Romania · relocation router

Seven Roads to Romania: Which Path Fits You, and Which Myths to Ignore

Seven legal roads, only one fits you; agents will happily sell you all seven.

Three questions at most to your road, each with a checklist, a first official step, and one debunked myth. Figures checked 2026-09-19.

Quiz first, road second: every question follows an official rule, every exclusion is grounded; when no road fits, the page says so instead of forcing one.

This page summarises public information; it is not legal advice: rules change, so open the official links under each road and re-check against the dates shown before acting.

Quiz: which road is yours

Three questions at most, each tied to one official rule. At the end you get: your road, why the others do not fit, and which official page to open first.

Numbers: everything yearly lives here

Thresholds, fees, deadlines — every figure carries its legal reference and check date. Figures without provenance are not on this page.

Nomad threshold

Monthly income ≥ 3 × the national average gross wage. July 2026 math: 3 × 9,709 ＝ 29,127 lei/month (INSSE monthly gross series, checked 2026-09-19).

Blue Card salary line

Salary ≥ 4 × the national average gross wage (EU Immigration Portal Romania wording; the IGI page states no multiplier). Illustrative: about 38,836 lei/month at July 2026's 9,709 lei — illustrative, not official, checked 2026-09-19.

Visa fees (each for its own category only)

Long-stay visa for commercial activities: €300 (IGI business page); D/AS long-stay visa for other purposes: €300 (IGI other-purposes page); residence permit after entry: 265 lei permit cost ＋ €120 consular fee (IGI single-permit page). Checked 2026-09-19.

Means of support (rules, no fixed figures)

Reunification: the sponsor shows net minimum wage per family member (IGI); students: monthly means of at least the national minimum wage (Study in Romania). Exact amounts live on the official pages; this page invents no figures. Checked 2026-09-19.

Investment tranches (IGI business page)

€150,000/25 jobs and €200,000/50 jobs relax the means proof; €500,000/50＋ jobs give a 3-year stay. Administrator track: paid-up capital or technology transfer of at least €50,000. Checked 2026-09-19.

Deadlines (IGI ＋ WorkInRO)

Initial D visa: 90 days; IGI opinion: 30 days (＋15); general reunification decision: 3 months; students on a permit work 6 hours/day with no work permit. Checked 2026-09-19.

The seven roads: checklists, links, lies

Each road has three things: a document checklist, a first-official-step link, and the most common lie about it. P3 and P5 stay deliberately thin — depth lives in this site's deep guides.

P1 · Highly qualified work D/AM1

Transitional wording: the D/AM1 and D/AM2 texts come from the WorkinRomania platform, which describes itself as in testing/operationalization (banner confirmed at the 2026-09-19 check); wording may still change. The steps below follow the platform text; reopen the link before acting.

Higher education or advanced professional skills (e.g. IT, engineers, economists, managers).
An employer offering at least 6 months of work, under contract.
Also eligible: ministry-requested activities, teaching/scientific/artistic activities, professional athletes with a club contract, MD/UA/RS citizens on full-time contracts.
Salary must meet the legal threshold (the platform says a threshold exists but gives no figure — decided at verification).
Flow: employer registers → publishes a firm offer → files the single application → after approval you go to the consulate for D/AM1 (initially 90 days) → after entry you apply for the permit at IGI.

WorkinRomania visas page · IGI work page

The lie：A job offer gets you a work visa.

The fact：The offer is only step one: the employer must first file the single application on WorkinRomania and see it approved; only then do you go to the consulate. Anyone saying “pay up and it passes, no platform needed” is running a scam.

P2 · Permanent/seasonal/cross-border work D/AM2

Permanent workers (fixed or open-ended contracts: cooks, drivers, carpenters, electricians), seasonal workers (farming, by season), cross-border workers (neighbours in border localities).
The occupation must sit on the shortage-occupation list — a hard gate; check the list before anything else.
Usually through an authorised placement agency: service contract → recruitment → tripartite placement contract → the agency files the single application.
Exception: an authorised employer (R.A.A. registered) may file directly, without an agency.
After approval you go to the consulate for D/AM2 (initially 90 days), then the permit after entry; contracts are signed in Romanian plus a language you understand.

WorkinRomania visas page · Shortage-occupation list

The lie：Any occupation works for D/AM2.

The fact：Off the shortage list, D/AM2 fails outright; the list is public on WorkinRomania. “Inside channels, no need for the list” means made-up channels.

P3 · Highly qualified / EU Blue Card track

A contract with a Romanian employer, salary ≥ 4 × the national average gross wage (EU Immigration Portal Romania wording; the IGI page states no multiplier — the issuer's reading governs).
Illustrative: about 38,836 lei/month at July 2026's 9,709 lei — illustrative, not official.
After entry go to the IGI office in your county for a single permit or Blue Card: application, passport, proof of address, medical certificate, at least 30 days before the visa expires.
Fees: 265 lei at CEC Bank (permit cost) ＋ €120 consular fee (leu equivalent).
Decided in 30 days (extendable for checks); after 12 months on a Blue Card you may move to a second EU state under simplified rules. Full Blue Card and long-term residence conditions are on the EU portal page.

EU portal: highly qualified Romania · IGI single-permit page · This site's deep work-visa guide

The lie：A Blue Card means working anywhere in Schengen.

