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Pathway

Romania Digital Nomad Visa

Romania Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

Romania's digital-nomad route lets eligible people who are not EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens live there while working remotely for a business abroad. You must fit one of the permitted work arrangements and meet the income and other requirements.

Foreign work
Remote employment with a foreign company, or your own foreign company held for at least three years
Income history
Meet the income floor in each of the six months before applying and throughout the requested stay
Minimum monthly income
RON 27,816

Summary

Romania’s digital-nomad residence category is for qualifying remote work through overseas employment or a foreign business, supported by evidence of that arrangement and its income. Insurance, living funds, and immigration documents remain part of the file. A plan to begin earning online after moving is different from documenting the qualifying existing arrangement.

Foreign employment and a long-owned foreign company are separate bases
  1. Identify the qualifying work arrangement Use a foreign employment contract or the required ownership history of a foreign company.
  2. Document the income for each required month Apply the current earnings benchmark and match it to the work and bank records.
  3. Prepare the D/AS digital-nomad visa file Follow the current eVisa requirements for authentication, translations, and personal documents.

Direct freelance client contracts alone do not clearly fit either legal category. Local Romanian work needs another basis.

Could this pathway work for you?

Eligibility

EEA means the EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

This process is for citizens of countries outside the EU, EEA, and Switzerland who continue qualifying foreign work. The core requirements are:

The current eVisa checklist is unusually document-specific. It asks for originals and authenticated Romanian translations for the work and company evidence. Applicants should generate their personal checklist in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs eVisa portal before ordering documents.

For the residence-permit stage, the person must still have the foreign work or company relationship and prove the income threshold for the requested extension. The first extension is six months. Later applications require continuing income compliance and an income certificate issued by the responsible Romanian tax body.

This route is normally for people who are not EU, EEA, or Swiss citizens. EU/EEA/Swiss citizens rely on EU free-movement registration rather than the D/AS digital-nomad visa.

More about this route

This definition is narrower than “any freelancer with foreign clients.” Direct client contracts alone do not clearly fit the legal categories unless the work is carried through the applicant’s qualifying foreign company or an employment relationship.

The applicant needs income from the qualifying activity of at least three times Romania’s average gross monthly earnings for each of the six months before applying and for the full visa period. The reference amount changes. Applicants should use the figure accepted by the Romanian consulate or General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) at the filing date rather than relying on a fixed amount copied from an older guide.

The usual starting point is a Romanian D/AS long-stay visa, which authorizes a stay of up to 90 days. The holder then applies in Romania to extend temporary residence. The first digital-nomad residence extension is for six months. Later extensions are possible if the person continues to meet the income rule and supplies the income certificate required from the Romanian tax authority.

What This Route Allows

The long-stay visa allows entry and an initial stay in Romania for the stated purpose. A timely residence application can then lead to a temporary residence permit marked “digital nomad.” The first residence extension lasts six months, and subsequent extensions can be granted while the legal conditions continue to be met.

The holder can perform the approved foreign employment or own-company activity remotely from Romania. The residence card also supports travel under the ordinary Schengen residence-card rules, but time in other Schengen countries remains subject to the 90-days-in-180 short-stay limit and does not authorize work there.

Romania’s tax code provides targeted relief while a person with digital-nomad status is present in Romania for no more than 183 days in any 12 consecutive months ending in the relevant calendar year. Under Law 69/2023, qualifying remote employment or own-company income is not taxable in Romania during that limited-presence period, and the person is also excluded from the specified Romanian social and health contribution rules. Once presence exceeds that limit—or if residence, treaty, permanent-establishment, or other facts apply—the result may change. The immigration permit is not a blanket tax exemption.

Digital-nomad residence may count as lawful temporary residence for some future immigration calculations, but it is not itself long-term residence. Any later long-term-resident application must independently satisfy the five-year continuity, permitted-status, absence, resources, insurance, housing, language, and public-order conditions then in force.

What This Route Is Not

This is not a Romanian employment permit. A job with a Romanian employer, services delivered as part of the Romanian labor market, or a local business as the immigration basis belongs under another route.

It is not a general freelance visa. The law identifies foreign employment and an applicant-owned foreign company that has existed for at least three years. A sole trader, new foreign company, or person billing several clients directly should obtain confirmation from the consulate before assuming eligibility.

It is not a one-year permit issued immediately at the border. The national D visa is normally valid for up to 90 days, followed by a residence-permit process in Romania, and the first residence extension is six months.

It is not permanent residence or citizenship, and it does not guarantee unlimited renewals. The income threshold moves with Romanian average earnings, and later extensions require Romanian tax-authority evidence.

Finally, the 183-day tax rule is not permission to ignore tax residence in Romania or another country. Days of presence, the center of vital interests, tax treaties, employer obligations, and the management of a foreign company can all matter.

Next Steps

  1. Confirm that the work fits one of the two legal categories. If relying on an owned company, verify that ownership began at least three years before the planned visa application.
  2. Ask the responsible Romanian consulate or IGI which current average-gross-earnings reference it will use. Multiply that figure by three and test every one of the prior six months separately.
  3. Generate the current D/AS digital-nomad checklist in the eVisa portal. Note which records must be original, apostilled or superlegalized, and translated by an accepted Romanian translator.
  4. Gather the employment contract or company ownership history, current company extract, letter of intent, six months of income and bank evidence, passport, housing, criminal record, and insurance.
  5. Request the special tax-compliance and tax-record certificate from the authority responsible for the application at the place of fiscal residence. It must address both payment compliance and the absence of tax-evasion or fraud records.
  6. File the eVisa application and pay the current long-stay visa fee. From 27 April 2026, the official portal lists the standard D-visa fee as €300, subject to treaty or nationality exemptions.
  7. After arrival, apply to the IGI at least 30 days before the visa stay expires. The first residence extension is a separate application.
  8. Track Romanian presence day by day and obtain cross-border tax advice before approaching 183 days. Keep foreign tax, employment, company-management, and Romanian income-certificate records ready for renewal.
  9. For later extensions, confirm continued qualifying activity, the updated three-times-income threshold, and the required certificate from the Romanian tax authority.

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Sources