Eligibility & suitability
Who can qualify
- Qualifying remote employee of a company registered outside Romania
- Remote owner of a foreign company registered by the applicant at least three years before the visa application
- Applicant meeting each month’s required income and documentary conditions
Restrictions & unsuitable cases
- Newly formed owned foreign company under the three-year company branch
- Local employment presented as foreign remote work
- Assuming the visa exempts all personal or company income
Prepare a remote-work residence application
Stages are dependencies, not an end-to-end completion promise. Appointment availability, additional evidence and third-party decisions can change the schedule.
01Confirm the correct remote-work branchBefore making the move
Verify the legal employer or company ownership/history and the actual nature of work. Review family and tax objectives at the same time.
Documents & evidence
- Foreign contract or registry file
- Company ownership/history
- Household plan
- Assuming any freelancer qualifies
- Ignoring the three-year owned-company condition
02Establish the income and clearance recordSix months of preceding income evidence
Confirm the benchmark and evidence accepted for every month; obtain official tax and criminal documents and translations.
Documents & evidence
- Monthly income proof
- Tax clearance
- Criminal records
- Translations/legalisation
- Relying only on a current bank balance
- Company turnover not explaining personal qualifying income
03Submit the long-stay visa fileIGI opinion: up to 30 days, with a possible 15-day extension
Complete the visa file and the separate consular steps. The published opinion period does not include document preparation, appointment delays or every visa-processing step. The visa ordinarily authorises 90 days; the current visa fee is €300, with other costs separate.
Documents & evidence
- Passport
- Letter of intention
- Housing
- Insurance
- Travel evidence
- Narrow insurance territory or excluded repatriation
- Treating an internal opinion deadline as total processing time
04Apply for the first residence extensionFile at least 30 days before visa-authorised stay expires
Provide continuing activity, income, local address and health evidence. The first extension is six months. IGI states a 30-day decision period with up to 15 additional days for checks; a missing-document request can suspend the clock.
Documents & evidence
- Application and passport
- Foreign work/company evidence
- Continuing qualifying income
- Legal address evidence
- Health coverage and medical certificate
- Applicable fee evidence
- Expecting an automatic one-year initial card
- Starting family sponsorship without checking sponsor validity
05Monitor days and continued eligibilityThroughout the stay; renewal at least 30 days before expiry
Track travel days, contract/company changes, qualifying income and tax obligations. Reassess the plan when the intended stay lengthens.
Documents & evidence
- Travel log
- Renewal evidence
- Tax-residence assessment
- Updated contracts
- Treating nomad status as a general foreign-income exemption
- Overlooking foreign-company management from Romania
Document checklist
Track your preparation in this browser. Final requirements depend on the route and filing authority.
What kind of remote work qualifies?
The route concerns work performed remotely using information and communications technology for a company registered outside Romania, or remote operation of the applicant’s own foreign company. The owned-company branch requires the company to have been registered by the applicant abroad at least three years before the visa application. A newly created foreign company does not automatically qualify.
This is not a general permission to take a Romanian job or to conduct any local freelance activity. Read the proposed contracts against the immigration definition before presenting the applicant as a digital nomad. A person who actually needs Romanian employment or a local operating business should compare the corresponding route.
The threshold tests each preceding month
The applicant must demonstrate activity-derived means of at least three times Romania’s monthly average gross earnings for each of the six months before the visa application and for the visa period. A single unusually profitable month does not necessarily repair five deficient months. The benchmark is not the statutory minimum salary, and it should not be replaced with an old fixed euro amount.
This guide publishes the legal multiplier, not an unverified numeric immigration benchmark. Before filing, obtain confirmation of the applicable reference amount and the accepted proof of income, particularly where salary, dividends and company revenue differ. Turnover belonging to a company is not automatically the applicant’s personal qualifying income. Keep the contract, pay records, bank evidence and company documentation consistent.
