Independent guide for foreign workers · no recruitmentEnglish · नेपाली · বাংলা · සිංහල
From the first offer to life in Romania

Working in Romania

Read the guide in order or go straight to your question. Each section links to a dated claim and its source.

RO-OFFER-001 · verified 11 August 2026

A job has been offered to me

Do not begin with the visa. Begin with identities and terms. Write down the exact legal name of the Romanian employer, the recruiter or agency in your country, any Romanian placement agency, the occupation, workplace, salary, hours, accommodation, transport and every amount you are asked to pay. Different names on different documents are not automatically fraud, but they are a reason to understand who each actor is before paying or travelling.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

RO-FEE-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Before you pay anyone

Separate an official fee from money demanded by a recruiter. Romanian official guidance says an authorised placement agency in Romania may not charge the worker a placement commission, fee, charge, guarantee or deposit. That rule does not automatically answer whether a payment to a company in Kathmandu, Dhaka or Colombo is lawful. Identify the recipient, legal entity, purpose and country; insist on a receipt; preserve the message asking for payment.

This statement is about an authorised Romanian placement agency. It does not by itself determine the legality of every payment to an overseas intermediary.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

RO-OFFER-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Your firm job offer

Treat the firm offer as a checklist. Current Romanian guidance says it should make core terms explicit: occupation, qualification level, duration, working time, gross and net salary, payment method and date, leave, working conditions, taxes and contributions, health and safety and, where relevant, accommodation, transport and repatriation. If a term that matters to your decision is vague, ask for it in writing before departure.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

RO-LANG-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Your contract and its language

You should not have to guess what you are signing. Current WorkinRomania guidance says the employment contract, and the placement contract when applicable, must be available in Romanian plus the language of your country of origin or an international language you understand. Preserve the version you received before travel. A later contract can then be compared with it.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania · Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

RO-PROC-002 · verified 11 August 2026

Which Romanian route applies

The current system describes D/AM1 and D/AM2 routes. D/AM1 mainly covers specified highly qualified and special categories and is managed through the Romanian employer. D/AM2 covers permanent, seasonal and cross-border workers in shortage occupations and is normally handled through an authorised placement agency, with an authorised-employer exception. The single application is not filed personally by the worker.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

RO-VISA-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Visa: know the official fee

The Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs currently lists the long-stay D visa processing fee as €300 for applications submitted for validation from 27 April 2026. That is an official visa-processing fee. Other genuine costs may exist, but a recruiter saying “visa fee” does not make an arbitrary amount an official Romanian fee. Ask what each payment is for and to whom it is paid.

Source Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

RO-INFO-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Before you travel

Keep your own copies of the job advertisement, recruiter messages, firm offer, employment/placement contract, payment receipts, passport and visa pages, accommodation promise and contact details of every company involved. Store a copy somewhere the employer or recruiter cannot remove from you. For agency-placed workers, current Romanian guidance says essential information must be provided at least 10 days before arrival.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

RO-EVID-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Arrival in Romania

After arrival, compare reality with the written record: employer, workplace, job, hours, pay, accommodation and deductions. Do not discard pre-departure messages once you receive a Romanian contract. They may be the only record of what was represented to you before you travelled. For longer stay, the residence process is handled with IGI; check your deadline and status directly.

This is a reading rule for this guide, not a statement of Romanian law. Matching documents only tells you that the documents agree; it does not prove that the job is safe or lawful.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania · Council of Europe

RO-OFFER-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Salary, deductions and payslips

Keep every payslip or payment record and compare it with the net salary and payment date in the offer/contract. If money is deducted, ask what the deduction is, where it appears in your documents and what legal/contractual basis is being used. A single number advertised as “salary” is not enough: distinguish gross salary, net salary, overtime and deductions.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

RO-MIN-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Minimum wage and the number on your offer

From 1 July 2026 the national gross minimum base salary is 4,325 lei/month under Government Decision 146/2026, excluding bonuses and additions. That is a general national floor, not a promise that every lawful job can use exactly that figure: sectoral, occupation-specific or immigration requirements may demand more. Compare gross with gross and net with net; never compare a recruiter’s “take-home” number directly with the statutory gross floor.

Sectoral, job-specific or immigration salary thresholds can be higher; this is the national general floor described by the cited decision.

Source Romanian Government / Legislative Portal

RO-TIME-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Working time, overtime, rest and leave

Romanian Labour Inspectorate guidance states the normal full-time schedule is 8 hours/day and 40 hours/week; maximum working time is generally 48 hours/week including overtime subject to averaging rules. A 12-hour day is followed by 24 hours of rest. Overtime is normally compensated by paid time off within 90 days, or, where that cannot happen, by a salary supplement of at least 75% of base salary for that overtime. Minimum paid annual leave is 20 working days.

Source Romanian Labour Inspectorate · Romanian Labour Inspectorate

RO-HOUSE-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Accommodation

Write down what was promised: free, employer-paid, or worker-paid; room occupancy; utilities; transport; and exact monthly cost. Current WorkinRomania guidance says that where the employer provides accommodation, rent may not exceed 25% of net salary/net remuneration. Use our calculator only as a numerical check, not as a legal verdict.

The numerical ceiling is not an “all clear”; other legal, contractual and factual issues can still matter.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

RO-EVID-001 · verified 11 August 2026

If the job is different from the promise

Do not reduce the problem to “good job/bad job”. Record each term separately: promised → contract → actual. A different job title, salary, hours, accommodation cost or transport arrangement is a documentary mismatch even before anyone decides its legal significance. Preserve the originals and avoid altering screenshots.

This is a reading rule for this guide, not a statement of Romanian law. Matching documents only tells you that the documents agree; it does not prove that the job is safe or lawful.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania · Council of Europe

RO-CHANGE-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Changing employer or leaving

Do not rely on recruiter folklore about being “locked” to an employer, but do not assume you can resign without immigration consequences either. Current official guidance describes a general six-month rule for changing employer by resignation, with an exception for serious employer breach, and separate rules after termination. Because status and deadlines matter, confirm your individual position with IGI and obtain labour/legal advice before acting.

Immigration and labour consequences depend on the individual case; do not resign solely on the basis of this summary.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

RO-WARN-001 · verified 11 August 2026

Passport retention, threats or coercion

Official Romanian guidance itself lists passport retention and signing documents you do not understand as warning signs. If you are in immediate danger in Romania, use the emergency services. For labour, immigration, police or trafficking concerns, the competent route differs; our problem pages identify the appropriate institutions and preserve the distinction between a complaint and an emergency.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania

SRC-001 · verified 11 August 2026

What this site can and cannot tell you

We can tell you what current official guidance says, where a document differs from another document, which authority owns a process and what evidence to preserve. We cannot establish that a job is safe merely because documents match; we cannot decide the legality of an overseas recruitment payment from its amount alone; and we cannot replace individual legal or immigration advice.

Source Romanian Government / WorkinRomania