Romania Digital Nomad Visa

Romania's digital nomad visa is a long-stay visa for "other purposes" available to non-EU nationals who work remotely using information and communications technology, either as employees of a foreign-registered company or as owners/operators of such a company (PwC Romania). The category was introduced by Law No. 22/2022, which amended and completed Government Emergency Ordinance No. 194/2002 on the status of foreigners in Romania, giving Romania a dedicated legal basis for remote-work migration distinct from its general work-permit and freelance-registration routes.

The program targets remote employees and business owners whose companies are registered outside Romania and who can demonstrate a sustained history of remote work. A distinctive feature is the requirement that applicants document at least three years of remote administration or provision of remote services through a foreign-registered company, or an existing employment contract with a foreign employer, making it a route better suited to established remote professionals than to newcomers to location-independent work.

Romania's income threshold is pegged to three times the national average gross monthly salary as published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), a figure that rises as Romanian wages grow. Because the peg moves, the exact EUR-denominated threshold shifts periodically, though the underlying formula in the law is fixed at three times the average gross salary.

• Monthly income: Demonstrable means of subsistence from remote work activity equal to at least three times the average gross monthly salary in Romania, sustained for each of the six months preceding the application and for the entire period requested in the visa. Using recent INS-published average gross salary data, this threshold works out to roughly EUR 5,300-5,600 per month, though the exact figure moves with each INS update (Living Abroad).
• Remote work relationship: Either (a) an employment contract with a company registered outside Romania, or (b) proof of remote administration, using information and communications technology, of a company registered outside Romania for at least three years at the time of application.
• Company/employer documentation: Full identification and contact details of the foreign company, its field of activity, and confirmation the applicant's role is performed remotely.
• Health/travel insurance: Valid insurance recognised in Romania covering medical expenses for the duration of stay.
• Criminal record certificate: From the country of citizenship and residence, apostilled and translated.
• Passport: Valid for the intended stay.
• Accommodation: Proof of address in Romania.
• Nationality: Open to non-EU/EEA/Swiss nationals.
• Dependents: No published per-family-member income surcharge applies specifically to the digital nomad category; family members are not automatically added to the principal's visa and must apply via Romania's separate family reunification route with their own means-of-support documentation.

A key nuance is the three-year remote-work history requirement for the self-employed/business-owner pathway, which is unusually stringent among European nomad visas and effectively excludes newly self-employed applicants from that branch (though the employment-contract branch has no equivalent tenure requirement with the foreign employer). Applicants should also note that the income threshold must be met and evidenced for each of the six months prior to filing — an average across the period is not sufficient if any individual month fell short.

• Freedom of movement within EU Schengen Area
• No investment requirement
• Digital nomad tax exemption on qualifying foreign income under Law No. 69/2023
• No local employer sponsorship required
• Low cost of living relative to Western Europe
• Access to a full EU member state
• Straightforward consular application process
• Path to permanent residency (after 5 years, via general immigration rules)

Romania's digital nomad visa is a long-stay national visa which, once converted to a residence permit in-country, generally allows lawful residence time to count toward Romania's standard settlement tracks in the same way as most other lawful residence categories, since Romanian law does not carve the digital nomad category out from the general residence-to-citizenship framework the way some other jurisdictions do. However, prospective applicants should treat this as a general-immigration-law outcome rather than a nomad-specific fast lane, and should independently confirm current treatment with the Romanian Immigration Inspectorate (IGI) before relying on it, since implementing practice for this relatively young category continues to evolve.

Romania's standard naturalisation path requires eight years of continuous legal residence in Romania for most non-EU nationals (reduced to four years for certain categories, including spouses of Romanian citizens and investors under specific programs), together with proof of means of subsistence, a clean criminal record, knowledge of the Romanian language, and knowledge of the Romanian Constitution and civic culture, assessed via interview. Romania's citizenship law also allows persons of Romanian descent (including many citizens of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine with documented ancestry) to naturalise on a materially faster basis, a route unrelated to the digital nomad program.

Given the demanding eight-year general timeline and the digital nomad visa's own stringent renewal conditions (income re-verification and, for the self-employed branch, an ongoing three-year remote-work history), most digital nomad visa holders who wish to settle permanently in Romania should expect to eventually transition to a standard work-based, business-based, or family-based residence permit that fits more conventionally within the country's long-term immigration and citizenship framework.

Browse 195 countries' paths to citizenship in the hyper-detailed IMI Citizenship Catalog.

Applications are submitted at the Romanian consulate competent for the applicant's country of residence; in-country matters are handled by the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The digital nomad category was introduced by Law No. 22/2022, which amended and completed Government Emergency Ordinance No. 194/2002 on the Status of Foreigners in Romania. The associated foreign-income tax exemption for qualifying digital nomads was introduced by Law No. 69/2023.

Last updated: July 2026.