Romania recruits workers from outside the European Union in significant numbers, and the rules governing how that happens have been rewritten from the ground up. Employment permits and secondment permits no longer exist. In their place sit a single electronic application filed through an official Government platform, two distinct long-stay work visa types, a national shortage occupations list and compulsory employer registration. If you want to work in Romania legally, understanding that framework matters more than any job advertisement you will see online.

This page explains who can work in Romania, which industries recruit internationally, what the process actually involves, what documents you will need, what your rights are once you arrive, and how to recognise a recruitment scam. It also sets out plainly what AtoZ Serwis Plus does and does not do. Every job discussed here is employment with a Romanian employer, in Romania. A Romanian work visa does not permit work in any other country, and anyone who tells you otherwise is misleading you.

One point before anything else: no legitimate recruiter will ask you to pay for a job in Romania. Romanian law prohibits conditioning employment on commissions, fees, deposits or guarantees demanded from the worker. If you are asked for money to secure a vacancy, that is not a fee; it is a warning sign.

Register your candidate profile.

Legal Employment Opportunities in Romania

Romania’s working-age population has been shrinking through low birth rates and sustained outward migration, while manufacturing, construction, logistics and food production have continued to expand. The Government sets an annual quota of newly admitted foreign workers by decision, and the national shortage occupations list runs to several hundred entries covering cooks, drivers, carpenters, electricians, welders and unskilled production roles among many others.

That demand is real, but it is not unlimited, and it does not exist in every occupation. A job is available to you only where a specific Romanian employer has a genuine vacancy, holds the right status on the Government platform, and can meet the conditions the law attaches to hiring a foreign national. Registration with any recruiter, including us, does not create a vacancy.

Why International Workers Consider Romania

Romania is a European Union member state with a large industrial base concentrated in Bucharest and in counties including Cluj, Timiș, Iași, Brașov, Constanța, Sibiu, Arad, Bihor, Prahova, Dolj, Argeș, Alba and Mureș. The Romanian Labour Code governs employment; foreign workers are entitled to the same pay and conditions as Romanian workers in the same role, and salary must be paid into a bank account rather than in cash.

Being candid about the other side: the process is administrative and slow, several stages sit entirely with government authorities, and the framework restricts how quickly you may change employer after arrival. Those are reasons to plan carefully rather than reasons to avoid Romania, but you should know them before you commit.

Who Can Work in Romania

EU, EEA and Swiss Citizens

If you hold citizenship of a European Union or European Economic Area member state or of Switzerland, you have free access to the Romanian labour market. You need no work visa, no single application, no shortage-occupation eligibility and no quota place. You apply for jobs as a Romanian national would, and registration formalities relate to residence rather than to work authorisation. If a recruiter tells you that you need to buy a work permit for Romania as an EU citizen, they are wrong.

Non-EU Workers

If you are a third-country national, employment in Romania requires a Romanian employer to sponsor you through the single-application procedure, followed by a long-stay work visa and, after arrival, a residence document. You cannot start this process alone: the application is filed by the employer, by an employer holding authorised-employer status, or by an authorised placement agency, depending on the route. There is no procedure by which a candidate applies for a Romanian work visa without a named employer behind it.

Candidates Already Residing in Romania

Several categories may work based on a residence permit they already hold, without a fresh single application. These include holders of long-term residence in Romania, family members of Romanian citizens with a residence right for family reunification, beneficiaries of a form of protection, asylum seekers once they gain labour-market access, tolerated persons, and holders of an EU Blue Card after a qualifying period of lawful highly qualified employment. A worker already engaged full time may also take a second, part-time job with another employer, limited to four hours a day. Your employer must still notify the immigration authority within ten days of the start of the activity.

Students and Other Eligible Residents

Holders of a temporary residence right for studies may work part-time, limited to six hours a day, without a separate single application. This is a genuine route into the Romanian labour market for international students. Still, it is not full-time employment, and it does not convert automatically into a work-based residence right when studies end. Anyone planning that transition should establish the requirements well before their student permit expires.

