Romania's 90,000 Worker Quota and Shortage Occupations List: What Employers Must Know Before WorkinRomania.gov.ro Goes Live

Romania's annual quota for new non-EU workers drops to 90,000 for 2026, down from 100,000 the year before, under Government Decision No. 1.169 of 30 December 2025. That number matters more than usual this year, because it now operates alongside a completely rebuilt digital application system and a new Shortage Occupations List that determines which job offers even qualify. Both go fully live on 8 August 2026, and employers who have not adjusted their hiring pipeline in advance risk finding their positions rejected outright or their workers stuck behind a quota that can be exhausted well before December.

For HR teams and global mobility managers bringing non-EU staff into Romania, understanding how the quota, the shortage list, and the new WorkinRomania.gov.ro platform interact is no longer optional. Here is what changed, what takes effect this month, and what employers need to do before applications open in full.

The 2026 Quota and Why It Shrank

Government Decision No. 1.169/2025, published in the Official Gazette on 30 December 2025, sets the 2026 ceiling for newly admitted non-EU workers at 90,000, a reduction of 10,000 places from 2025. The government has framed the cut as a recalibration based on labour market data gathered through 2025, rather than a policy reversal on foreign hiring generally.

The quota applies specifically to D/AM2 visa holders, general labour workers hired under permanent, seasonal, or cross-border arrangements. It does not apply to D/AM1 status, reserved for highly skilled workers, which is registration-based and not capped. Employers hiring for specialised technical, managerial, or professional roles should confirm early which category their prospective employee falls under, since the compliance path and timeline differ substantially between the two.

Because the quota is a hard annual ceiling rather than a per-employer allocation, it can run out mid-year. Employers who wait until autumn to begin a D/AM2 hire risk finding the year's allocation already consumed, with no mechanism to expedite a spot once the ceiling is reached.

GEO 32/2026: The Legal Backbone

Government Emergency Ordinance No. 32/2026, published in Official Gazette No. 335 on 27 April 2026, is the legislation that overhauled Romania's foreign worker access rules and created the D/AM1 and D/AM2 categories in their current form. It replaced the previous patchwork of separate work authorisation and visa procedures with a single digital process routed through WorkinRomania.gov.ro, and it introduced the legal basis for the Shortage Occupations List described below.

Order 655/2026 complements the ordinance by mandating bilingual employment contract templates for non-EU hires, a requirement employers should build into their onboarding paperwork now rather than discovering it during a permit review.

The Shortage Occupations List

The List of Shortage Occupations was published on 14 June 2026 and is central to how D/AM2 applications will be processed once the platform is fully operational. Job offers submitted through WorkinRomania.gov.ro are checked against ANOFM employment records and matched to this list; positions for occupations not included on it are automatically rejected by the system, with no case-by-case exception process built in.

Demand data behind the list shows the heaviest shortages concentrated in a handful of sectors:

• Construction
• Manufacturing and industrial production
• Hospitality and food service (HoReCa)
• Logistics and last-mile delivery

Employers hiring outside these sectors should check the published list directly rather than assuming a role will qualify. Because the list is drawn from ANOFM data and subject to periodic government review, a role that qualifies today is not guaranteed to remain eligible indefinitely.

The WorkinRomania.gov.ro Platform Goes Live August 8

The new WorkinRomania.gov.ro portal has been running a testing phase that concludes 7 August 2026, with full operation, including the complete single-application process for D/AM2 permits, beginning 8 August 2026. From that date, the platform becomes the sole channel for filing new work authorisation applications, and it is also where the current Shortage Occupations List is published and updated.

Employers who have not yet registered on the platform, or who are still relying on processes used before GEO 32/2026, should treat the coming week as a hard deadline to get internal systems and documentation aligned with the new digital workflow.

Authorised Employer Status: What It Requires

Employers who intend to hire D/AM2 workers directly, without going through a licensed foreign worker placement agency, must apply for authorised employer status through ANOFM's procedure on the platform. The qualifying criteria are specific:

• An average of at least 50 employees over the prior year
• At least 24 months of continuous business activity
• An established track record of employing foreign workers
• A financial guarantee of EUR 1,000 per non-EU worker, lodged before authorisation is issued

ANOFM is required to resolve authorisation requests within 15 business days. Employers who do not meet these thresholds, including smaller companies and new entities, will need to work through a licensed placement agency or an Employer of Record structure instead.

How Nestlers Group Supports Employers Through This Transition

Nestlers Group's Work Permit and Visa Support team tracks the WorkinRomania.gov.ro quota and Shortage Occupations List in real time and manages D/AM1 and D/AM2 applications from initial job registration through permit collection, including the authorised employer request for companies pursuing direct D/AM2 hiring. For employers who do not meet the 50-employee or 24-month thresholds, our Employer of Record service allows a company to hire and pay a worker in Romania legally without establishing a local entity or pursuing authorised employer status directly.

Our Payroll and HR Compliance team prepares the bilingual employment contracts required under Order 655/2026 and handles the statutory registrations that accompany each new non-EU hire. Because the 90,000-place quota can be exhausted before year-end, employers planning non-EU hires for the second half of 2026 should begin the process well ahead of their intended start date rather than after an offer has already been extended.

Sources: Government Decision No. 1.169/2025 (Official Gazette, 30 December 2025); Government Emergency Ordinance No. 32/2026 (Official Gazette No. 335, 27 April 2026); List of Shortage Occupations (published 14 June 2026); Order 655/2026 on bilingual employment contract templates; ANOFM authorised employer procedure; WorkinRomania.gov.ro platform documentation.