Are you a foreigner citizen employee of a foreign company or self-employed of a foreign company who intend to work remotely from Romania? Starting 17th of January 2022, a” nomad digital visa” is available in Romania if you comply with certain conditions according to Law no 22/2022 which amended the Emergency Government Ordinance (EGO) no 194/2002. Introducing the digital nomad visa concept, Romania intends to attract digital nomads who may choose Romania for their remote working.
A digital nomad visa allows remote working on Romanian territory for an initial12 months period, period that may be further prolonged as long as the digital nomad is still complying with the initial digital nomad visa requests. In order to obtain a digital nomad visa an applicant, called “digital nomad” must comply mainly with the following requirements[1]:
- submit the original copy of the of the labor law contract concluded with a foreign company, which allows the applicant to perform his/ her services by using the information and communication technology and be able to perform the professional activity by remote working or the administration contract of his/her own foreign company in case the applicant is self-employed, in which case the foreign company must be registered in the foreign country with at least 3 years before applying for nomad digital visa.
- provide proof that the digital nomad earns at least 3 times the Romanian average gross salary per month during the last 6 months before applying for visa (about 3,650 Eur / month) and also for the entire staying period;
- proof that the foreign employee has paid his/ her taxes in the foreign country where the employer company is registered;
- medical insurance for the entire duration of the stay covering at least Eur 30,000; clean criminal record of the employee;
- proof of a place to stay in Romania; proof of a ticket to enter in Romania or valid driving license and the proof of the itinerary;
- letter of intent describing the activities that the applicant intends to perform and the itinerary that he/ she intends to follow.
The Romanian authorities ask all the above documents both in original copy and translated in Romanian language by a Romanian public notary (authentic form/ apostilled/ supra legalized depending on the applicable conventions between Romania and EU countries / non-EU countries of the foreign applicant) and may also request additional documents if they consider necessary.
By introducing the digital nomad visa concept Romania is aligned to other CEE countries like Croatia, Estonia, Czech Republic which allow remote workers to live and work in other countries than the residence one and the employees benefit of more flexible remote working conditions. However, an issue that may be important to asses before considering Romania as a destination for remote working is that the Romanian digital nomad visa does not provide any kind of facilitation for the family members of a digital nomad thus, each family member must comply on its own with all the requests of the digital nomad visa or apply for other visa types according to EGO no 194/2002.