None of these categories is a shortcut, and eligibility depends on your specific permit and circumstances. Check your own position with the immigration authority rather than relying on what another worker tells you.

Industries Recruiting in Romania

The sectors below are where Romanian employers most often exhaust domestic recruitment. Listing an industry does not mean a vacancy exists in it today.

Construction Jobs

Carpenters, steel fixers, masons, plasterers and finishers, insulation workers, tilers, painters, scaffolders, plant and machinery operators and general site labourers, alongside site electricians, plumbers and gas fitters, and technical staff such as site engineers and works supervisors. Certain electrical, gas and lifting-equipment roles require authorisation under Romanian rules before you may perform them.

Manufacturing and Factory Jobs

Production and assembly operatives, machine operators, CNC setters and operators, maintenance technicians, quality inspectors, packers and shift supervisors. Wood processing, paper, ceramics and construction materials employ significant numbers in several counties, with demand for saw and panel line operatives, wood finishers and forklift drivers.

Automotive and Technical Jobs

Automotive components are among Romania’s largest export sectors. Roles range from entry-level assembly through press operators, CNC machinists, toolmakers, welders and fabricators, to maintenance and automation technicians, quality engineers and process engineers. Higher-skilled engineering roles may fall under a different immigration route from operative positions, which changes the documents you will need.

Warehouse and Logistics Jobs

Warehouse operatives, order pickers and packers, forklift and reach truck drivers, goods handlers, stock controllers and shift leaders. Distribution activity concentrates around the motorway corridors and the larger urban centres.

Hospitality and Tourism Jobs

Chefs and cooks, kitchen assistants, waiting and bar staff, baristas, housekeeping and cleaning staff, receptionists and guesthouse or hotel supervisors. Demand is markedly seasonal in coastal and mountain areas and steadier in the cities, and the offer you receive should state honestly whether the work is seasonal.

Agriculture and Food-Production Jobs

Field, orchard and vineyard workers, greenhouse operatives, livestock and dairy staff, food-processing operatives, butchers and meat processors, and packers. Seasonal agricultural work carries specific legal conditions, including a compulsory obligation on the employer to ensure accommodation.

Transport and Driver Jobs

Qualified drivers are in short supply, but driving is a regulated occupation. Your licence categories and professional competence qualification must be valid and recognised in Romania before you may lawfully drive professionally. That recognition runs on its own timescale outside any employer’s control. Treat any offer that skips this step as unsafe.

Healthcare, IT and Professional Jobs

Nurses, care assistants, home and residential carers and medical professionals are in demand. Still, healthcare is a regulated profession in Romania: qualification recognition, registration with the relevant professional body and Romanian-language competence are all required. Plan on a materially longer timeline than for production work. Information technology, engineering and professional services recruit developers, IT support staff, engineers, accountants and managers, often under the route for highly qualified workers.

Worker Categories

Skilled workers hold a certificate, licence, or demonstrable track record; the role genuinely requires welders, CNC machinists, maintenance electricians, toolmakers, chefs, and qualified drivers. Semi-skilled workers bring relevant experience and the ability to work to a standard, with training provided on arrival. Entry-level workers can learn the role on the job, covering production and warehouse labour, packing, cleaning and general site work.

Seasonal workers are engaged on a fixed-term contract for activities that follow the succession of the seasons, with the sectors concerned set by government decision. The employer must ensure accommodation of an adequate standard for your whole anticipated stay. Where rent is charged, it must not be excessive relative to your net salary or deducted automatically from it. Highly qualified workers are engaged for at least six months at a salary of at least the average gross earnings, and may hold the EU Blue Card as their residence document rather than the single permit.

Which category applies to you is not a matter of preference. It follows from the occupation, the contract and your qualifications, and it determines the route, the documents and the salary floor.

Candidate-Sourcing Regions

Candidates for Romanian vacancies may be sourced through compliant recruitment channels in Europe and Romania’s neighbourhood Ukraine, Moldova, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Georgia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia and Lithuania; in Asia and Central Asia India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan; in the Gulf, including candidates already working in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain; in Africa Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa; and in Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia and Argentina.