Prepare translations, tax clearance and company history
IGI asks for the foreign contract or owned-company evidence, company identification and ownership/representative details, and a letter describing the intended stay and remote activity. Its current checklist requires authenticated Romanian translations for the specified documents. A simple website printout is not equivalent to official company and tax evidence.
A certificate from the competent tax authority must address payment of taxes and mandatory contributions and the specified tax-evasion/fraud record, with apostille or legalisation where applicable. Criminal-record evidence can be required from both the origin country and the country of lawful residence in the stated circumstances. These documents can take longer to obtain than the application form itself.
The file also includes accommodation, travel evidence and medical insurance. IGI’s general current visa wording requires coverage throughout the member states, including emergency care and repatriation, with at least €30,000 cover; its nomad checklist also refers to Romanian coverage. Obtain a policy meeting the broader applicable visa requirement rather than assuming a limited domestic policy will suffice.
| Evidence group | What to check before ordering |
|---|---|
| Foreign work or company | Remote nature, legal employer, ownership and three-year company history where relevant |
| Six months of income | Each month, applicable benchmark, personal income rather than unexplained company turnover |
| Tax and criminal records | Issuing authority, countries covered, apostille/legalisation and translations |
| Practical stay | Housing right, travel plan and compliant medical cover |
The first residence extension is six months
The long-stay visa ordinarily covers 90 days. The current IGI nomad guidance states that the first temporary-residence extension is for six months; it should not be advertised as an automatic initial one-year card. Further extensions require continuing qualifying activity, income and the current tax-authority evidence, alongside general residence conditions.
Submit the residence file at least 30 days before the stay authorised by the visa expires. IGI states a 30-day decision period, extendable by up to 15 days for additional checks. A request for missing or unsuitable information can suspend that clock; IGI may give up to 30 days for the response. These decision periods exclude preparing the file and obtaining appointments. Keep the foreign work relationship and company circumstances under review after arrival.
| Stage | Published period | What the period covers |
|---|---|---|
| IGI opinion for the long-stay visa | Up to 30 days, plus up to 15 days if extended | Internal opinion after receiving the request; not the complete consular journey |
| Long-stay visa | 90 days | Authorised initial stay; not the residence-card validity |
| First residence application | At least 30 days before visa-authorised stay expires | Filing deadline, not an invitation to wait until the final month |
| Residence decision | 30 days; up to 15 extra days for checks | Missing-document requests can suspend the clock |
| First nomad residence extension | Six months | Continuing eligibility still required |
| Renewal | File at least 30 days before current permission expires | Current activity, income, housing and health evidence; later renewals also require tax-authority income evidence |
The short-stay exception is narrow
Romania has a specific exemption for qualifying digital-nomad salary and the associated specified social-contribution treatment where the presence limit does not exceed 183 days in the relevant consecutive 12-month period ending in the calendar year. This is not a blanket exemption for dividends, gains, company profit or every remote contractor. Eligibility must be checked against the immigration definition and the precise tax provisions.
Do not confuse a limited tax exception with an immigration permission to stay, or assume a six-month card guarantees a particular day-count result. Review arrival/departure days and worldwide-residence rules. If the owner makes a foreign company’s strategic decisions from Romania, corporate residence or establishment questions can arise independently of the individual salary exception.
Check family eligibility before planning a joint move
The ordinary national family-reunification rule generally requires a sponsor’s temporary permit to be valid for one year, with specified exceptions such as the Blue Card. Since the nomad route’s first extension is six months, immediate spouse sponsorship must not be promised. Obtain a case-specific assessment of the sponsor’s actual status and the family’s independent options.
For a qualifying family application, relationship, custody, suitable accommodation, insurance and maintenance evidence still matter. An unmarried partner does not automatically fall into the ordinary spouse category. We can coordinate the household’s immigration and tax plan, while the authority decides eligibility and approval.
Sources & research notes5 references
Sources supporting this guide. Research draft awaiting editorial review.