Citizeo
Pathway

Romania Skilled Worker Residence Card

Romania Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

This is an EU Blue Card residence pathway for highly qualified workers with a qualifying job offer in Romania. It generally requires higher education or equivalent experience, a compliant employment contract, and meeting salary rules.

Type
EU Blue Card or highly qualified work residence
Job fit
Highly qualified workers with a qualifying local job
Core requirements
Job contract, qualifications, and salary threshold proof
What to know
Salary and qualification rules are central
Salary requirement
€20,782 per year
Job offer required?
Yes

Summary

Romania’s EU Blue Card is a residence and work route for a non-EU/EEA/Swiss national taking a highly qualified job with a Romanian legal-entity employer. It requires a real full-time job, higher professional competence, and pay at or above Romania’s current average gross earnings benchmark.

For a first application from outside Romania, the normal sequence is:

  1. the Romanian employer obtains a highly qualified worker employment authorization from the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI);
  2. the worker uses that authorization to obtain a D/AM long-stay employment visa; and
  3. after arrival, the worker applies to the IGI for the EU Blue Card.

The employment contract must be full time and either indefinite or fixed for at least six months. The salary must be at least the Romanian average gross earnings figure used by the authorities. From 30 March 2026, the official social-insurance-budget benchmark is RON 9,192 gross per month. The employer should verify the operative benchmark again when filing because annual legislation can replace it.

The Blue Card is generally issued for the employment-contract period plus three months, with a maximum validity of three years. It provides more favorable EU mobility and long-term-residence rules than an ordinary Romanian work permit, but it remains tied to highly qualified employment and is not open work authorization from the first day.

Pathway fit check

Eligibility

The Romanian employer must be a legal person and must seek to fill a highly qualified position with a full-time contract of at least six months. Under the employment-authorization rules, the employer generally must show that it tried to fill the vacancy with a Romanian, EU/EEA/Swiss citizen, or Romanian long-term resident, unless a legal exemption applies.

The worker must meet the following core conditions:

Foreign diplomas may need formal recognition by the Romanian education authority. Experience-based qualification is technical and occupation-specific; an employer should not assume that a résumé can always replace a degree.

The salary threshold is not the Romanian minimum wage. It is the higher “average gross earnings” reference. CNPP states that the 2026 benchmark became RON 9,192 on 30 March 2026. The contract must maintain at least the benchmark that the IGI applies to the case.

There is also a mobility route for someone who already holds an EU Blue Card from another participating country. After 12 months of legal residence in the first member state—or after six months in a second member state—the holder may enter Romania for highly qualified work and apply for a Romanian Blue Card within one month, subject to a qualifying Romanian contract and documents. Short-term business mobility for up to 90 days in 180 is governed by separate rules.

What This Route Allows

The holder may live in Romania and perform the highly qualified job stated in the approved employment arrangement. The card can cover the contract term plus three months, up to three years, and can be renewed if the employment and all other conditions continue.

Family reunification is available. A first Romanian Blue Card applicant can begin the family process without waiting to hold a one-year card, and a Blue Card sponsor may apply for a spouse, qualifying minor children, and certain dependent relatives under Romania’s family-reunification rules. Each family member needs the required civil records, visa where applicable, insurance, accommodation, and residence card. The family permit is separate from the worker’s card.

After 12 months of legal Romanian employment as a highly qualified worker, a Romanian Blue Card holder has greater flexibility under the work-authorization rules, including the ability to change employment in circumstances where a new authorization is no longer required. Changes must still be reported and the new role must continue to meet Blue Card conditions.

EU mobility is one of the card’s main advantages. The holder can perform limited permitted business activity in other member states and, after the required period, move to another participating member state to seek a new Blue Card under that country’s procedure. The Romanian card does not itself authorize indefinite work in the other country.

For long-term residence, qualifying periods as a Blue Card holder and certain other statuses in different EU/EEA/Swiss countries can be combined. Romania generally requires five qualifying years across those countries, including the last two continuous years as a Blue Card holder in Romania, with absence, resources, insurance, housing, Romanian-language, and public-order conditions.

What This Route Is Not

This is not a job-search visa. A concrete highly qualified Romanian job and employer process normally come first. It is not suitable for self-employment, independent consulting, or a low-paid role that does not meet the competence and salary tests.

It is not a general permit to work for any Romanian employer immediately. The first card rests on the approved employer and job. Employer changes, unemployment, and new contracts are regulated. If the employment ends, the card may remain valid only for the legally protected unemployment or transition period; the holder should notify the IGI promptly rather than assuming the printed expiry date guarantees status.

It is not automatic EU permanent residence or citizenship. Cross-border mobility requires a new host-country process, long-term residence has its own five-year and integration conditions, and Romanian citizenship generally requires Romanian long-term/permanent residence plus the separate residence, language, civic-knowledge, and conduct rules.

It is also not the same as an ordinary Romanian work permit. A position that cannot satisfy the Blue Card qualification or salary standard may still fit another employment category, but it will not receive Blue Card mobility benefits.

Next Steps

  1. Ask the Romanian employer to classify the position and confirm that it will sponsor a highly qualified worker authorization. The employer—not the worker—normally files the initial authorization request.
  2. Check the contract. It must be full time, indefinite or at least six months, and show salary at or above the current average gross benchmark. For 2026 cases filed from 30 March, verify the RON 9,192 reference with the IGI.
  3. Match the worker’s education or professional experience to the exact role. Start diploma recognition early if needed, especially for a regulated profession.
  4. The employer prepares its recruitment, tax, corporate, job, and authorization file and obtains the IGI employment authorization.
  5. The worker gathers the authorization, contract, passport, criminal record, insurance, qualification, and other supporting documents and files for the D/AM long-stay visa through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs eVisa process.
  6. After entry, register the employment as required and apply to the territorial IGI for the EU Blue Card before the visa stay expires. A first Blue Card must normally be requested within one month of entry.
  7. If bringing family, map the family-reunification process alongside the worker’s case. Prepare apostilled or legalized marriage, birth, custody, and dependency records as applicable.
  8. Keep salary, contract, address, insurance, and employer information current. Notify the IGI before or promptly after any material employment change as the law requires.
  9. If planning EU mobility or long-term residence, track Blue Card residence and absences in every member state from the outset.
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