Naming a country describes where sourcing may be possible, not where it is guaranteed, and no nationality is automatically accepted. Your eligibility depends on genuine employer demand, the occupation, your qualifications and experience, language ability, passport validity, whether you can obtain the required documents, Romanian immigration rules, the laws of your own country, the competent consular jurisdiction and the recruitment channels lawfully available where you live.

Two useful distinctions. If you are a citizen of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine or the Republic of Serbia and are engaged on a full-time individual employment contract, you fall within the D/AM1 route, which the employer files directly and which carries no shortage-occupation restriction. If you already hold EU, EEA, or Swiss citizenship, none of the immigration procedure applies to you at all.

How Candidate Registration Works

Creating a Candidate Profile

Registration means submitting a profile so that your experience can be matched against documented employer requirements as they arise. It costs you nothing, and it is not an application for a job, a visa or a permit. Profiles are reviewed, and many are not matched because the occupation is not in demand, the experience does not fit, the documents are not obtainable, or no employer with the right platform status has a vacancy at that moment.

Required Candidate Information

Expect to provide your full name as it appears in your passport, nationality, country of residence, date of birth, contact details, occupation and years of relevant experience, qualifications and any licences, language levels, driving licence categories where relevant, passport number and expiry date, and your availability. Accuracy matters more than presentation: a profile that overstates experience wastes your time, and the employer’s, and an inconsistency discovered later can end an application.

Documents Commonly Required

• Travel document. A passport valid well beyond the intended contract period. Renew early if it is close to expiry.
• Curriculum vitae setting out real work history with dates, employers and duties.
• Qualification and experience evidence: diplomas, trade certificates, employer references.
• Criminal-record certificate from your country of origin or residence, translated into Romanian, English or French and legalised in accordance with the law.
• Travel medical insurance covering the full validity of the visa.
• Proof of means of support at the level of the guaranteed minimum gross base salary for ninety days. Highly qualified workers are exempt.
• Medical documentation as required for the role; a medical certificate may be obtained by the date your activity begins rather than at signature.
• Licences and authorisations for regulated occupations, including driving qualifications and professional registration.

Whether a document needs certified translation, an apostille or full consular legalisation depends on the country that issued it. Establish which applies before you pay for translation, because the requirement differs between countries and getting it wrong means paying twice.

Candidate Screening, Assessments and Interviews

Screening measures your profile against a specific employer’s job description: relevant work history and technical experience, qualifications and whether Romanian recognition will be needed, licences for regulated roles, language ability against the real workplace requirement, and identity and travel documents. For trades, employers often ask for a practical assessment: welding, machining, driving or kitchen tests arranged in your own country or by supervised video, with the employer setting the pass standard.

Interviews are conducted by the Romanian employer, usually by video call, often with interpretation. Ask questions: about the shift pattern, the physical demands, the exact workplace location, accommodation and what it costs you, transport to site, and deductions from pay. A serious employer will answer them. Being told to “just sign and ask later” is a reason to stop.

Final Employer Selection

The Romanian employer makes the hiring decision, sets the salary and working conditions and signs the contract. No recruiter can select on the employer’s behalf, and no candidate should ever be described as pre-approved. A shortlisting is not an offer.

The Job Offer and Employment Contract

A genuine offer begins with a firm job offer, the document the employer uploads to the Government platform, setting out the occupation, responsibilities, salary, working schedule, contract duration, place of work, leave, working conditions and, where applicable, accommodation and transport. Your individual employment contract must reflect it.

The contract must be concluded in writing in Romanian and in the language of your country of origin or another international language you understand. A contract offered to you only in Romanian is not compliant, and the employer faces an administrative fine for it. The contract must be registered in the national employee register before the single application is submitted, and your salary must be paid into your bank account rather than in cash.

Read what you sign. If the contract differs from what you were promised- a lower salary, a different town, different hours, unexpected deductions verbally raise it before signing, not after arrival.

