Emergency Ordinance no. 25/2024 amending and supplementing certain legal acts in the field of aliens and borders was published on 22 March 2024 in the Official Gazette and lays down the necessary measures to transpose Decision (EU) 2024/210 on the full application of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania, following the abolition of controls at air and sea borders as of 31 March 2024.
Key aspects:
- During their stay in Romania, foreign nationals are obliged to declare, within three days, at the local branch of the Romanian Immigration Office that granted them the right of residence, any change in connection with their employment status.
- Foreign nationals who enter Romania for the purposes of employment will have their right of temporary residence extended for the purposes of employment upon presenting of a full-time individual employment contract concluded within 15 working days of entering Romania or, where applicable, of obtaining a new employment permit, registered with the general register of employees, showing that their salary is equivalent to at least the minimum gross salary. In the case of highly qualified workers, the salary must be at least the same as the average gross salary. The provisions concerning the time limit for the conclusion of an individual employment contract do not apply if the failure to conclude the individual employment contract is the fault of the employer.
- Every foreign national for whom an employment or secondment permit has been issued and who has been granted an extension to their right of temporary residence or who has been granted the right of long-term residence shall be assigned a personal numeric code by the General Inspectorate for Immigration, which shall be included on the residence permit or employment or secondment permit.
- The employer is obliged to conclude an individual employment contract within 15 working days of the foreign national’s entry into Romania or, as the case may be, their obtaining of a new employment permit in the case of a long-stay visa for employment purposes, with employers who fail to meet this deadline being subject to fines of between 5,000 and 10,000 lei. If the failure to conclude an individual employment is the fault of the foreign national, then the employer is not deemed to have committed an offence
- a newly introduced requirement when obtaining employment permits for permanent workers is that the employer must have been effectively active in the field of activity for which the employment permit is requested for at least one year.
- In the case of foreign nationals who hold valid long-stay visas for the purposes of employment, the employment permit for permanent workers is issued only once.
Source: Emergency Ordinance no. 25/2024 amending and supplementing various regulations in the field of aliens and border control
Tax & Legal Newsletter March 2024
