01/10/2026
In 2026, the procedure for recruiting and employing third-country nationals in Romania was significantly restructured by Government Emergency Ordinance (GEO) No 32/2026 on foreign nationals’ access to the Romanian labour market, a legislative act that seeks to digitalise the procedure, introduce stricter rules for employers and recruitment agencies and strengthen the mechanisms for verifying and protecting foreign workers. GEO No 32/2026 was published in the Official Gazette of Romania No 335 of 27 April 2026 and entered into force on the same date.
The new rules substantially change the administrative process: recruitment is no longer viewed solely through the lens of obtaining a work permit, but is integrated into an electronic system that involves registration or authorisation of the employer, a firm job offer, use of the WorkinRomania.gov.ro platform and, where applicable, the involvement of an authorised placement agency.
However, these changes must be considered together with the platform’s current practical situation since, at the time of writing, certain workflows for workers requiring a D/AM2 visa have been temporarily disabled following a measure ordered by the Bucharest Court of Appeal concerning the list of shortage occupations.
GEO No 32/2026 mainly concerns the procedures for access to the Romanian labour market of […] approved and updated in accordance with the mechanism established by GEO No 32/2026. The list is drawn up on the basis of the needs identified on the labour market and must be updated periodically.
One of the most important changes for companies is the introduction of an obligation to register or obtain authorisation on the WorkinRomania.gov.ro electronic platform, as applicable.
GEO No 32/2026 provides that employers wishing to hire foreign nationals must be registered or authorised on the platform, subject to certain exceptions for the categories of foreign nationals provided for in GEO No 194/2002.
The platform plays a central role and enables, among other things:
Accordingly, for companies, the first compliance issue is no longer identifying the documents for the traditional work-permit file, but verifying the employer’s eligibility and its access to the new electronic process.
For registration to be approved, the employer must meet a number of conditions.
Depending on the category of worker, these include having no outstanding liabilities to the general consolidated budget, having actually carried on business for a certain period, having no relevant penalties in the field of employment relations and meeting certain conditions relating to criminal records and national security.
For employers that are legal entities, the law requires, for certain categories of workers, that the company has actually carried on business for at least one year in a field compatible with the shortage occupations for which the hiring is made.
Verification is not carried out by a single institution. Depending on the condition being verified, the National Employment Agency (ANOFM), the Labour Inspectorate, the General Inspectorate for Immigration, the National Agency for Fiscal Administration (ANAF) and other competent authorities are involved.
This approach turns the recruitment process into an employer compliance mechanism, and a company’s track record may have a direct bearing on its ability to recruit foreign workers in the future.
GEO No 32/2026 introduces the concept of a “firm job offer”, which must be uploaded to the platform by the employer.
The offer must set out in detail the actual terms of employment, including:
Where the employer provides accommodation or transport, the offer must expressly specify the relevant terms and state who bears the costs.
This change is important for employers because the offer submitted to the authorities must genuinely reflect the employment relationship to be entered into. It is no longer advisable to treat the job offer, the individual employment contract and the actual working conditions as separate documents containing different information.
A. Hiring through an authorised agency
As a general rule, the employer must conclude a service agreement with an authorised placement agency for foreign nationals.
The agency may provide recruitment, selection, information, counselling and mediation services and may carry out the administrative formalities relating to the foreign worker.
A very important point is that the agency’s services are paid for by the employer, and the agency may not charge the foreign worker any commissions, fees or charges for their placement, save for the exceptions expressly permitted by law.
Placement agencies are themselves subject to an authorisation regime and a substantial financial guarantee. For up to 250 foreign nationals placed, the guarantee is EUR 75,000, increasing by EUR 50,000 for each additional tranche of 250 foreign nationals.
B. Direct hiring by an authorised employer
By way of exception, a company may obtain authorised employer status, in which case it may recruit D/AM2 workers directly without a contract with an authorised agency.
The conditions, however, are considerably stricter.
The main requirements include:
The financial guarantee amounts to EUR 1,000 per foreign worker for whom authorisation is sought. Under the conditions laid down by law, it may be used, among other things, to cover certain return-related costs, to support workers in vulnerable situations and to pay certain unpaid fines.
The application for authorisation is decided by ANOFM within no more than 15 working days, and the authorisation is issued electronically via the platform.
A change with significant practical impact is the obligation to provide the individual employment contract both in Romanian and in the language of the foreign national’s country of origin, or in an international language that they understand or may reasonably be presumed to understand.
This obligation should not be seen merely as a translation formality.