WorkinRomania.gov.ro and the Single-Application Procedure

The official Government platform sits within the service hub of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is the mandatory channel for employer registration and authorisation, placement-agency authorisation, and the submission of single applications. It has been formally launched and is being rolled out in stages, so the exact functionality available at any moment should be confirmed for your case.

The single application replaced the former employment and secondment permits. It is filed by the employer or the authorised agency, never by you, and it consolidates in one flow the checks that previously required separate procedures. The authorities verify the employer, the agency involved, working, salary, and accommodation conditions, your eligibility and qualifications, and compliance with the annual quota where applicable. The decision is communicated through the platform, and a refusal must state reasons.

Because the platform is the official channel, you can use it to check that an agency claiming to represent you actually holds authorisation. The public register of placement agencies is searchable, and checking it costs nothing.

The D/AM1 Route

D/AM1 covers highly qualified workers engaged for a minimum of six months, together with specified categories including certain teaching, scientific and artistic activities, professional athletes contracted to a sports structure, and citizens of the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the Republic of Serbia on a full-time contract. The registered employer files it directly, and there is no shortage-occupation restriction. For the highly qualified category, the salary must be at least the average gross earnings, and the employer must show it tried to fill the role from the domestic or EU labour market.

The D/AM2 Route

D/AM2 covers permanent workers on fixed-term or open-ended contracts, seasonal workers and cross-border workers from neighbouring states employed in Romanian border localities. Your occupation must appear on the shortage occupations list, the salary must be at least the guaranteed minimum gross base salary, and the application is filed by an authorised placement agency on the employer’s behalf or by an employer holding authorised-employer status. Most production, construction, logistics, hospitality and agricultural recruitment runs through this route.

Shortage Occupations and the Annual Quota

The shortage occupations list is approved by order of the Minister of Labour and published in the Official Gazette, updated periodically. Its entries are tied to national occupational classification codes rather than to job titles, so a role that sounds eligible must still be matched to a specific code. Separately, the Government sets an annual quota of newly admitted foreign workers; compliance with it is checked when an application is examined, and it may be supplemented during the year if the limit is reached. Any recruiter can influence neither the list nor the quota.

The Romania Work-Visa Process

Consular Application

Approval of the single application does not let you travel. You must attend the Romanian diplomatic mission or consular office in your country of origin or residence in person, presenting your original travel document and the supporting evidence the mission requires, and apply for the D/AM1 or D/AM2 visa. Biometric data a facial image and fingerprints are collected at this stage, with limited exemptions. Where your fingerprints were taken for an earlier long-stay application within the preceding fifty-nine months, they may be reused.

The long-stay work visa is granted for ninety days. For seasonal workers, it is granted for the anticipated contract duration plus five days, capped at ninety. Appointment availability, document requirements and processing vary considerably by consular jurisdiction, and no mission can be asked to guarantee a date or an outcome. Consular fees are set in the legislation on consular services and fees, and current amounts should be checked on the official Ministry of Foreign Affairs and electronic visa pages.

Travel to Romania

Travel arrangements depend on what your job offer and any written agreement provide. In some cases the employer or coordinating parties arrange or fund travel; in others you do. What matters is that the arrangement is stated clearly before you depart and never becomes a charge disguised as a fee. Where an employer holds authorised-employer status, it must organise transport from your point of entry into Romania to the workplace or accommodation. It must inform you of the relevant conditions at least ten days before arrival in a language you know.

Single Permit and Residence

The visa authorises entry and an initial stay. Before it expires, you must apply to the territorial formation of the General Inspectorate for Immigration in the county where you live for the single permit or, if you qualify as a highly qualified worker, the EU Blue Card. The file typically covers your travel document, the visa, the registered employment contract, proof of lawful accommodation, health insurance and payment of the applicable charges.

The application is resolved within thirty days, extendable by up to fifteen days where additional checks are needed and by a further thirty days in exceptional circumstances. The residence right is granted for a period equal to the validity of your contract, capped at two years at a time, and renewal must be applied for before the current permit expires. Missing that deadline is one of the most common and most damaging errors a worker can make.

