Bringing Family to Romania as a Non-EU Worker: What Employers and Employees Need to Know

Many non-EU workers arrive in Romania alone and assume the family reunification process can wait until they are settled. That delay costs them months. Under Romanian immigration law, the sponsor application at IGI takes up to three months to process, and the long-stay visa window that follows lasts only 60 days. Miss that window and the entire procedure restarts. Employers who want to retain skilled non-EU workers — and reduce early attrition — need to understand this timeline and factor it into onboarding conversations from day one.

Romania's rules on family reunification for non-EU workers are governed by Government Emergency Ordinance No. 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners, as amended, and align with the EU Family Reunification Directive. GEO 32/2026, which restructured the work permit and authorisation framework in April 2026, did not alter the family reunification mechanism itself, but it changed the work permit obligations that apply to family members who later want to take up employment in Romania.

Who Can Sponsor Family Reunification

Not every non-EU worker in Romania is entitled to bring family. The sponsor — the worker already residing in Romania — must hold one of the following at the time of application:

• A temporary residence permit valid for at least one year (the single permit issued after the initial D/AM1 or D/AM2 long-stay visa)
• A EU Blue Card
• An ICT (Intra-Company Transfer) permit or a Mobile ICT permit
• A long-term residence permit

Workers who are still in their initial 90-day long-stay visa period and have not yet collected their single permit from IGI cannot yet apply. The one-year validity threshold means that seasonal workers, who typically hold permits tied to fixed-term contracts of 6–9 months, generally do not qualify for family reunification under this route.

An exception applies to holders of EU Blue Cards, ICT permits, and research residence permits: they may apply for family reunification even if the validity of their residence permit is less than one year.

Which Family Members Qualify

Romanian law defines the family members who can benefit from reunification under the GEO 194/2002 framework. The sponsor may apply for:

• The spouse (husband or wife), provided the marriage is valid and monogamous
• Unmarried minor children of the sponsor or of the spouse, including legally adopted children for whom the sponsor or spouse provides
• First-degree relatives in ascending line — parents or grandparents — if they cannot provide for themselves and do not have adequate family support in their country of origin
• Adult unmarried children of the sponsor or spouse, if they cannot support themselves independently due to medical reasons

The condition against bigamy or polygamy is explicitly enforced. Where a sponsor has more than one spouse, family reunification may be approved only for one.

Documents Required from the Sponsor

The first step is obtaining a favourable opinion from the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) at the territorial unit in the county where the sponsor lives. The sponsor submits the following documents in person:

• Completed application form (IGI family reunification application)
• Marriage certificate or birth certificate of the family member for whom reunification is requested, in original, translated and legalised or apostilled
• A notarised statement confirming that the family members will reside together with the sponsor in Romania
• Copy of the sponsor's current residence permit (single permit or other qualifying document)
• Proof of adequate accommodation — a legal tenancy agreement or ownership document for housing considered normal for a family of the relevant size in Romania
• Proof of sufficient financial means: the sponsor must demonstrate income exceeding their own maintenance requirement by at least the net national minimum wage per each family member to be brought over
• Proof of enrolment in the Romanian social health insurance system (CNAS)
• If a minor child is involved and joint custody applies: written consent from the other parent allowing the child to reside in Romania

IGI processes the application within three months of submission. The decision is communicated in writing.

The Visa and Entry Process

If IGI approves the application, the favourable opinion is communicated to the sponsor, who forwards it to the family member abroad. The family member must present that communication at a Romanian diplomatic mission or consular office in their country of residence within 60 days of the date of issue and apply for a long-stay visa for family reunification.

The 60-day window is not extendable under normal circumstances. Sponsors who receive the IGI approval and delay passing it to the family member risk having the family member miss the visa application deadline. The family member then applies for a new long-stay visa with the consulate, submitting the IGI opinion together with a valid passport and other required consular documents. The long-stay visa for family reunification is typically issued for 90 days and allows the holder to enter Romania.

After entry, the family member must apply for a temporary residence permit for family reunification purposes from the IGI territorial unit in the county of residence, at least 30 days before the visa expires.

Work Rights for Family Members in Romania

This is where employers regularly misread the rules. There are two distinct legal situations.

Family members of Romanian citizens who hold a residence permit for family reunification purposes can work in Romania without any additional work permit. The employment relationship is treated equivalently to that of a Romanian worker.

Family members of non-EU workers — that is, the population this article primarily addresses — hold a temporary residence permit for family reunification, but the sponsor is a third-country national, not a Romanian citizen. In this case, the family member does not benefit from automatic access to the labour market. If they wish to work, the prospective employer must obtain a work authorisation from IGI. Under the fee schedule established before GEO 32/2026, the work authorisation fee for hiring a holder of a temporary residence permit for family reunification is the equivalent of 25 EUR in RON — significantly lower than the 100 EUR standard work permit fee — but it is still required.

Employers who hire a family member of a non-EU worker without this authorisation are exposed to the same sanctions that apply to hiring undocumented workers. The reduced fee is not an indication that the process is optional; it reflects the fact that the worker is already legally in Romania and the recruitment steps are simplified.

What Changes After Five Years

After five years of continuous lawful residence in Romania, a non-EU worker (and by extension their family members who have also resided continuously) can apply for long-term residence status. Long-term residence holders have unrestricted access to the Romanian labour market and are not subject to work authorisation requirements. Family members who have held their reunification residence permit continuously for five years may apply independently.

How Nestlers Group Supports Family Reunification

Nestlers Group's Immigration Advisory team manages family reunification applications from the preparation of the IGI endorsement package through to the family member's residence permit registration in Romania. This includes verifying sponsor eligibility, preparing and legalising the required documents, calculating the financial means threshold, and monitoring the three-month IGI processing window so that the 60-day visa application deadline is not missed.

Where family members intend to work after arrival, our Work Permit and Visa Support team coordinates the work authorisation application with the relevant IGI territorial unit, ensuring the employer's obligations are met before the employment contract is signed. Our Payroll and HR Compliance team handles ITM registration and ANAF tax enrolment for family member employees, including CNP acquisition and payroll setup, so that the administrative trail is complete from the first day of work.

Sources: Government Emergency Ordinance No. 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners in Romania, republished with subsequent amendments; IGI General Inspectorate for Immigration — Family Reunification guidance (igi.mai.gov.ro/en/family-reunification-2); IGI Employment and Posting guidance (igi.mai.gov.ro/en/employment-and-posting); Government Emergency Ordinance No. 32/2026, Official Gazette No. 335, 27 April 2026