The employer must ensure that the worker actually understands the terms of the employment relationship, as the new rules place emphasis on prior information, transparency of working conditions and the prevention of exploitation.
In addition, failure to provide the contract in an appropriate language is penalised separately under the Labour Code by a fine of RON 6,000 for each individual employment contract concluded in Romanian only.
The new procedure does not end once the right to work has been obtained and the contract concluded.
The employer must, among other things:
A new and important obligation concerns linguistic and social integration. The employer must provide, directly or through specialised providers or institutions, Romanian language courses that also include elements of cultural and social integration, for at least 6 months and at least 6 hours per week.
Where the employer provides accommodation, the rent may not exceed 25% of the foreign worker’s net remuneration or net salary.
An important feature of the new system is that, in certain situations, the responsibility of the employer or the agency does not end immediately upon termination of the contract.
Where the employment relationship ends before the expiry of the period for which the single permit was granted, the placement agency must make efforts to identify new employment opportunities, while an authorised employer has specific obligations to put the foreign national in contact with a placement agency.
In certain situations, if no new employer is found within the statutory 90-day period, the agency or the authorised employer may have to bear the costs of the worker’s return to their country of origin.
This rule significantly changes the perspective on termination: employing a foreign national gives rise to a series of legal responsibilities that may continue even after the individual employment contract has ended.
An employer’s registration may be suspended, including where certain infringements are found or where a significant proportion of the foreign workers employed no longer hold a valid right of residence. During the suspension, the company may not upload new offers, and pending procedures are suspended.
For authorised employers, the consequences may be even more severe. The law provides for various periods during which a company may lose the right to apply for a new authorisation, including 36 months in certain situations concerning the status of foreign workers and, in cases of worker exploitation, even an indefinite loss of the right to apply for a new authorisation.
The new framework introduces a separate penalty regime.
Depending on the offence, fines may be:
Moreover, carrying out placement activities while the authorisation is suspended constitutes an administrative offence and may result in a fine of RON 15,000–20,000 per foreign national placed.
Accordingly, vetting the partner agency and the documents it provides becomes an important part of the HR compliance process.
Romanian companies working with agencies or intermediaries outside Romania must verify their legal status.
GEO No 32/2026 lays down conditions concerning the agency’s authorisation, accreditation or registration in its state of origin, the situation of the persons managing it and the prohibition on charging foreign workers impermissible commissions or fees.
Consequently, it is no longer sufficient for an employer to receive a commercial offer from an intermediary and begin recruiting. The foreign partner must be vetted as regards the lawfulness of its activities, its recruitment capacity and its compliance with worker protection rules.
According to the notice published on the official WorkinRomania.gov.ro platform, following a decision of the Bucharest Court of Appeal granting the application to suspend the enforcement of Order No 1073/2026 of the Minister of Labour, the platform workflows for employer registration, employer authorisation and the submission of single applications for D/AM2 long-stay visas have been disabled.
The case before the Bucharest Court of Appeal is registered under No 5633/2/2026, and its subject matter is the suspension of enforcement of administrative acts relating to Order No 1073/2026.
This situation must, however, be understood correctly: the suspension of enforcement of the order concerning the list of shortage occupations does not amount to a definitive annulment of GEO No 32/2026. It is a provisional judicial measure, and its practical effects on the platform are still unfolding. The legal and business press has reported that the suspension has led to the temporary deactivation of certain system functionalities.
For employers, this means that, for recruitment falling under the D/AM2 mechanism, it is necessary to assess not only the legal eligibility of the company and the worker, but also the operational status of the platform and of the List of Shortage Occupations at the time the procedure is initiated.
In light of the new legal framework, we recommend that companies build their internal procedure for recruiting third-country workers around the following workflow:
GEO No 32/2026 fundamentally changes the paradigm for recruiting non-EU workers in Romania. The procedure is becoming digitalised, documented and far more dependent on the employer’s prior compliance.
For companies, the implications are not limited to obtaining the right to work. The employer must be able to demonstrate that it meets the legal conditions, that the job offer is genuine and complete, that its recruitment partners are compliant, that the worker has been properly informed and that it continues to comply with its obligations throughout the employment relationship.
Furthermore, the current status of the WorkinRomania platform shows that the procedure must be monitored not only in light of the legislation in force, but also with regard to the administrative and judicial developments affecting the mechanism, particularly for D/AM2 workers.
From employers’ perspective, this change justifies having an internal procedure for recruiting and employing third-country nationals that sets out the required documents, HR, legal and administrative responsibilities, the vetting of recruitment agencies, the monitoring of residence rights and the mandatory steps upon termination of employment.
Author: SZ.I.
