Romania
Let Lerio's expertise in employment legislation drive your HR success in Romania
Hiring in Romania at a glance
lei / RON
40 hours / week
17 holidays / year
The most common payment frequency is monthly.
By law, employees must be paid at least once a month
Romanian
19M
lei19.96 / hour
1st Jan – 31st Dec
Employment Tax
- Social insurance: 25%
- Health insurance: 10%
- Income tax: 10% flat
- Work insurance contribution: 2.25%
NA
Employer of Record
in Romania
As the designated employer representative, an Employer of Record is tasked with guaranteeing conformity to all legal obligations concerning employment in Romania. This entails duties such as overseeing payroll operations, ensuring tax compliance, and providing employment contracts as mandated by labor statutes.
Employer of
Record Process
- Company
- Full legal name of prospective employee
- Employee contact details
- Employee nationality and residency status
- Proposed start date
- Right to work status
- Job title
- Working hours
- Job description and deliverables
- Salary information
- Benefit information
- Intellectual property and confidentiality agreement
- Terms of termination (e.g. notice period)
- Probation period
- EMployee bank details
- All other company-specific requirements (e.g. non-compete, intellectual property clauses, etc.)
Finds their perfect hire and provides Lerio with all the information required to prepare an employment agreement. For Romania, that includes:
- Lerio
Prepares the employment agreement and shares with the prospective employee for signing. Requests all additional documents such as identity documents, proof of right to work in Romania, tax information, etc.
- Employee
Signs employment agreement and submits required documents.
Umbrella Process
- Employee
Now no longer a prospective employee but simply an official employee, who ensures to keep Lerio updated on any personal information changes.
- Lerio
Onboards employee to payroll and benefit programs to get started ensuring that salaries are paid every month and benefits are administered. Tax contributions and benefit fees are paid and payslips are provided to the employee.
Lerio provides an invoice and statement to the company for each month.
- Company
Receives monthly invoice, reviews and processes. Provides information on whether anything has changed in their relationship with the employee, the employee’s role or the company that will have an effect on the upcoming payroll run.
Employee Benefits
- Retirement pension
- Unemployment insurance
- Pension
- Sickness leave
Non-mandatory
Employee Benefits
- Extended health
- Private pension
- Private health
- Work commute reimbursement
Employee Rights
- Fair and just dismissals
- Equal and equitable treatment
- Protection of personal information
- Whistleblower protection
- Payslips showing all deductions and income
- A safe and healthy work environment free from risk
Leave
20 days. 14 consecutive days must be taken once a year
Days are determined by a medical doctor who assigns a code to the illness. The payout received from social insurance depends on this code and varies between 75% – 100%. Employee must have paid social insurance for 6 of the last 12 months.
Depends on a doctor’s medical certificate.
Can last for 126 calendar days with a mandatory minimum of 42 days to be taken after birth. Leave is paid at 85% of standard salary by social insurance.
10 days fully paid leave that must start within the first 8 weeks of the child’s life. Employer is responsible for the leave payment.
Either parent is eligible for up to 2 years of leave paid at a rate of 85% of their standard salary by social insurance.
Eligible for 40 hours paid leave to handle the adoption process and entitled to parental leave once the adoption is processed.
- Marriage – 5 days
- Marriage of child – 2 days
- Death of direct family – 3 days
- Death of extended family – 1 day
Maximum 20 days for executive positions and maximum 45 days for all other positions.
Probation
No minimum requirement but generally based on contracts and role:
Permanent:
- Executive roles – 90 days
- Management & Coordinator – 120 days
- Employees with disabilities – 30 days
Contract:
- Less than 3 months: 5 days
- 3 – 6 months: 15 days
- 6+ months: 30 days
- 6+ months (management roles): 45 days
What is a work permit in Romania?
Work permits are official documents from a country’s government that qualifies an individual to legally work and live in the country. However, this is a broad term and many countries require more than one official document and may use different terms to refer to these documents – and Romania is one of them. Essentially all terms are referencing documents that prove someone has been given the legal right to work and live in the country.
In Romania, the “work permit” required to legally live and work there is generally made up of two separate documents:
- Long stay employment visa
- Residence permit
Who needs a work permit in Romania?
Romania requires everyone who is not a citizen or a permanent resident to go through a process of obtaining legal right to work, with certain exceptions:
EU member state citizens: All EU citizens have the right to work in another EU member state. They may however need to register their presence in the country (if staying for three months or less) or register your residence (staying for longer than three months). Romania is an EU member state and therefore EU member state citizens don’t need to obtain any documents to prove their right to work and live in Romania. They are required to register their residence in Romania to receive a certificate of residence when staying for longer than three months.
Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway: As members of the EEA (European Economic Area), Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway citizens have the same rights as any EU member state citizen to work and live in Romania. They are required to follow the same process as EU citizens as described above.
Switzerland: Though not a part of the EU or the EEA, the EU has an agreement with the Swiss government that allows a mutual freedom of movement. This affords Swiss nationals the same rights as any EU citizen to work and live in Romania. They are required to follow the same process as EU citizens as described above.
Therefore, anybody who is not a citizen of an EU member state, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway or Switzerland needs to go through the process to obtain a legal right to work.
UK citizens: Please see here to understand the rights of UK citizens who settled in Romania prior to Brexit
Romania has additional special bilateral agreements with Canada, Japan and the United States of America which will individually affect the process to obtain work permits in Romania.
How long does it take to get a work permit in Romania?
As three documents are needed to obtain the right to work in Romania, there are three processing times to consider. Note that the documents need to be applied for sequentially, i.e. the authorisation to work is needed to apply for the work visa.
Current processing times are estimated to be:
Authorisation to work: 45 days
Long stay employment visa: Up to 90 days but employment work visas are usually 30 days
Temporary residency permit: 30 days
Types of work visas in Romania
Long-stay employment visa
This is for individuals who have experience and qualifications relevant to a role that a Romanian company is struggling to fill locally
Eligibility:
- An offer of work from a Romanian company
- The offer of work is above the legislative required salary
- The Romanian employer can prove that they tried to find someone local for the job but couldn’t
- The necessary qualifications and experience to fulfil the role requirements
- The quota of foreign workers set by the Romanian government hasn’t been reached
EU Blue Card
The EU blue card is a combined work and residency permit available to highly skilled individuals. It allows holders access to live and work in 25 out of the 27 EU member states (Denmark and Ireland not included).
Eligibility
- Bachelors or higher degree, some states accept 5 years of relevant experience without a degree
- Must be a salaried employee, not self-employed
- Annual salary must be at least 1.5 times the average national income of the state applying for
- Offer of employment
- Health insurance
Country-specific requirements and application processes can be seen here.
Other visas:
In addition you can apply for seasonal work visas, scientific research and self-employed work visas. Full list is here.
Application process in Romania
Authorisation to work
The employer needs to request authorization from the General Inspectorate for Immigration. This authorization is contingent upon availability within the yearly quota for non-EU employees. They’ll confirm if the employer can demonstrate the absence of any eligible Romanian, EU/EEA national, or non-EU citizen with a current permanent residence permit already occupying a position in the local job market.
A list of those exempt from requiring this is here.
Work Visas must be applied for within 60 days of receipt of authorisation to work.
Work visa
The person looking to work in Romania must apply for a long stay work visa at their local Romanian embassy or consulate.
- Complete the application form online and make an appointment with the consulate/embassy
- Collect all the required documents to prepare for the appointment
- Attend the visa appointment where:
- Required documents will be submitted (can also submit these when completing the online application – originals will still need to be brought to appointment)
- Biometric data will be recorded
- A brief interview will be conducted (sometimes this doesn’t happen)
- Collect visa and use within six months (calculated from the date the authorisation of work was approved)
Temporary residence permit
After arriving in Romani, a temporary residence permit must be obtained from the General Inspectorate for Immigration in the area where they’re located.
What documents are required to apply for a work permit in Romania?
Work authorisation
- Company registration
- Certificat from trade register office to confirm that the company is not in bankruptcy proceedings (original and a copy)
- Proof company’s tax payments and status
- Certificate from the Labour Force Agency showing the availability of talent in the area for the specific role
- Job description with an organisation chart
- Proof of recruitment activity for the role, including advertisement
- Interview/assessment notes from the recruitment process to prove the foreign national is the best option for the role
- Prospective employee’s CV
- Written statement from the employee that they are medically fit to do the job and has some knowledge of Romanian
- Two photos of the employee
- Proof of education and qualifications
- Criminal record of the employee
- Criminal record of the employer
- Valid border cross-border document
Long-stay employment visa
- Completed application form
- Work authorisation
- Completed Long-Stay Visa Application form
- Passport with at least two blank pages, valid for minimum three years
- Two passport pictures
- Proof of funds, at least equalling the minimum wage of Romania for the duration of the visa period
- Proof of application fees payment
- Proof of experience and qualifications
- Offer of employment
- Resume
Temporary residence permit
- Employment agreement
- Proof that salary is at least the national minimum wage
- Medical certificate showing sufficient health to perform the required role duties
- Passport
Contact Us
If you have questions - feel free to ask them. We are happy to help our clients.