The foreign citizen who has entered the territory of Romania will have to obtain a single permit. The single permit is the document that certifies the right to stay in Romania and can be obtained from the territorial units of the General Inspectorate for Immigration. 

To obtain the single permit, a series of documents must be submitted at least 30 days before the expiry of the right of residence granted by the visa.

The extension of the right of residence is made for the following categories of foreign citizens: those on secondment; foreigners employed by a legal entity with headquarters in an E.U. or S.E.E. member state, seconded in Romania; foreigners who are heads of representative offices or branches/subsidiaries and those who obtain it for employment in Romania.

The procedure for obtaining the single permit for the last category of foreign citizens will be detailed below. 

According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration, the first single permit or the first extension of the right of residence is obtained by submitting a series of documents, the most important of which is the individual employment contract based on which the foreign citizen is employed and a print screen from the General Register of Employees in the section containing data on the individual employment contract, signed by the employer.

The application for granting or extending the right of residence for employment will be settled within 30 days from the date of submission. 

If the General Inspectorate for Immigration considers that additional verifications are necessary or the documents submitted are not adequate or are incomplete, it will request the additional information or documents, and the deadline for the solution of the application may be extended by a maximum of 15 days. If the applicant has not provided the additional information or documents by the deadline, the application may be rejected.

If the foreigner’s employment relationship ends before the expiry of the period for which the single permit was issued, it will be valid until the expiry of the period for which it was issued, but not longer than the period during which the foreigner is receiving unemployment benefit or not more than 90 days from the date of registration of the end of the employment relationship if the foreigner is not receiving unemployment benefit.

The right of temporary stay for work purposes is extended for a period equal to the period of validity of the individual employment contract, but not more than one year.

The right of temporary stay for work purposes is extended to highly qualified workers for a period equal to the period of validity of the employment contract plus 3 months, but not more than 2 years.

The extension of the single permit is made at least 30 days before the expiry of the previous one, and in this case it will be necessary to submit proof of the salary entered in the individual employment contract.

Thus, the salary included in the individual employment contract of foreign national workers must be at the level of the minimum gross wage in the economy, and in the case of highly qualified workers, it must be at least twice the average gross wage in the economy.

Foreign citizens who benefit from a right of residence on the Romanian territory will be able to apply for an extension of the right of residence for work purposes, after obtaining a work permit, without the obligation to obtain a long-stay visa for employment.

Author: Atty. Felicia Cioflan