Romania: New Legal Framework Regarding the Employment of Foreign Employees
A new legal framework regarding the employment of non-EU/EEA that require work authorisation in order to be employed in Romania is being implemented. By Government Ordinance No. 32/2026 published at the end of April 2026 new rules on work visas and new obligations for employers and employment agencies hiring foreign employees were set in place. In order to make the new legal framework functional a series of supporting normative acts also need to be implemented.
Both the employers and the employment agencies that intend to hire foreign employees will need to be registered and/or authorised for this purpose. Employers will be able to hire foreign employees directly (as an authorised employer) or through an authorised work agency (as a registered employer).
The new legal framework introduces the obligation to use the online platform workinromania.gov.ro as a hub for employers, work agencies and foreign citizens seeking employment or being employed in Romania. The platform will be used in order to register relevant information on the employment of foreign employees, including publishing firm job offers. The platform will also allow foreign citizens to obtain information regarding the hiring process in Romania, verify if the work agencies offering work in Romania are properly registered, report any irregularities regarding their employment and consult the firm job offers that were published by local employers.
A supporting ministerial order establishing the minimum content and template for the employment agreement that needs to be used for foreign employees was also adopted at the beginning of June. The template for the individual employment agreement for foreign employees is not correlated with the general template for the individual employment agreement. Pending additional clarification, the employers hiring foreign citizens will have to adjust the content of the agreement in order to include all relevant information.
The individual employment agreement for foreign citizens will need to be drafted in both Romanian and a language that the foreign citizen being employed understands. Even before this obligation was added by Government Ordinance No. 32/2026, it was considered that an employment agreement drafted only in Romanian for a foreign citizen that does not understand Romanian could be viewed as being concluded without valid consent.
On-going employment agreements with foreign employees will remain governed by the previous legal framework, including in regards to their content.
Not complying with the rules on the mandatory minimum content of the employment agreement or the obligation to draft the agreement in a bilingual form is considered a contravention punishable by administrative fines.
Other additional supporting normative acts will also need to be implemented, mainly regarding the contingent for new work permits and the list of occupations that are considered a priority for hiring due to a shortage of available workforce. The deadline for publishing these supporting normative acts was not met by the Government and the Labour Ministry.
The incomplete legal framework, as well as the deficiencies in implementing the online platform resulted in pausing the processing of new work permit requests registered after April 2026. The entire system should be functional by August 7, 2026, but amendments to Government Ordinance No. 32/2026 are already in public discussion.
