Romania Work Visa 2026: New Rules Start August 8

Romania’s Entire Work Visa System Changes on 8 August — and Your Job Title Now Decides Whether You Qualify

If you are waiting on a Romania work visa, or you have paid an agent to arrange one, the next few days matter more than the last few months. Romania’s old work-permit framework applies only until 7 August 2026, and from 8 August the entire process moves onto a new government platform, WorkinRomania.gov.ro. Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 abolishes the old employment and secondment approvals and replaces them with a single application handled through that platform.

That is the administrative half of the story. The half that decides whether you personally can come is simpler and harsher: for most jobs, your occupation now has to appear on a list drawn up by the Ministry of Labour. If it does not appear, no employer can bring you in under the general labour route — no matter how badly they want to hire you.

Quick answer: From 8 August 2026, Romania replaces work permits with a single online application on WorkinRomania.gov.ro. The D/AM visa splits into D/AM1 for highly qualified workers, with no quota, and D/AM2 for general labour, which is capped by an annual quota of 90,000 for 2026 and limited to occupations on the official shortage list.

What actually changes on 8 August

Romania’s new rules have been legally in force since publication in the Official Gazette, but full operation waits on the platform going live, and until then applications continue under the previous process. During the testing phase the platform has been handling employer registrations and authorisations; the filing of actual single applications becomes operational on 8 August 2026.

The practical changes for an applicant:

• One file, two ministries. The platform checks the conditions within a maximum of 30 days, after which the candidate is seen at the Romanian diplomatic mission in their own country, which decides the visa within a further maximum of 30 days. The long-stay visa fee is EUR 300.
• Your employer must be on the system. All employers have to register on the platform.
• Secondment from a non-EU company is closed. Third-country nationals can no longer be posted to Romania from non-EU companies.

D/AM1 or D/AM2 — find yourself before you do anything else

This is the single most important distinction in the new law, and most applicants have never heard of it.

The old framework is replaced by two long-stay visa types: D/AM1 for highly qualified workers and special categories, which is not subject to the quota or the shortage list; and D/AM2 for general labour, which is subject to both an annual quota and the new List of Shortage Occupations.

D/AM1 covers highly qualified workers, specialists with particular qualifications, professional athletes, citizens of Moldova, Ukraine and Serbia, and workers on infrastructure projects. D/AM2 covers permanent, seasonal and cross-border workers, and can only be used for occupations included in the shortage list maintained by the national employment agency, ANOFM.

Read that again if you are a welder, driver, courier, cook, warehouse worker or construction labourer. You are D/AM2. The quota applies to you. The list applies to you.

The shortage occupations list: 236 jobs, and what’s on it

Here is the part that has only been reported in Romanian until now. At the end of July 2026 the Ministry of Labour published the draft List of Shortage Occupations for this year, containing 236 trades for which Romanian employers will be able to recruit workers from outside the EU, under the methodology approved by Order 987/2026.

The ministry used cumulative criteria set out in that methodology, approved on 21 July 2026, and analysed vacancies declared by employers and registered with ANOFM. Of the 236 occupations, 217 met every criterion; another 19 were added because the number of registered jobseekers is far below the declared vacancies — a ratio of one available person or fewer for every two open posts.

Reporting on the draft document places goods handler first and courier second, followed by unskilled workers in building demolition, masonry, mosaic, tiling and parquet work, with welders appearing at number eleven. The draft also covers cleaning staff, hospitality workers, drivers, bricklayers and painters — skilled and unskilled roles alike, across several sectors of the economy.

One honest caveat, because it affects your timing: the list and the draft ministerial order approving it were placed in public consultation, and as of late July the procedural framework had been approved while the list itself had not yet been formally published — the next stage being to centralise the data and settle which occupations are officially recognised as short of labour. Until it appears in the Official Gazette, treat the 236 figure as a strong indication, not a guarantee. The platform has been showing an indicative list during testing, based on ANOFM data.

The list is revised every six months, using data from ANOFM, the Labour Inspectorate and the Immigration Inspectorate, after consultation with employers’ organisations and unions. So a “no” this year is not permanent.