Accommodation and Relocation

Accommodation terms should be confirmed against the firm job offer and the contract before you depart, including exactly what you will pay. For seasonal workers, the employer must ensure accommodation of an adequate standard for the whole anticipated stay, supported by an authenticated declaration, and where rent is charged it must not be excessive relative to your net salary or deducted automatically. Your employer must also provide Romanian-language courses including cultural and social integration content for at least six months from the start of your recorded activity, for at least six hours a week.

Ask where the accommodation actually is in relation to the workplace. A room in one town serving a factory in another needs a reliable transport arrangement, and it is far easier to establish that before departure than afterwards.

Your Rights as a Worker in Romania

• Equal treatment. The same pay and working conditions as a Romanian worker doing the same job.
• A written, bilingual contract in Romanian and a language you understand, reflecting the firm job offer.
• Salary paid into your bank account, not in cash, on the frequency stated in the contract.
• Health and safety protection and induction training under Romanian occupational safety law.
• Language and integration courses provided by the employer for the statutory minimum period.
• Confidential access to complaint and abuse-reporting procedures, including through the official Government platform.
• Protection from charges. No employer, agency or intermediary may demand a commission, fee, deposit or guarantee from you in connection with employment.
• Your own documents. Your passport belongs to you.

Salary, Working Hours and Deductions

Salary must be at least the guaranteed minimum gross base salary, and at least the average gross earnings for highly qualified workers. Beyond those floors, salary, working hours, overtime, leave, accommodation, food, transport, insurance, contract length and deductions vary by employer, occupation, contract, location and applicable Romanian law. We do not publish figures for them, because any figure quoted in the abstract would be misleading. Your own terms are the ones written in your firm job offer and contract, and those are the only ones that bind anybody.

Avoiding Recruitment Fraud

Workers moving internationally for low-paid or seasonal work are the people most often targeted by recruitment fraud, so this section deserves your attention more than any other on the page.

Treat these as warning signs.

• Any request for money: a registration fee, a processing fee, a deposit, a “visa fee” paid to an intermediary, or a payment routed through a personal account. Charging you for a job is prohibited by Romanian law.
• A guaranteed job, guaranteed visa or guaranteed approval. Nobody can lawfully promise these.
• A request to hand over your passport for safekeeping. This is a recognised indicator of exploitation and trafficking.
• A contract offered only in Romanian, or no written contract at all.
• A salary offered in cash, or terms that differ from what you were told verbally.
• Pressure to sign or pay quickly, or to travel before your visa is issued.
• An agency that will not name the Romanian employer or show its own authorisation.
• An offer to enter Romania on a tourist visa and “sort out the paperwork later”. This is unlawful and leaves you with no protection.
• A suggestion that a Romanian visa will let you work in another country. It will not.

What to do instead. Check the agency’s authorisation in the public register on the official Government platform. Ask for the employer’s name and verify the company exists. Insist on a written bilingual contract before departure. Keep copies of every document you sign. Never pay anyone for a job. If you are already in Romania and something is wrong, contact the Labour Inspection or the General Inspectorate for Immigration, use the confidential reporting channel your employer is required to provide, and in an emergency call 112.

Who Does What

Your Responsibilities

• Provide genuine, complete and accurate documents. One falsified document ends the process and can affect future applications.
• Hold a travel document valid for the intended contract period.
• Attend the consular appointment in person and provide biometric data where required.
• Apply for the residence document after arrival within the deadline, and for renewal before your permit expires.
• Notify the immigration authority of any change of address, employer or contract status.
• Work for the employer named in your file, under the agreed contract.
• Ask questions before departure rather than after arrival.

The Romanian Employer’s Responsibilities

• Hold the correct status on the Government platform before recruiting you.
• Issue the firm job offer with the genuine conditions of employment, and make the hiring decision.
• Provide equal pay and conditions, paid by bank transfer.
• Conclude the bilingual contract and register it in the national employee register.
• Provide induction, health and safety training and, where offered, decent accommodation on the stated terms.
• Provide language and integration courses for the statutory minimum period.
• Give you confidential access to complaint and abuse-reporting procedures.
• Report absences, contract termination and any risk to you within the deadlines set by law.

