Romanian Residence Permit for Company Owners and Investors
One-year permit, monthly income thresholds of €700 and €500 – and no golden visa
A non-EU shareholder of a Romanian company can apply for a temporary residence permit for commercial activities. The permit is issued for up to one year and is renewable; the applicant must show income of at least €700 per month as a shareholder, or €500 per month as an associate (EU Immigration Portal, checked 6 October 2026). Permits of up to three years exist, but only after an investment above €500,000 or the creation of more than 50 jobs in Romania.
Romania For Business SRL prepares these applications alongside the company registration itself, in the same engagement – the immigration file relies on the ONRC and ANAF documents produced at registration, so the two are not sequenced as separate projects. This page sets out the thresholds, the deadlines and the four situations where the route does not work at all.
In short, as checked on 6 October 2026: a residence permit in Romania for a company owner lasts one year and depends on the company’s income. Five years of such permits lead to EU long-term residence, and Romanian citizenship by naturalisation needs eight years of residence plus Romanian at B1 level. There is no golden visa and no Romania citizenship by investment: the shortcut for investors above €1,000,000 was abolished on 15 March 2025.
Romania has no golden visa. The bill was withdrawn on 8 December 2025.
A group of PNL senators tabled the “Golden Visa Romania” bill in October 2025: a renewable five-year residence permit for an investment of at least €400,000. On 8 December 2025 the Senate plenary approved its withdrawal, requested by senator Aurel Varga on behalf of the initiators, after the Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT) called the scheme a risk to national security and an obstacle to Schengen accession, the Visa Waiver programme and OECD accession. The initiators said they intend to return with a revised text; as of 6 October 2026 we have found none in Parliament. Articles published as late as May 2026 still present the €400,000 scheme as a live proposal, and any provider selling a “Romanian golden visa” is selling a bill that does not exist.
What Exists Instead of a Golden Visa
Romanian residence for business owners runs through the company, not through a passive investment. The sequence is fixed: the company is registered first, the long-stay visa is applied for at a Romanian consulate, and the temporary residence permit is issued in Romania by the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI).
- The SRL is registered at the Trade Register (ONRC) and with ANAF for tax; a foreign shareholder may hold 100% of the share capital.
- The long-stay visa is applied for at a Romanian consulate in the country of residence, on the ground of commercial activities.
- The residence permit file goes in at an IGI territorial office at least 30 days before the right of stay granted by the visa expires (IGI, checked 8 September 2026).
- The permit is renewed annually, or issued for up to three years once the €500,000 investment or 50-job threshold below is met.
The permit follows the business: if the company stops trading or monthly income drops under €700, the annual renewal fails. This is a permit for an operating company, not a residence product that survives a dormant SRL.
Income Thresholds That Decide the Application
The figure the file stands or falls on is monthly income, and it differs by role: €700 for a shareholder against €500 for an associate on the same commercial-activities ground.
| Ground of stay | Financial requirement | Permit issued for |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial activities – shareholder | at least €700 per month | up to 1 year, renewable |
| Commercial activities – associate | at least €500 per month | up to 1 year, renewable |
| Economic activities (self-employed) | at least the average gross monthly salary | up to 1 year, renewable |
| Commercial activities – large investor | investment above €500,000 or more than 50 jobs created | successive periods of up to 3 years |
Source: EU Immigration Portal, self-employed worker in Romania, checked 6 October 2026. The average gross monthly salary is set annually by the state social insurance budget law and changes each year – the figure applicable to your file is confirmed at the time of filing, not from this page.
When the Permit Runs Three Years Instead of One
Two thresholds move a commercial-activities permit from annual renewal to successive periods of up to three years: an investment above €500,000, or more than 50 jobs created in Romania. Both are assessed on what the company has actually done, not on what it declares it will do.
For most incoming founders the honest expectation is the one-year permit renewed annually. A company incorporated with the statutory minimum share capital and two or three staff is nowhere near either threshold, and presenting a business plan that promises 50 jobs does not substitute for the jobs.
Deadlines: the 30-Day Rule Behind Avoidable Refusals
Applications are submitted in person at the IGI territorial office at least 30 days before the right of stay granted by the visa expires. Missing that window is not a formality – the application is filed against a right of stay that must still be running.
A first permit is decided within 30 days of filing, and that deadline may be extended by 15 days where additional checks are required. An application as the family member of a Romanian citizen takes up to 90 days, and the independent residence permit issued in the situations set out by IGI carries 6 months of validity rather than a year.
Source: General Inspectorate for Immigration, residence permit section, checked 8 September 2026.
From Annual Permit to EU Long-Term Residence
EU long-term resident status requires five years of continuous legal stay in Romania. Absences are capped: no more than six consecutive months and no more than ten months in total across the five years. The status is documented by a long-term EU residence permit renewed every five years, and it carries mobility rights in other EU member states that a national permit does not.