The 90,000 quota — and why applying early is not optional

Romania’s quota of newly admitted foreign workers for 2026 is 90,000, set by Government Decision 1169/2025 — down from 100,000 the year before. That 100,000 level had held from 2022 through 2025.

The annual quota is fixed by government decision on the Labour Ministry’s proposal, and can be topped up by a further decision if the limit is reached during the year. A top-up is possible. It is not promised.

Demand for non-EU staff remains concentrated in construction, manufacturing, hospitality and logistics or delivery, and the quota can run out during the year, so files are best started early. With the system restarting on 8 August and thousands of employers filing at once, the first weeks of the new platform are likely to be the busiest of the year.

Who is legally allowed to hire you now

The new law draws a hard line between two kinds of employer, and this is where a lot of applicants are about to lose money to people who cannot legally file anything.

Registered employers are primarily eligible for D/AM1. Authorised employers can access D/AM2 directly, but must generally show an average of at least 50 employees in the previous year and 24 months of continuous activity. The additional conditions include activity in a sector compatible with the shortage list, no more than 20% of non-EU workers in an irregular situation in the preceding year, no sanctions for undeclared work in the previous 24 months, and a financial guarantee of EUR 1,000 per non-EU worker before the authorisation is issued.

Most general-labour hiring will therefore run through agencies. The standard D/AM2 route is a registered employer hiring through a placement agency licensed by ANOFM, with a tripartite placement contract signed between the agency, the employer and the non-EU worker. For the first time, the ordinance regulates placement agencies in a single framework, subjecting them to ANOFM authorisation and a financial guarantee of EUR 75,000.

Three questions to ask before you transfer anything to anyone:

1. Is the agency ANOFM-authorised, and can they show it?
2. Is my exact occupation on the shortage list?
3. Am I signing a tripartite contract naming the agency, the employer and me?

If the answer to any of those is vague, walk away. The €75,000 guarantee requirement will push unlicensed operators out of the legal process — but not out of your inbox.

What the new rules give workers, and what they take away

Some of the changes genuinely protect you:

• Your employment contract is signed in Romanian and in your own language, or an international language you understand, and the employer must provide Romanian language courses and cultural integration support for at least six months.
• Residence permits will display the employer’s unique registration code, the CUI, which makes it far harder for a worker to be quietly moved to a company that never hired them.

Others restrict you:

• Workers are tied to their initial employer for six months before any change.
• The minimum wage rose from 1 July 2026 to RON 4,325 gross per month, up from RON 4,050, and must be demonstrated as means of subsistence at the visa stage.

One useful detail for travel planning: holders of long-stay visas and residence permits, which will include future D/AM1 and D/AM2 holders, are exempt from the EU’s Entry/Exit System registration that applies to short stays.

Your checklist for this week

1. Confirm your occupation. Get the exact job title your employer intends to use and check it against the list on the platform once the ministerial order is published.
2. Confirm the route. D/AM1 if you are highly qualified — the quota does not touch you. D/AM2 for everything else.
3. Confirm the agency’s licence. ANOFM authorisation, in writing, before any payment.
4. Budget realistically. EUR 300 for the long-stay visa, plus the salary threshold you must be shown to meet.
5. Expect 2–4 months, not 2 weeks. The immigration decision runs to 30 days and the end-to-end process typically takes two to four months.
6. Keep a second country open. Poland, Croatia, Germany and the Gulf are all recruiting in the same trades.

Key Takeaways

• The new system is fully operational from 8 August 2026 on WorkinRomania.gov.ro; the old rules run until 7 August.
• D/AM1 (highly qualified) has no quota and no list. D/AM2 (general labour) has both.
• The draft shortage list carries 236 occupations, led by goods handlers and couriers, but had not yet been formally published at the time of writing.
• The 2026 quota is 90,000 — 10,000 fewer places than last year.
• Direct D/AM2 hiring needs a large, established employer; most workers will come through an ANOFM-licensed agency on a tripartite contract.
• Contracts must be bilingual, language support is compulsory for six months, and you cannot change employer for six months.

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