The fact：Not even then: in the second state you work only under its simplified rules and only after 12 months in the first state. A permit buys travel rights, not another state's work rights.

P4 · Study D/SD

First get admitted to an accredited Romanian institution and receive the Ministry of Education letter of acceptance.
With the letter go to the Romanian mission abroad for D/SD: the letter, tuition-fee proof, monthly means of at least the national minimum wage, medical insurance for the whole validity, criminal record; minors add parental consent.
Romanian-state scholars and ethnic Romanians are exempt from the means proof.
After entry apply for the student permit at IGI (usually 1 year); on a student permit you work 6 hours/day with no work permit.

Study in Romania: visa FAQ · Study in Romania: work FAQ

The lie：Enter on a Schengen visa and convert to a student permit later.

The fact：No conversion exists: D/SD is requested only at missions outside Romania; enter on C and want to study, and you leave and start over.

P5 · Digital nomad D/AS

The bar: monthly income ≥ 3 × the average gross wage; July 2026 math 3×9,709＝29,127 lei/month (INSSE, checked 2026-09-19).
The income must come from outside Romania (a foreign employer or company).
The category is the “long-stay visa for other purposes D/AS”, initially 90 days, then the permit after entry.
The full checklist and steps live in this site's deep nomad guide; this page keeps the bar and the links.

IGI other-purposes page (D/AS category) · This site's deep nomad guide

The lie：The nomad bar is €3,500.

The fact：There is no fixed euro figure: the formula is 3 × the average, the average rises yearly, and the bar with it. Pages quoting fixed euros run last year's math.

P6 · Family reunification

The sponsor: a temporary permit of at least 1 year, an EU Blue Card, an ICT permit, long-term residence, or protection (researchers and Blue Card holders qualify under 1 year too).
May join: spouse, unmarried minor children (including the spouse's, including adopted); first-degree parents who cannot support themselves and lack care at home; unmarried adult children unable to earn for medical reasons.
First step: the sponsor requests the IGI opinion in the county of residence: application, kinship documents (translated, legalised), cohabitation statement, sponsor permit copy, decent housing, net minimum wage per member, health insurance.
Decided in 3 months; with the approval notice the family goes to the consulate. Refugees use a separate IGI channel (9 months).

IGI reunification page (general channel) · IGI reunification page (refugees)

The lie：The family just buys plane tickets and comes over.

The fact：The IGI opinion comes first: insufficient income (net minimum per member) or substandard housing means refusal. The family does not enter before approval.

P7 · Business / company administrator

The correct name is the “long-stay visa for commercial activities”: business plan ＋ technical opinion of the Romanian Agency for Investments and Foreign Trade ＋ the MEIMMMA notice — all three, no exceptions.
Criminal record, travel medical insurance valid across Schengen of at least €30,000, proof of accommodation.
The visa fee is €300, paid in the state where you apply — for this category only, not a general figure.
Tranches: €150,000/25 jobs and €200,000/50 jobs relax the means proof; €500,000/50＋ jobs give a 3-year stay.
CEO/administrator track: at the request date and in the previous 2 years you were not an associate or shareholder of the company (or of any Romanian legal entity); the company holds paid-up capital or technology transfer of at least €50,000; one foreigner per company on this ground.

IGI business-activities page · IGI company-CEO page · IGI other-purposes page (administrator)

The lie：Register an empty company and collect residence.

The fact：The plan passes the Investment Agency's technical opinion: empty plans fail it. And the foreign-administrator slot is one per company — “turnkey company with guaranteed residence” is a classic scam.

Three things that are not roads

Listed separately because they trap the most people: none of them converts into residence.

Schengen C / visa-free entry

90 days at most, then you leave; it converts into no residence. Enter on C and want to stay, and you start from zero.

“Sort it out after entry”

Romania has no change-of-status-after-entry: every D visa is requested at consulates abroad.

Asylum without grounds

Without facts of persecution, keep off the asylum channel: slow, outside these seven roads, and it leaves traces.

A Romanian residence permit (or long-stay visa) lets you travel or stay in other Schengen states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period (EEAS Schengen FAQ Q13), but it does not by itself give you the right to work in another state — work rights come from that state's own permit. The exception is the EU Blue Card, whose holders may move to a second Member State under simplified rules only after 12 months in the first (EC Blue Card page). EEAS Schengen FAQ (PDF) · EC Blue Card page

eViza portal · This site's Schengen guide

Method & sources →

Method: where the numbers come from

Official first: IGI, the WorkinRomania platform, Study in Romania, the EU Immigration Portal, the EEAS Schengen FAQ. Every figure carries its source and the 2026-09-19 check date.
Transition flagged: the WorkinRomania platform calls itself testing/operationalization, so the P1/P2 cards carry the warning; it stays until the banner goes.
No figure, no invention: minimum wage, the official Blue Card figure in lei — where the official pages state no numbers, the page states only the rule.
P3 and P5 stay deliberately thin: depth lives in the deep guides; here remain the bar, the list, and the links.

Source footnotes

The full claim-by-claim ledger sits on the method and sources page. The old eViza /NeedVisa path was dead at 2026-09-19 (404), so the page links only the eViza home; the Blue Card directive text on EUR-Lex was behind the anti-bot wall (AWS WAF) that day, so the 12-month sentence follows the EC Blue Card page.