Temporary residence for scientific research activities — long-stay visa D/CS
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Drept de şedere temporară pentru desfăşurarea de activităţi de cercetare ştiinţifică — viza de lungă şedere simbol D/CS as of 2026-08-25[3][7] Article 2 lit. o), read directly, defines 'cercetator'. The Ordinance gives the permit no name of its own, so IGI's own descriptor of the purpose is recorded. |
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| Official name (English) | Temporary residence for scientific research activities — long-stay visa D/CS as of 2026-08-25[2][3] Translation of the authority's Romanian wording; no official English name was found. |
| Legal basis | Ordonanţa de urgenţă a Guvernului nr. 194/2002, republicată, cu modificările şi completările ulterioare, art. 2 lit. o) şi o^2), art. 67^1 (mobilitatea cercetătorului), coroborate cu art. 55 sau art. 56 pentru prelungirile după încheierea cercetării as of 2026-08-25[3][7] Letters o) and o^2) were read directly. Article 67^1 and articles 55 and 56 are IGI's own citations on its research page – it cites art. 67^1 alin. (3) for the mobility notification's contents and arts. 55 and 56 for the extensions granted after the research ends – and those articles are behind the retrieval ceiling, so that part is at one remove. |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-25[3] A D/CS long-stay visa for 90 days, then a residence permit from IGI. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA as of 2026-08-25[2][7] |
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| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source Not established. No age condition is stated. |
| Criminal-record condition | Yes as of 2026-08-25[3] A criminal record certificate or another document of the same legal value issued by the authorities of the country of domicile or residence accompanies the visa application. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 5 years as of 2026-08-25[3] IGI: the residence right for this purpose is extended for a period EQUAL TO THE DURATION PROVIDED FOR IN THE RECEIVING AGREEMENT, but not more than 5 consecutive years. The 5-year figure is the ceiling; the operative rule is relational and is carried by initial_duration_basis. |
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| How the initial term is set | matches the sponsor's permit |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-25[3] IGI sets out both the first extension and subsequent extensions, each filed at least 30 days before the previous permit expires. |
| Renewal duration | up to 5 years as of 2026-08-25[3] Same rule: the receiving agreement's duration, capped at 5 consecutive years. |
| Work rights | authorisation required as of 2026-08-25[3] Two things IGI states, and neither fits the vocabulary cleanly. First, holders of a research residence right MAY CARRY ON TEACHING ACTIVITIES under the conditions of the law – a right beyond the permit's own purpose, conditioned on those conditions being met. Second, the residence right may be extended by 9 months after the research ends to look for a job or start a business, after which further extensions run under arts. 55 or 56 without a new long-stay visa. 'own_purpose_only' would deny the teaching right; 'full' would overstate it. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source Not established. IGI publishes the categories to which the long-term residence right is NOT granted as a closed list: holders of temporary residence for studies; applicants for and beneficiaries of temporary protection; applicants for and beneficiaries of protection other than international protection; applicants for international protection; holders of a residence right conferred by a short-stay, diplomatic or service visa; and holders of a right obtained to work as a seasonal worker or an au-pair worker. This route is not in that list. But absence from a list of exclusions is not the same as a positive statement that time on this route counts, and IGI names only work, commercial activities and family reunification as examples of qualifying purposes. Research is not among the three purposes IGI names as examples, and researchers are not among the excluded categories either. |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | No as of 2026-08-25[3] Not a job offer but a receiving agreement – the acord de primire concluded between the accredited research-development unit and the researcher, avizat by the Ministry of Research and Innovation. Its form and the conditions on which it is concluded are set by order of that minister. |
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| Qualification requirement | degree as of 2026-08-25[7] Article 2 lit. o): a researcher is a foreigner holding a doctoral diploma or a higher-education qualification of a nature to give access to research or postdoctoral research programmes, accepted by an accredited higher-education institution, research institute, research-development unit or research centre attested to carry on scientific research within a project. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-25[3] The research-development unit obtains the Ministry of Research aviz for the researcher and is party to the receiving agreement; in mobility it is the unit that transmits the notification to IGI. |
| Own means requirement | 1 × national minimum gross base wage guaranteed in payment per month as of 2026-08-25[3] At the first extension, means at the level of the national minimum gross base wage guaranteed in payment for a period of at least 6 months. In long-term mobility from another member state the same figure and the same 6-month window are required. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-25[3] Not itself a job-search instrument. The 9-month post-research extension for job search or starting a business is an extension of this permit rather than a separate instrument, which is why no job-search route is recorded for Romania – see the work coverage note. |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2026-08-25[3] The receiving research-development unit first obtains the aviz of the Ministry of Research and Innovation; the D/CS visa is then applied for at a Romanian mission and the permit follows in country. Long-term mobility is the exception: a researcher holding a valid research permit or long-stay research visa from another EU member state may enter and apply to extend residence in Romania without a Romanian long-stay visa at all. |
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| Statutory processing time | up to 30 days as of 2026-08-25[3] The long-stay visa is approved by the National Visa Centre only after IGI's aviz, which is issued within at most 30 days of receiving the request, extendable by 15 days. The application to grant or extend the residence right is decided within 30 days of submission, extendable by at most 15 days where further checks are needed. Where the information or documents supplied are inadequate, IGI sets a reasonable deadline of no more than 30 days for the applicant to supply more and the 30-day clock is suspended until they arrive; if they do not, the application may be rejected. |
| Fees |
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| Quota |
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Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-08-25[3] |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-08-25[2][5] Holders of a residence right for scientific research are expressly named among the sponsors who may apply for family reunification EVEN WHERE the temporary residence permit is valid for less than one year. In short-term mobility, family members holding reunification permits or long-stay reunification visas issued by the first member state may enter and remain in Romania on the same terms as the researcher. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child, adult dependent child, parent as of 2026-08-25[2][5] The general reunification list; conditions on ro-reintregirea-familiei. |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source Not established. |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 7 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 7 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2026-08-25 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-25 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-26 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] Perceperea taxei de viza
Ministerul Afacerilor Externe — Centrul National de Vize · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [2] Tipuri de vize şi scopurile deplasării
Ministerul Afacerilor Externe – Centrul Naţional de Vize (eViza) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [3] Activitati de cercetare stiintifica — viza de lunga sedere si permisul de sedere
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrari · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [4] Permisul unic / Cartea albastra a UE — obtinerea si prelungirea dreptului de sedere in scop de munca si de detasare
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrari · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [5] Aprobarea reintregirii familiei cu cetateni terti
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrari · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [6] Taxele pe care trebuie sa le achitati pentru obtinerea permisului de sedere
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrari · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [7] Ordonanţa de urgenţă a Guvernului nr. 194/2002 privind regimul străinilor în România, republicată – formă consolidată valabilă la 30 aprilie 2026 (publicată de IGI)
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări / Guvernul României · statute · Tier 1 · Published 2008-06-05 · Accessed 2026-08-25