Why does it take so long to obtain a Work Permit?
In Romania it can take up to 5 or 6 months to obtain a residence for work. An actual Work Permit. Usually, the procedures take between 3 to 6 months, and it cannot be obtained faster than 3 months. Here you can find out why.
If you want to apply to Romanian Immigration Office for Work Permit, first you must obtain an approval document from them. This document is called Approval for Work Permit (Ro. Aviz de Munca). You will need this Work Approval for Visa application.
If you are a Non-European Union citizen, you will probably need a Visa to enter Romania. Especially if you want to come to Romania for work purposes. This means that, before your Visa application, you will first need the Immigration Office Approval for working in Romania.
For this procedure, the Company that wants to hire you must apply and complete many documents to obtain this Approval. First, they need to make public the job offer to the Work Territory Institution of Romania. This public job offer must be done for all Romanians to have the possibility to access this job before any foreigner does. Usually, this is just a formality and you don’t have to worry about it.
The public job offer must stay public at least a few days, maximum 30 days, before the Work Territory Institution issues a document that is needed for Immigration Office. You can see that one month has already passed. But in this time, the Company that will hire you has time to prepare all the documents for the first file that must be submitted to Immigration Office.
After the file for Work Approval is submitted, Immigration Office will take up to 30 days (or sometimes more) to verify all the documents. Immigration Office also verifies the Company. After this another month passed, then we can have the Work Approval that you need to receive in original for the Work Visa application.
The Work Visa application must be made in your country to any Romanian Embassy or Romanian Consulate. Depending on the country that you are in, the Visa can be issued in a term of one month, 30 days. If the application file has missing documents or any other issue, the Visa can be postponed until the issues are resolved. This means more time for the Work Visa to be issued.
So, you can see that if you add all the time that is needed for only the mentioned steps, there are already 3 months that are required for these procedures.
Only after you receive the Work Visa you can enter Romania. Once you entered the country, you have to make the final step for receiving the Work Permit. Meaning that, together with the Approval for Work Permit and the Work Visa on your Passport you can apply to Immigration Office for the actual Work Permit.
The Work Permit application must be submitted to Immigration Office from the same county/city as the company that hires you. After this final application, you will have the Work Permit in 30 days. But starting with the time of the final application to Immigration Office, you are allowed to work in Romania.
If you need any help with your application or maybe just more information about these procedures, contact us by email to office@adelinapredoi.ro or by WhatsApp at +40723615844.
Thank you for reading and I wish you a Happy New Year!