Quota of 140,000 foreign workers for 2024 (draft project)

According to the Romanian Ministry of Labour’s website, a draft project has been published for the Government plans to set a quota of 140,000 newly admitted non EU workers in the local labour market, an increase of 40% compared to the last two years. This change would represent the authorities’ response to the labour crisis the Romanian market is currently facing. According to official statistics, the number of companies applying for work permits to hire foreign labour has doubled in the last year.

By promoting legal migration for the benefit of Romanian society, as well as for the benefit of foreign workers and their countries of origin, the main objective of the Romanian authorities is to maximise the positive effects and limit the negative effects of labour migration.

According to the data communicated by the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI), as of 9 October 2023, 80,375 work permits and detachment permits have been issued and a total of 9,748 applications for the issuance of work permits and detachment permits for the current year are in process. By comparison, according to information provided by IGI 108,885 employment notices were issued in 2022 and 49,954 work permits and detachment permits were issued in 2021. The number of foreigners with a residence permit for employment, secondment or dependent activities on the territory of Romania was 72,337 on 30 September 2023.

According to data from the National Agency for Employment, between January and August 2023
the total number of job vacancies was 506,601.

More information is available on the Romanian Ministry of Labour website.