The General Inspectorate for Immigration is organized and acts as a specialized structure of the central public administration. It is a public institution with legal personality, coordinated by Ministry of Internal Affairs, in accordance with the Law no.118/2012 published in the Official Journal of Romania, Part I, no.461 of 9 July, 2012 and regarding the approval of the Government Emergency Order no.18/2012 amending the Government Emergency Order no.30/2007 on the organization and functioning of the Ministry of Administration and Interior. 
  
The General Inspectorate for Immigration was set up through the reorganisation of the Romanian Office for Immigration and fulfils its tasks under the law in order to implement Romanian policies in the fields of migration, asylum, and foreigners’ integration as well as the relevant legislation in these fields.
  
The activity of the General Inspectorate for Immigration is a public service and is carried out in the interest of persons and the community, supporting the state institutions, exclusively under the law and for the enforcement of the law.
  
The General Inspectorate for Immigration has an experienced staff comprising police officers and contractual employees and its management cooperates actively on a regional and international level within its field of competence in order to help develop functional asylum systems in Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.
  
The Inspectorate is divided, at central level, into directorates, services and other functional departments, and at territorial level, into regional centres for accommodation and procedures for asylum seekers, accommodation centres for foreigners under public custody and county departments.

   The earliest regulation regarding immigration in the history of the Romanian modern state was the Law on foreigners in 1881, completed by the Rule of 1900 stipulating a “Free passage note” as necessary for the foreigners entering Romania. 

In 1903 the Assembly of Deputies adopted the “Law for the organization of the General Police of the State” reorganizing the General Police of the State. It also adopted the “Rule regarding the police service at border points, in ports and railway stations” organizing the border, port and railway police in order to prevent the entry of the socialist migrants expelled from their countries and to counter the harmful actions of foreign secret services. It regulated the flow of foreigners into and out of the country in order to detain the individuals endangering the safety of the Romanian state.

Unlike migrants, who leave their country of origin predominantly for economic reasons, the refugees are a heterogeneous category of people that were forced to break off from their  native country either because their life was endangered by conflicts and wars, or because of racial, ethnic, religious, political persecutions.

After 1989 and Romania’s opening towards democratic values, our country acceded to the Geneva Convention according to Law no.46/1991, and consequently the right to asylum “as a right that is granted and denied under the law, in compliance with the international treaties and conventions to which Romania adheres” was inscribed in the 1991 Constitution, art.18, par.2.

In order to harmonize the legislation in this area and to create an adequate legal framework for the protection of the refugees according to international standards, Romania was able to adopt, given the complex transition process it traversed, the first Law concerning the status and the situation of refugees on 3 May 1996. The law allowed the separation of immigrants and people who meet the conditions for refugee status from those abusing this procedure in order to regulate, temporarily their stay in the country on their way towards the West.

Heraldic insignia of the General Inspectorate for Immigration

D E S C R I P T I O N

• In the outer shield on blue, an eagle, golden, head to the right, beak and talons red wings spread, holding in its right claw a silver sword, left an olive branch green, and in its beak a golden cross from gold.
• On the breast of an eagle is a blue shield with a gold band, framed by three black swallows, flying.
• Left side – a sword of silver, gold endowed.
• Right side – a wheel with eight spokes of gold; boss silver framed faith carnation with short sleeves, red.
• Underlying eagle slogan written in red capital letters on a gold scarf SCUTUM IN AUGUSTIIS (SHELTER affliction)

ELEMENTS  SIGNIFICANCE

• Eagle, golden – Latin origin of our people and its continuity;
• Cross carried in its beak – symbol of Christianity and spirituality of the Romanian people;
• Sword – justice, righteousness, ability to separate guilt from innocence ;
• Flying swallows  – strangers, loneliness, immigration, separation;
• Wheel with eight spokes – the database;
• Faith (two hands tighten) – unity, collaboration;

Official Day of the General Inspectorate for Immigration

April, 7th has been designated as the official Day of the General Inspectorate for Immigration. Choosing this data is linked to the written testimony of the first piece of legislation regulating the legal status of foreigners in Romania “Law on Aliens”, published in Official Gazette No. 6 of 07.04. 1881.