The EU long-term residence permit requirements do not stop at the residence record. Article 71 of Government Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 also asks for means of support at least at the level of the national gross minimum wage, health insurance, legally held housing and Romanian at a satisfactory level at least. Five years of the €700 shareholder income do not settle it. The minimum-wage level has to be shown on the day of filing.
This is where the annual permit route pays off, and where it fails for people who intended to keep living elsewhere. Five renewals with income above the threshold and physical presence in Romania are the price of the status.
Romanian Citizenship: Eight Years, or Five If Married to a Romanian
Naturalisation under Article 8 of the Romanian citizenship law, Law 21/1991, requires at least eight years of legal residence in Romania, or five years from the date of marriage for a foreigner married to and living with a Romanian citizen. The applicant must be 18 or older, have legal means of support in Romania and know the Constitution and the national anthem. Since Law 14/2025 took effect on 15 March 2025, Romanian is proven by a B1 language certificate or by three years of school or university study in Romanian. Romania permits dual citizenship, so an applicant is not required to renounce an existing nationality.
How to get Romanian citizenship once the years are served: the file goes to the National Authority for Citizenship (ANC), which since 2025 also takes fingerprints and a facial image at filing. A commission interview checks language, culture and knowledge of the Constitution, and citizenship is acquired only when the applicant takes the oath of allegiance.
Romanian citizenship by descent runs on an entirely different basis. Article 11 covers people who lost Romanian citizenship without their consent and their descendants up to the third degree, great-grandchildren included, with no residence requirement. Since 15 March 2025 these applicants also prove Romanian at B1 level or by three years of study in Romanian. None of it depends on a company, so it has nothing to do with the business route described on this page.
Citizenship by Investment: No Programme, and the €1 Million Shortcut Is Gone
Romania does not sell citizenship at any price. Until 15 March 2025, Article 8 of Law 21/1991 allowed the eight-year residence period to be halved for a foreigner who had invested more than €1,000,000 in Romania. Law 14/2025 removed investors from the list. What remains is a reduction of up to three years for other categories, among them EU citizens and people born in Romania to a legally resident parent.
Offers of Romanian citizenship by investment for $25,000, or for any other fee, have no basis in Romanian law: citizenship is granted by order of the ANC president after the Law 21/1991 conditions are checked. Several guides still describe the €1 million rule as current; it has not been since March 2025. For an investor the real sequence is the operating company, eight years of permits and naturalisation.
Digital Nomad Visa: Residence Without a Romanian Company
The digital nomad visa in Romania is the one route here that needs no Romanian company. Article 49(1)(f1) of Government Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 reserves it for a foreigner who works remotely through information and communication technology, either as an employee of a foreign company or as the owner of one.
The income bar is higher than for a company owner: at least three times the average gross monthly earnings in Romania for each of the six months before the application, against €700 a month for a shareholder of a Romanian SRL. After entry, the holder applies to IGI for a residence permit on the same ground. A founder who intends to invoice through a Romanian company needs the commercial-activities permit instead, since the nomad route rests on a foreign employer or a foreign company.
Who This Route Does Not Work For
Four situations where the commercial-activities permit is the wrong instrument. Each of them surfaces at the IGI filing 30 days before the visa expires – that is, after the consular appointment and the company registration have already been paid for:
- Passive investors: buying property or bonds in Romania creates no ground of stay, and since the €400,000 bill was withdrawn on 8 December 2025 there is no route based on capital alone.
- Founders who do not intend to live in Romania: EU long-term residence caps absence at six consecutive months and ten months across the five years.
- Companies without income: a dormant SRL cannot document €700 or €500 a month, and the annual renewal is refused on that basis alone.
- EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: they do not need this permit at all – a registration certificate covers stays over 90 days.
What We Do – and What We Do Not Do
Romania For Business SRL registers the company, prepares the corporate and financial documents the immigration file relies on, and coordinates the filing with IGI alongside a Romanian immigration lawyer.
What we do not do: we do not issue permits, do not influence IGI decisions, and do not offer residence by investment, because no such scheme exists in Romanian law as of 6 October 2026. Decisions on visas and permits are taken by the Romanian authorities. Nothing on this page is legal advice on an individual case.
Sources checked 8 September 2026: General Inspectorate for Immigration (igi.mai.gov.ro), EU Immigration Portal (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu), Law 21/1991 on Romanian citizenship, Senate proceedings on the withdrawn Golden Visa bill. Re-checked 6 October 2026: Law 14/2025 amending Law 21/1991, Government Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 (Articles 49 and 71), reports of the Senate vote of 8 December 2025 (adevarul.ro, ziare.com).