Foreign nationals and the regularization of the right of residence

Cojocariu Eugen, 08.07.2026, 15:50

Over 3,600 foreign nationals have applied for the regularization of their right of residence in Romania, in accordance with Government Emergency Ordinance No. 32/2026. The ordinance aims to regulate the foreign nationals’ access to the Romanian labour market and clarify the legal status of those who remained in Romania after the expiration of their right of residence granted under a long-stay employment visa or a single permit. In this context, the General Inspectorate for Immigration carried out an information and awareness raising campaign structured around three components: the production and translation of specialized multimedia content, public outreach through press releases and media briefings, and direct outreach in the field.

To ensure the widest possible outreach among foreign national communities, the message was included in a video translated and subtitled into 9 widely spoken languages of relevance on the labour market: English, French, Spanish, Sinhala, Bengali, Urdu, Nepali, Tamil, and Turkish. The effectiveness of this approach was confirmed by the dissemination of the materials by the Embassies of the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Mexico, and Nepal, as well as by the International Organization for Migration. Direct talks in the street focused on explaining the steps required to ensure the lawful continuation of employment in Romania, namely the obligation to declare one’s residential address within a 60-day period established by the aforementioned ordinance. At national level, immigration officers distributed over 4,500 flyers and informational materials translated into several languages in areas with a high flow of foreign workers.

During this period, 3,666 foreign nationals went to the territorial immigration units to benefit from the provisions of Government Emergency Ordinance No. 32/2026. The highest number of applications were submitted by nationals of Nepal (1,233 persons), followed by Sri Lanka (875), India (295), Bangladesh (231), and Egypt (230), while the remaining applicants were nationals of other countries, including Turkey, the Philippines, and Pakistan. The largest volume of applications was reported in Bucharest and in the counties of Ilfov (south), Constanța (southeast), Cluj (northwest), and Timiș (west). Following the completion of the document submission stage, the General Inspectorate for Immigration is continuing the process with the verification of the submitted information, and afterwards the remaining legal procedures will be carried out to finalize the regularization of the applicants’ right of residence.