Fewer foreign workers in 2026

Cojocariu Eugen, 23.12.2025, 09:41

A quota of 90,000 newly admitted foreign workers on the Romanian labor market is set for 2026, according to a draft decision issued by the Ministry of Labor. By comparison, 105,977 employment/posting permits were issued in 2024, 101,251 in 2023, and 108,880 in 2022.

According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration, the number of foreigners holding temporary residence permits for employment purposes, posted, transferred, highly qualified, valid on September 30, 2025, stood at 136,023. Between January 1 and September 30, 2025, 61,954 temporary residence permits were issued for employment purposes, and 156 permits for secondment purposes. Also, 73,213 new individual employment contracts were signed with citizens of non- EU member states between January 1 and September 25, 2025.

The hiring of foreign workers will be more strictly regulated. The government is drafting a law to that end, Labor Minister Florin Manole has told the national public radio. The draft law will include provisions regarding the mandatory knowledge of Romanian or English. Recruitment agencies will also be more closely monitored, the minister has added. A regulation is needed to prevent human trafficking, because there happens to be cases of people who are exploited, who are brought over from Southeast Asia and who do not know their rights. They aren’t speaking Romanian or English and therefore are more vulnerable. We need recruiters, agents who are more carefully monitored and more responsible in their actions, because in recent years we have often seen foreign workers who theoretically came to Romania, but they only passed through a Romanian airport for a few hours, the official added.

The President of the Employers’ Federation of Labor Force Importers in Romania, Romulus Badea, says, however, that the restrictions on the accreditation of recruitment companies would be excessive and would disadvantage small and medium-sized enterprises, mentioning a version of the draft which is circulating online. According to him, recruitment agencies, acting in good faith, must be protected by the state against illegal and uncompetitive practices, and in return those  found guilty must be sanctioned, when their guilt is unequivocal. I draw attention to the fact that, although we all think mainly of workers brought over from Southeast Asia, this law will apply to all non-EU citizens – Great Britain, the USA, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia. The concept is not bad, but the implementation should be a little different, said Badea.