Romania

The standard route for tourism, family visits, conferences, contract negotiations, short courses and cultural events. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens enter freely; nationals of the UK, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and most Latin American and Gulf countries enter visa-free with a Schengen-compliant passport. Nationalities that do require a visa apply at a Romanian embassy or consulate, or at a designated visa application centre, with the standard Schengen documentation — and a Schengen visa issued by another member state is valid for Romania. The Entry/Exit System captures biometric data at the first crossing; ETIAS adds a pre-travel authorisation step for visa-exempt passports as it phases in.

Required for paid employment in Romania, and the order of operations matters: the Romanian employer must first obtain a work permit from the General Inspectorate for Immigration on the hire's behalf, with separate annual quotas by category, before the worker can apply. With the permit in hand the application goes to a Romanian embassy or consulate with the contract, qualifications, criminal-record certificate and standard documentation, and the in-country residence permit is applied for after arrival. Common profiles are IT and software — Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timișoara have a substantial English-speaking tech sector — along with engineering, shared-services centres, healthcare, hospitality and seasonal work on the Black Sea coast and in the Carpathian resorts.

For full-time study at Romanian universities. The institution issues the admission letter first; the application then needs that letter, proof of paid tuition where applicable, accommodation evidence, financial means at the published level for the period of study, and comprehensive health insurance. Romania's medical schools are the significant draw here — several run substantial English-language and French-language degree programmes that attract students from across Europe and the Middle East, at tuition well below Western European equivalents, which is why the country has a far larger international student population than most visitors would guess.

For non-EU spouses, registered partners and children of Romanian citizens, of EU citizens exercising free-movement rights in Romania, or of permit-holding non-EU residents. Filed at a Romanian embassy or consulate with relationship evidence — marriage, registered partnership, joint cohabitation or birth certificates — together with accommodation and means-of-support documentation that in most categories applies to the sponsor rather than the applicant, plus a criminal-record certificate. The in-country residence permit follows from the General Inspectorate for Immigration after arrival.

For remote workers and freelancers employed by non-Romanian companies or running businesses based outside Romania. The minimum monthly income is set as a multiple of the Romanian average gross salary and must have been sustained over the preceding six months — check the current threshold on the official portal rather than working from a figure. Documentation covers the foreign employment contract or business registration, salary or invoice statements, a clean criminal record, health insurance valid in Romania and accommodation evidence. The holder cannot work for Romanian employers without a separate work permit. Cluj-Napoca, Bucharest, Brașov and Timișoara have well-established remote-worker communities, and Romania's fixed and mobile internet has ranked at the top of European speed indexes for the better part of a decade.

Two further long-stay routes. The Type D self-employment visa suits founders relocating an existing business or starting a new one, and asks for a business plan, evidence of sector experience, capital sufficient to support both the company and the applicant through at least the first year of operations, and supporting market and tax documentation. The commercial-activity visa is the separate route for non-EU directors and shareholders of a company already registered in Romania, filed with proof of that registration and of the applicant's role in it.