On Tuesday, the Senate adopted several amendments to Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 regarding the access of foreigners to the Romanian labor market. The regulatory act mainly governs the conditions for registration, authorization, rights, and obligations of employers who hire foreigners within the territory of Romania, the authorization procedure for placement agencies of foreigners on the Romanian labor market, as well as the suspension, withdrawal, or cancellation of the authorization. Additionally, the regulatory act provides the operational, supervision, and control conditions for the activity of foreign placement agencies. The ordinance introduces the obligation for employers and placement agencies to register and be authorized through the electronic platform “WorkinRomania.gov.ro”. The conditions for authorization will differ depending on the type of applicant, the occupation and qualification of the foreign worker, as well as the recruitment and employment method. Furthermore, the legislative act introduces new types of long-stay visas for employment: the D/AM1 visa for highly skilled workers and other special categories provided by law, and the D/AM2 visa for permanent, seasonal, and cross-border workers operating in fields included in the shortage occupations list. The ordinance also provides for the introduction of a single application for requesting long-stay employment visas through the “WorkinRomania.gov.ro” platform, concurrently with the elimination of employment permits and detachment permits. Senators adopted several amendments to the emergency ordinance currently in force. Thus, the shortage occupations list will be compiled and updated semi-annually or whenever required, based on the development and update methodology approved by order of the Minister of Labor. This will be done following the needs identified at both national and county levels by the National Agency for Employment, taking into account information provided by the Labor Inspection, the General Inspectorate for Immigration, and with the advisory opinion of the Economic and Social Council. Initially, consultations with social partners had been envisioned. “By way of exception, the employer may conclude individual labor contracts with a number of foreigners that may exceed the average number of employees registered in the previous year if: a) they demonstrate financial viability by uploading to the electronic platform proof of holding a credit line, a bank comfort letter, or uncommitted available funds amounting to a minimum of 500,000 euros or the equivalent in lei at the official exchange rate of the National Bank of Romania on the day of submission or issuance; b) at least 50% of the employees with whom they have concluded full-time individual labor contracts registered in REGES-ON LINE at the time of submitting the firm job offer are Romanian citizens. Financial viability must be certain, liquid, due, and completely free of commercial encumbrances or pledges in favor of third parties,” state the newly introduced articles. Additionally, the senators introduced exceptions to the obligations of the foreign placement agency to bear the expenses incurred by the foreigner’s return to their country of origin. These cases apply when the agency has presented the foreigner with at least two compliant offers within 90 days and the foreigner refused the offers unjustifiably, the refusal being recorded in writing, and notified the National Agency for Employment and the General Inspectorate for Immigration, or when the foreigner’s individual labor contract terminated by law due to the expiration of its fixed term. At the same time, in the case of contraventions, fines will be applied for each placed foreign worker. Other amendments specify that employment permits issued based on applications shall be canceled under the provisions of the legislation applicable prior to the entry into force of this emergency ordinance.
