EU Blue Card — highly qualified worker
Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Lucrător înalt calificat — viza de lungă şedere pentru angajare în muncă tip D/AM1 şi Cartea albastră a UE as of 2026-08-25[8][9] The law names the permit. Article 2 lit. s) of the Aliens Ordinance, as it stands after Ordonanta de urgenta nr. 32/2026, calls the document 'Cartea albastra a UE' and defines it as the identity document issued by IGI attesting the holder's right of residence and work in Romania as a highly qualified worker; lit. gg) defines 'lucrator inalt calificat' itself. The visa side of the route is the D/AM1 long-stay employment visa, which IGI names on its own page. |
|---|---|
| Official name (English) | EU Blue Card — highly qualified worker as of 2026-08-25[6][9] IGI's own English page for this document calls it the EU Blue Card and is the source of the English name; 'highly qualified worker' translates the statutory term in article 2 lit. gg). |
| Legal basis | Ordonanţa de urgenţă a Guvernului nr. 194/2002 privind regimul străinilor în România, republicată, cu modificările şi completările ulterioare, art. 2 lit. gg), kk), ll) şi s), astfel cum au fost introduse ori modificate prin Ordonanţa de urgenţă a Guvernului nr. 32/2026 privind accesul străinilor pe piaţa muncii din România as of 2026-08-25[8][9] |
| Instrument type | residence permit as of 2026-08-25[3][9] |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EU, EEA as of 2026-08-25[2][9] |
|---|---|
| Minimum age | Not established from a qualifying source Not established. No age condition is stated for this route. |
| Criminal-record condition | Yes as of 2026-08-25[8] Among the documents the employer uploads to the WorkinRomania.gov.ro platform is a certificat de cazier judiciar, or another document of the same legal value issued by the authorities of the country of origin or residence, translated into Romanian, English or French and legalised. |
Permit terms
| Initial duration | up to 3 years as of 2026-08-25[3] IGI: a highly qualified worker's temporary residence right for work purposes is extended for a period equal to the validity of the employment contract PLUS THREE MONTHS, but not more than 3 years. The three-month tail is the feature that distinguishes this route from the ordinary work permit, whose grant is the contract's own length capped at 2 years, and it is not expressible in this field: the field can hold the 3-year ceiling or the relational rule but not both. See initial_duration_basis. |
|---|---|
| How the initial term is set | matches the contract |
| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-08-25[3] IGI describes both a first extension and subsequent extensions of the single permit or Blue Card, each filed at least 30 days before the previous document expires. |
| Renewal duration | up to 3 years as of 2026-08-25[3] Same rule as the initial grant: contract validity plus three months, capped at 3 years. |
| Work rights | employment only as of 2026-08-25[3][9] |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Yes as of 2026-08-25[5] 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. IGI's long-term residence page also names 'munca' among the purposes of stay from which the right may be obtained. |
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| How this time counts toward citizenship | Not established from a qualifying source |
Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-08-25[8] The single application is filed by the employer and rests on an individual employment contract already registered in REGES-ONLINE, so the job exists before the application does. |
|---|---|
| Salary threshold |
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| Labour-market test | Yes as of 2026-08-25[8] IGI: among the special conditions the employer must satisfy is that it 'a depus diligente pentru ocuparea locului de munca vacant' by a Romanian citizen, a citizen of another EU or EEA member state, a Swiss citizen, or a foreigner holding long-term residence in Romania. The proof is an adeverinta on the labour available for the vacant post, issued no more than 90 days before the single application by the employment agency for the employer's registered or professional seat. |
| Qualification requirement | degree, equivalent experience as of 2026-08-25[8][9] Article 2 lit. ll) defines superior professional qualifications as qualifications attested either by a qualification obtained in higher education or by superior professional competences; lit. mm) fixes the higher-education limb at a course of at least three years corresponding to at least ISCED 2011 level 6 or EQF level 6. The two limbs are alternatives, which is why both enum values are recorded. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-08-25[8] The employer alone completes the single application on the WorkinRomania.gov.ro platform and uploads every document about the foreigner. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-08-25[8] This is not a job-search instrument; it requires a concluded employment contract. |
Process
| Where to apply from | from abroad only as of 2026-08-25[2][8] Two stages. The long-stay visa is granted by a Romanian diplomatic mission or consular post, for 90 days with one or more journeys; the residence permit that follows is filed in country, in person or through IGI's online portal, at least 30 days before the residence right conferred by the visa expires. One statutory exception is recorded on the work routes: a foreigner who already holds a Romanian residence right for any purpose under the Ordinance may apply to extend it for work purposes after obtaining a work aviz, without obtaining a long-stay employment visa at all. |
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| Statutory processing time | up to 20 days as of 2026-08-25[2] The Ministry states that the National Visa Centre decides a D/AM visa application within 20 days of its submission, and that for the categories exempted from the prior employment aviz the deadline is up to 60 days. The residence-permit stage that follows runs on its own 30-day clock. 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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| Stages |
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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][4] A holder of the Cartea albastra a UE is a sponsor for family reunification, and one of the categories that may apply even where the residence permit is valid for less than a year – the general rule requires a temporary permit valid one year. |
|---|---|
| Eligible relations | spouse, minor child, adult dependent child, parent as of 2026-08-25[2][4] Spouse and unmarried minor children of the sponsor and of the spouse, including adopted and dependent children, as of right; first-degree ascendants of the sponsor or of the spouse who cannot support themselves and have no adequate family support in the country of origin, and unmarried adult children of either who cannot support themselves for medical reasons, only where IGI approves. The full conditions are on the family-family route ro-reintregirea-familiei. |
| Family may apply at the same time | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Family members' work rights | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Additional means per family member |
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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.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
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Verification
| Sources cited | 9 |
|---|---|
| of which official (tier 1) | 9 |
| 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] 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 - [4] Aprobarea reintregirii familiei cu cetateni terti
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrari · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [5] Informare privind dreptul de şedere pe termen lung, condiţiile de acordare şi când încetează acesta
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări · official guidance · Tier 1 · Published 2023-03-29 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [6] Single permit / EU Blue Card (the English expression of the same page as ro-igi-permis-unic)
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrari · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [7] Taxele pe care trebuie sa le achitati pentru obtinerea permisului de sedere
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrari · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [8] Viza de lunga sedere pentru angajare in munca
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrari · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-25 - [9] 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