Entry to the territory of Romania may be allowed to foreigners who meet the following conditions:

• possesses a valid document for crossing the state border, which is accepted by the Romanian state;
• possess a visa or residence permit granted under the terms of GEO no. 194/2002 or, as the case may be, possess any authorization that gives the holder the right to transit or stay on the territory of Romania based on the normative acts of the European Union, binding and applicable for Romania, if international agreements have not established otherwise;
• present documents that justify the purpose and conditions of their stay and that prove the existence of appropriate means both for maintenance during the stay and for returning to the country of origin or for transit to another state where it is certain that they will be allowed to enter;
• presents guarantees that they will be allowed to enter the territory of the destination state or that they will leave the territory of Romania, in the case of foreigners in transit;
• no alerts are entered on their names in the National Alert Information System for the purpose of refusing entry to the territory of the Romanian state;
• their names are not entered into the Schengen Information System for the purpose of denying entry;
• they are not reported by the competent authorities as posing a danger to national defense and security, order and public health.

1 Foreigner – a person who does not have Romanian citizenship, the citizenship of another member state of the European Union or the European Economic Area, or the citizenship of the Swiss Confederation;

SHORT STAY VISA

If you want to travel to Romania for a short period of time and you are a citizen of a country for which a visa is required, you must obtain a short-stay visa. Consult the list of states whose citizens do not need a visa to enter Romania. Consult the list of states whose citizens need a visa to enter Romania. The short-stay visa is granted under the conditions and for the purposes provided by the Visa Code. For more details, you can consult the website www.mae.ro section Visas and consular services > Visas. Information for foreign citizens – 2024 > Schengen visa – 2024 or the link https://www.mae.ro/node/30325

The short-stay visa is obtained from diplomatic missions and consular offices of Romania. (See their list). Among the states whose citizens need a visa to enter Romania, there are some for whose citizens it is necessary to obtain an invitation approved by the General Inspectorate for Immigration. The invitation can be made by a physical or legal person, a Romanian citizen or a foreigner residing in Romania. (See the list of states whose citizens need an invitation to obtain a visa to enter Romania).

When the short stay visa is conditional on obtaining the invitation

If you are the holder of a simple passport, you can obtain a short-stay visa with one or more trips if you present to diplomatic missions or consular offices a written invitation (model here), endorsed by the General Inspectorate for Immigration, from a physical or legal person in Romania.

The invitation, accompanied by a series of documents, depending on the purpose, is picked up, completed in two copies and submitted to the headquarters of the territorial formations of the General Inspectorate for Immigration, for approval.

Consult the list of documents required for approval of the invitation depending on the purpose of coming to Romania:

• visit,
• tourism,
• business.

Invitations are approved within 45 days from the date of submission, with the possibility of extending the deadline by 15 days in justified cases.

For foreigners who are going to come to Romania for tourist purposes, in organized groups of at least 20 people, at the request of companies regulated by Law no. 31/1990, republished, with subsequent amendments and additions, members of the National Association of Travel Agencies from Romania, invitations are approved within 30 days from the date of submission.

If approved, a copy of the invitation will be given to the inviter, who will forward it to you. You will present the original invitation to the diplomatic mission or consular office, accompanied by the other documents, to obtain the Romanian visa. You must apply for the visa within 30 days of the approval of the invitation, otherwise it will lose its validity.

The inviter, physical or legal person, will bear the expenses caused by the removal from the territory of Romania of the invited foreigners. The invitation constitutes an enforceable title in the situation where the invited foreigner does not leave Romania until the date on which the right of residence established by the visa ends.

Short stay visa exceptions

There are certain situations when, in order to obtain a short-stay visa, you no longer need an invitation approved by the General Inspectorate for Immigration, in which case you request a visa from diplomatic missions or consular offices with a notarized invitation. (See exceptions to the invitation procedure).

In order to approve applications for the granting of short-stay visas, the National Visa Center within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can request the opinion of our institution, in the cases established by protocol. The General Inspectorate for Immigration issues the opinion for the short-stay visa within 7 working days from the date of receipt of the request, and in well-justified situations the deadline can be extended by another 7 working days. However, there are also situations in which this opinion is no longer needed. (See the list of exceptions from the I.G.I.)

You have the possibility to calculate your right of residence by using the calculator made available for this purpose by the European Commission.

If you are citizens of countries whose nationals need a visa (see the list), you can enter Romania without a visa if you find yourself in one of the following situations:

• you are the holder of a uniform visa, valid for two or multiple entries, of long-stay visas or residence permits issued by Schengen states, you can enter Romania for an uninterrupted stay or for several stays whose duration do not exceed 90 days during any period of 180 days preceding each day of stay on the territory of Romania, if the documents presented are within their validity period and the number of entries and the duration of the authorized stay have not been exhausted.
• you hold a valid long-term residence permit issued by an EU member state – for an uninterrupted stay or for several stays whose total duration does not exceed 90 days during any 180-day period preceding each day of stay on the territory of Romania;
• you are the holder of a small traffic permit, issued in accordance with G.E.O. no. 194/2002 regarding the regime of foreigners in Romania and Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EC) no. 1931/2006 of December 20, 2006 establishing the rules regarding small border traffic at the external land borders of the member states and amending the Schengen Convention, under the conditions in which you exercise your right of movement, in accordance with the small border traffic regime .

Extending the validity of the short-stay visa or the right of residence granted to the foreigner by visa

The duration of validity and/or the right of residence established by the short-stay visa issued by the Romanian authorities or by another Schengen state can be extended in the following situations:

1. situations of major force or humanitarian reasons, which prevent him/her from leaving the territory of the Member States before the expiry of the validity period or the duration of stay authorized by the visa. Such an extension shall be granted free of charge;
2. substantiated personal reasons justifying the extension of the validity period or length of stay. A fee of 30 EUR is charged for such an extension.

The visa extension must not result in a total stay exceeding 90 days within a 180 day period.

The competent national authority to extend the visa, applied to simple passports, is the General Inspectorate for Immigration and its territorial formations, and for those applied to service or diplomatic passports, it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The refusal to extend the period of validity and/or the right of stay established by the short-stay visa cannot be contested.

The territorial formations responsible for extending the validity of the short-stay visa or the right of residence granted to the foreigner by visa are:

1. THE IMMIGRANT DEPARTAMENT OF THE BUCHAREST MUNICIPALITY, address: Grand Arena Mall, Bld Metalurgiei, no.12-18, District 4, Bucharest, phone:  021/303.70.80 int. 30461;
2. IMMIGRATION OFFICE OF CONSTANȚA, Adress: Bulevardul I.C. Brătianu, nr.246, Constanța (with access from the street Matei Millo), phone: 0241-550909;
3. IMMIGRATION OFFICE OF TIMIȘ, adress: str. Andrei Mocioni, nr. 8-10, Timișoara, Phone: 0256-402430;
4. IMMIGRATION OFFICE OF CLUJ, adress: str. Alexandru Vaida Voevod, nr. 53- 55, (Complex Iulius Mall) Cluj, phone:   0264-555656;
5. IMMIGRATION OFFICE OF IAȘI, adress: str. Mihai Costăchescu, nr. 6, Iași, phone:   0232-302315.