The Authorised Placement Agency’s Responsibilities

Where the law requires one, an authorised placement agency files the single application, provides correct and complete information to workers, monitors working and accommodation conditions under its contract with the employer, must not charge you illegal fees, and must report suspected trafficking or exploitation immediately. The National Employment Agency grants authorisation, lasts two years and is publicly verifiable. An agency operating without it is acting unlawfully.

What AtoZ Serwis Plus Does

• Reviews candidate profiles and matches them against documented employer requirements.
• Explains which legal route applies and what documents your case will need.
• Coordinates screening, assessments and interview scheduling with the employer.
• Reviews document files for consistency before submission.
• Guides you on the consular requirements published by the competent mission.
• Coordinates arrival and residence formalities where these form part of the agreed service.
• Tells you the actual status of your file, including when an authority has not yet decided.

What AtoZ Serwis Plus Does Not Do

We are not a job provider, not your Romanian employer, and not an authorised Romanian placement agency. We are not a government-approved company, a representative of Romanian authorities, a visa or work-permit authority, or a consular appointment provider. Where Romanian law requires an authorised placement agency, we coordinate with appropriately authorised partners according to the case.

We do not guarantee a job, an interview, employer selection, an employment contract, a work visa, a residence permit, a consular appointment, a processing time, quota availability, a salary or accommodation. We do not issue employment offers or contracts in our own name, and we cannot accelerate or influence a government decision. We claim no relationship with any Romanian authority or diplomatic mission. And we do not charge workers for jobs.

The Eight-Step Candidate Process

1. Candidate registration. You submit a profile with your occupation, experience, qualifications, languages and availability. Outcome: a profile that can be matched against real requirements.
2. Profile and document review. We check whether your experience, qualifications and obtainable documents fit the routes available. Outcome: an honest view of your eligibility, including where it is weak.
3. Vacancy matching. Your profile is put forward only against a documented employer requirement, never speculatively. Outcome: a specific role to be considered for, or an explanation of why not yet.
4. Screening or trade assessment. Experience, licences and language are verified, and a practical test is arranged where the employer wants one. Outcome: a shortlisting decision.
5. Employer interview. The Romanian employer interviews you, usually by video, with interpretation where needed. Outcome: the employer’s decision.
6. Employer selection and contract. The firm job offer is finalised and the bilingual contract prepared, signed and registered. Outcome: a signed, registered employment contract.
7. Immigration and consular coordination. The single application is filed by the party the law designates, and you are prepared for the consular appointment. Outcome: a submitted application and a prepared candidate.
8. Travel, arrival, onboarding and residence support. Travel planning, arrival, workplace induction and the residence application. Outcome: lawful employment in Romania under the agreed conditions.

Important Disclaimer

AtoZ Serwis Plus provides information, recruitment coordination and immigration support. Registration does not guarantee a vacancy or a job, and candidate profiles are reviewed rather than automatically accepted. Romanian employers make final hiring decisions, and all job terms come from the genuine Romanian employer. The competent Romanian authorities decide immigration applications. AtoZ Serwis Plus does not guarantee jobs, interviews, contracts, visas, work permits, appointments, processing times, quota availability, residence permits, salaries, accommodation or government approvals. Requirements depend on the employer, occupation, candidate, nationality, documents and individual case. Service scope, commercial terms, payment conditions, and any applicable refund provisions are confirmed in a written agreement.

Taking the Next Step

The people who work in Romania successfully are usually the ones who understood the process before they committed to it: which route applies to their occupation, which documents their own country can actually issue, what the contract really says, and which parts of the timeline nobody controls. None of that is glamorous, but it is what separates a lawful job from a costly disappointment.

If you want to work in Romania and you can evidence your experience and obtain your documents, register your profile. We will tell you honestly whether your occupation is realistic, what the process would involve for someone in your position, and where the difficulties lie. If the answer is that we cannot help, we will say so rather than keep you waiting.