90,000 foreign workers in 2026

The government has approved, for 2026, a quota of 90,000 newly admitted foreign workers on the Romanian labour market, to cover the personnel shortage in several fields, the Ministry of Labour has announced. The measure comes against the backdrop of employers repeatedly reporting vacant jobs they could not fill and a significantly high demand for employment permits for foreign nationals, the Ministry says.

The government has approved, for 2026, a quota of 90,000 newly admitted foreign workers on the Romanian labour market, to cover the personnel shortage in several fields, the Ministry of Labour has announced. The measure comes against the backdrop of employers repeatedly reporting vacant jobs they could not fill and a significantly high demand for employment permits for foreign nationals, the Ministry says.

The main areas of activity impacted by the lack of personnel are: courier (26,275), goods handler (20,912), unskilled worker for building demolition, crafting or installing masonry, mosaic tiles, tiles, ceramic tiles, parquet (20,484), construction worker (17,799), commercial worker (16,246), car and van driver (12,237), cook’s assistant (12,077), freight carrier driver (11,135), unskilled worker for breaking and cutting construction materials (10,878) and security guard (10,438).

Also, 83,914 employment/posting permits for foreign workers had been issued by September 30, 2025, with 7,418 applications still pending, according to the General Inspectorate for Immigration. By comparison, 105,977 employment/posting permits were issued in 2024. 61,954 temporary residence permits for employment purposes and 156 residence permits for secondment purposes were issued in the same time span, as compared to 110,365 and 339, respectively, in 2024.

Data released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs show that, by September 26, 2025, 42,544 visas for employment were issued to foreign citizens who were about to enter Romania and 9,851 long-stay visa applications for employment/secondment were rejected. A total of 272 such visas have been cancelled/revoked, and 4,648 applications are currently being processed.

According to the Labour Inspectorate, 73,213 new individual labour contracts of employees who are non-EU citizens were concluded between January 1 and September 25, 2025. In 2024, the overall number of new contracts stood at 98,966.

The quota of foreign workers is established annually or whenever necessary, by Government decision, at the proposal of the Ministry of Labour.