Amendments on the regime of foreigners in Romania

The Law No. 247/2018 on the amendment and the completion of certain normative acts on the regime of foreigners in Romania („Law 247/2018”) was published in the Official Gazette on 7 November 2018 and entered into force on 10 November 2018.

Law 247/2018 transposes into Romanian legislation the European Parliament and Council Directive (EU) 2016/801 on the conditions for entry and residence of third-country nationals for research, education, training, volunteer services, student exchange programs or educational projects and au pair work and amends Government Emergency Ordinance no. 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners in Romania (“GEO 194/2002”) and the Government Ordinance No. 25/2014 on the employment and secondment of foreigners on Romania and on the amendment and completion of certain normative acts on the regime of foreigners in Romania (”GO 25/2014”).

Law 247/2018 introduces a series of new definitions of certain terms, such as:

• “host entity”
• “host family”
• “educational project”
• “Union or multilateral programs that comprise mobility measures”
• “student”
• “trainee”

The concept of “au pair” worker

The concept of “au pair” worker is also regulated, being defined as the foreigner temporarily received by a host family in order to improve his/her linguistic skills and knowledge in exchange for light housework and child care activities.

GO 25/2014 contains new provisions regulating the steps and legal conditions for issuing the work permit for this category of workers.

When the residence rights is terminated

As to the foreigners who entered in Romania based on international conventions (such as American citizens) or legal regulations based on which they are exempted from the obligation to obtain visa, Law 247/2018 regulates the cases when their residence rights is terminated, out of which it is worth mentioning the failure to comply with the legal provisions on the foreigners employment, having entered in Romania based on false documents or information or failure to comply with the purpose declared when obtaining the visa.

Scientific and research activities

Law 247/2018 introduces new regulations on the regime of foreigners entering into Romania for scientific and research activities and simplifies the procedure of obtaining the work authorization for permanent workers by eliminating the intermediary procedure of study recognition in from of Ministry of Education.

Thresholds related to salary amount

Another significant amendment which might facilitate the employment of foreigners in Romania envisages the thresholds related to salary amount, respectively for permanent workers the threshold is reduced from average gross salary to minimum gross salary guaranteed in payment in Romania and for highly qualified workers the minimum salary threshold is reduced from four gross average salaries to only two.

Fees for work permits

Moreover, the fees for work permits are diminished from EUR 200 to EUR 100 for permanent and seconded employees and from EUR 50 to EUR 25 for seasonal workers.

Sanctions and penalties

Law 247/2014 introduces amendments also in terms of sanctions and penalties.

Thus, preventing the authorities to conduct an investigation over the employers represents contravention and is sanctioned by fine between RON 5,000 to RON 10,000 and failure to provide the authorities with the requested documents and information for completing the investigation is sanctioned with fine between RON 1,500 and RON 3,000.

The law entered into force on 10 November 2018.

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