General Information

Aliens who travel to Romania have the prior obligation to apply for a visa at a Romanian diplomatic mission or consular post, with the exception of the citizens arriving from those countries with which Romania concluded agreements on the abolition of visa requirements or has unilaterally renounced the visa requirement (see annex 1, 2, 3).

• Annex 1 - The list of countries whose nationals must be in possession of a visa upon entry on the Romanian territory;

• Annex 2 - The list of countries whose nationals are exempt from the requirement of a Romanian visa;

• Annex 3 - The list of countries whose nationals are exempt from the requirement of a Romanian visa, should they hold diplomatic passports, service passports, official passports and seamen's books.

Article 30 from the Romanian Government’s Emergency Ordinance no. 194/2002 regarding the status of aliens in Romania, with all the subsequent additions and alterations, provides that the competent authorities shall grant Romanian entry visas as follows:

(1) The Romanian visa is granted by the Romanian diplomatic missions and consular posts abroad.

(2) The list of states whose nationals need a visa in order to enter the territory of Romania is the one provided for in Annex 1 to the Council Regulation (EC) 539/2001, listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement, published in the Official Journal of the European Communities L/81 from the 21^st of March 2001.

(3) Short-stay visas are granted by the Romanian diplomatic missions and consular posts abroad, according to the following provisions:

(a) without the prior approval of the Romanian National Visa Center, for aliens arriving from the states mentioned at point (2) and for which the invitation procedure is not mandatory;

(b) with the prior approval of the Romanian National Visa Center, for aliens arriving from the states enumerated in the list provided for in article 36, point (2).

(4) In view of the approval of short-stay visas applications, the Romanian National Visa Center claims the approval of the Romanian Immigration Office only in those cases established through the protocol endorsed by means of the common order of the Romanian Minister of External Affairs and the Romanian Minister of Home Affairs.

(5) The approval of the Romanian Immigration Office provided for at point (4), will be based on meeting all the requirements stipulated in article 6, point (1), sub-points (a), (e), (eš), (e˛) and (f), article 8, point (1), sub-points (b)-(d), as well as article 27, point (2), sub-points (bš), and (bł).

(6) The Romanian Immigration Office will give the approval within 7 working days’ time, starting from the date when the visa application is received from the Romanian National Visa Center. In highly justifiable occurrences, the term can be prolonged up to 7 working days. 

(7) The long-stay visa is granted by the Romanian diplomatic missions and consular posts, with the approval of the Romanian National Visa Center, only upon a prior endorsement from the Romanian Office for Immigration.

(8) The approval of the Romanian Immigration Office provided for at point (7), will be based on meeting all the requirements stipulated in article 6, point (1), sub-points (a), (e), (eš), (e˛) and (f), as well as article 8, point (1), sub-points (b)-(d) and article 27, point (2), sub-points (bš), and (bł), as well as based on the fulfillment of all the special conditions afferent to each type of visa.

(9) The Romanian Immigration Office will issue the approval in a term of 30 working days starting from the date of receiving the visa requests from the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

(10) Long-stay visas for aliens who are family members of Romanian citizens will be granted by the Romanian diplomatic missions and consular posts with the exemption from consular fees.

Visas can be issued with one or more entries.

Short-stay and transit visas can be exceptionally granted by border officials, at the state border-crossing points, according to the provisions of Council Regulation (EC) no. 415/2003, on the issue of visas at the border, including the issue of such visas to seamen in transit, published in the Official Journal of the European Union L/64 from the 7^th of March 2003 and as well, according to the provisions of Regulation (EC) no. 562/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council, establishing a Community Code on the rules governing the movement of persons across borders (Schengen Border Code), from the 15^th of March 2006, published in the Official Journal of the European Union L/105 from the 13^th of April 2006.