individual visa.
In case of organized groups of pupils, citizens of the states for which visa is compulsory and who are residents in a state which is member of the European Union, traveling to Romania in school trips or who are in transit, they may enter without a visa under all of the following conditions:
the group must be accompanied by a teacher from the school organizing the trip;
there should be an official list of participants according to which they could be identified;
the participants should hold valid state frontier crossing documents.
If you lead a group and need more information, please contact our law firm in Romania.
Granting the Romanian Visa
The Romanian visa shall be granted only if :
- the conditions regarding the entry in Romania
- there is no reason to forbid to enter the Romanian territory
- on the name of the foreigner was not introduced an alert regarding the refusal of issuing visa in the informational integration system, based on problems of migration, asylum and visas;
- on the name of the foreigner the attention was not drawn regarding the entry refusal by the representatives of the European union members, of the Economic European Area, as well as of the states parties of the Agreement regarding gradually removal of the controls at the joint frontiers, signed in Schengen on the 14th June 1985, hereinafter called Schengen Agreement, within the consular co-operation;
- there are no reasons to consider that the visa is requested for illegal migration purposes;
- the foreigner was not finally sentenced for having committed offences abroad, incompatible with the purpose for which he/she requested the visa;
- the general conditions provided under this section, as well as the special conditions for visa granting depending on the purpose for which the visa is requested, are complied with.
Conditions Regarding the Validity of Travel Documents
The validity term of travel document on which the visa is to be applied must exceed the validity term of the request visa with at least 3 month.
As an exception, for emergency, humanitarian or national interest reason on pursuant to certain international obligations undertaken by Romania, visa may also be granted to foreigners holding state frontier crossing documents whose validity is less than the one provided under par.(1), provided that the validity term of the visa should not exceed that of the document.
Conditions for Visa Requests
The visa application must be accompanied by the state frontier crossing document, valid in accordance with art. 28, on which the visa can be applied, as well as the documents, that justify the purpose and the conditions of the travel, and the proof that he/she dispose of financial means of support during the stay in Romania, as well as for leaving Romania.
Cash in convertible currency, travel checks, check books over an account in estimates, credit cards with a statement of account dated no more than two days prior to the request of the visa or any other method allowing the justification of a guarantee of the financial resources, may be accepted as a proof of financial means.
When submitting the request for the Romanian Visa the applicant is usually invited for interview.
The request for the entry visa shall not be accepted in the following situations:
- It is not accompanied by the documents stipulated at par. (1);
- Following the interview, the good faith of the applicant could not be proved or it came out that the foreigner does not comply with the general and special conditions for granting the Romanian visa mentioned in the present emergency order.
Upon requesting the entry visa for Romania, foreigners must present themselves personally to the Authority competent in granting the visa
An exception from the provisions of par. (5) are the important personalities in the social, cultural and political or economical field or the cases in which foreigners have to cover a large distance to present themselves to the diplomatic mission or consular office and only if there is no doubt regarding their good faith and in the cases of travels in group when a well known institution is liable for the good faith of the applicants.
Foreign nationals residing in the country who are also interested in buying property in Romania can request our assistance. You can trust us with legal guidance and representation both in front of the seller, as well as the Romanian authorities, such as the National Agency for Cadastre and Real Estate Advertising (ANCPI). Please reach out to us for more information.
Apart from immigration services, our solutions for individuals also include those that concern divorce in Romania. A lawyer from our team will help you file for divorce, as well as determine how the division of your matrimonial assets should be handled. We also provide court representation during the divorce proceedings that take place at the competent court.
If you plan to visit Romania, we are here to help you, so you won’t have to worry about any legal issues, while you are fully focused on your business and personal matters. Through our law office, we have a team competent lawyers in Romania, ready to explain every possible aspect related to your visa. For a free case consultation, please call us now!