Romania Visa Requirements

Entry into the territory of Romania may be allowed to foreigners who meet the following conditions (the Romania visa requirements are detailed further below):

• – possesses a valid document for crossing the state border, which is accepted by the Romanian state;
• – possesses a visa or residence permit granted under GEO no. 194/2002 or, as the case may be, possesses any authorization that gives the holder the right of transit or residence on the Romanian territory based on the normative acts of the European Union, mandatory and applicable for Romania, if by international agreements it has not been established otherwise;
• – present documents justifying the purpose and conditions of their stay and proving the existence of appropriate means both for maintenance during the stay and for return to the country of origin or for transit to another state where there is certainty that they will be allowed to enter;
• – presents guarantees that they will be allowed to enter the territory of the state of destination or that they will leave the territory of Romania, in the case of aliens in transit;
• – no alerts are entered in their name in the National Information System for alerts or in the Schengen Information System (SIS) in order to refuse entry;
• – are not reported by the competent authorities as posing a danger to national defense and security, public order and health;
• – does not present a danger to national defense and security, public order, health or morals.

(Foreigner – a person who does not have Romanian citizenship, the citizenship of another member state of the European Union or of the European Economic Area or the citizenship of the Swiss Confederation).

SHORT STAY VISA

If you want to travel to Romania for a short period of time and you are a national of a state for which a visa is required, you must obtain a short-stay visa (symbol C). Since Romania is a full Schengen member, this is a uniform Schengen visa, valid for the whole Schengen area, and a Schengen visa issued by another member state is also valid for Romania.

Consult the list of states whose citizens do not need a visa to enter Romania.

Consult the list of states whose citizens need a visa to enter Romania.

The short-stay visa allows you to request entry into the territory of Romania, for reasons other than immigration, for an uninterrupted stay or for several stays whose duration does not exceed 90 days during any period of 180 days, counted for the whole Schengen area and not for Romania alone. This type of visa can be issued with one or more entries.

Also, the travel document in which the visa is to be applied must meet the following criteria: its validity must exceed the validity of the requested visa by at least 3 months and have been issued in the last 10 years.

Among the states whose citizens need a visa to enter Romania, there are some for whose citizens it is necessary to obtain an invitation approved by the General Inspectorate for Immigration.

The invitation can be made by a natural or legal person, Romanian or foreign citizen residing in Romania (See the list of states whose citizens need an invitation to obtain a visa to enter Romania).

The short-stay visa entitles you to visit Romania for a limited period of time and, as a rule, is not extended; an extension is possible only in the cases provided by Article 33 of the Visa Code (force majeure, humanitarian reasons or serious personal reasons), and never beyond the 90/180-day limit. If you want to stay for a longer period of time in Romania, you must obtain a long-stay visa and, subsequently, a residence permit in Romania.

You can obtain a short-stay visa from the diplomatic missions and consular offices of Romania, after online pre-registration on the eviza.mae.ro portal. (See their list).

The right to stay in Romania, which is granted to you through a short-stay visa, can be extended only if you prove force majeure, humanitarian reasons (free of charge) or serious personal reasons (against a fee) that prevent you from leaving before the visa expires; the refusal of an extension cannot be contested. The extension is requested from the territorial formations of the General Inspectorate for Immigration and cannot result in a total stay of more than 90 days in any 180-day period.

The visa fee is paid at the Romanian diplomatic mission in the state where you are applying.

VISA TYPES

Consult the list of documents necessary to obtain a short-stay visa, depending on the purpose of your arrival in Romania:

• Tourism
• Visit
• Business
• Transport
• Sport activities
• Cultural, scientific, humanitarian activities, short-term medical treatment or other activities that do not contravene Romanian laws

HOW TO APPLY FOR A ROMANIAN VISA ONLINE (EVIZA.MAE.RO)

Visa applications are prepared through the E-Visa portal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (eviza.mae.ro) before the visit to the diplomatic mission or consular office. The recommended steps for submitting a visa application for Romania are the following:

1. General information on the visas issued by Romania. By accessing the information sections of the E-Visa portal, you have the documentation of interest regarding the visas issued by Romania.
2. Identify the need to obtain an entry visa for Romania. By filling in your citizenship, the type of visa and the type of travel document (biometric or not) in the “Do you need a visa?” section, you will find out whether a visa is needed in your personal situation. If you do not need a visa, check the entry conditions listed at the beginning of this page.
3. Completing the online visa application and attaching the supporting documents. By accessing the ‘Request’ button, in the ‘Request a visa’ section, you initiate the process of completing the online visa file. For this process, you need a valid e-mail address and your agreement on the conditions of use and the processing of personal data by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. You can discontinue the process and resume it later by using the file code received and your chosen password. Files which have not been sent to the chosen diplomatic mission or consular office are available for 30 days from the date of their creation and are deleted after this deadline, to protect the applicants’ personal data. Upload the supporting documents required for the visa application in electronic format, for consultation by the consular staff.
4. Sending the visa application for validation. Once completed, the application may be revised and updated so that the information entered is correct and complete. Submit the file and the supporting documents to the diplomatic mission or consular office chosen, so that the consular staff can validate it before the submission at the counter. If additional information is requested, fill it in and forward the file again, repeating these steps until the file is marked as valid. You can proceed to the next step only if the file is validated.
5. Scheduling and personal filing of the visa file. Choose an appointment from the intervals available at the diplomatic mission or consular office and present yourself on the scheduled date and time with the documents required to support the visa application, in original and copy. You must sign the application form in front of the consular staff and pay the visa fee.

The diplomatic mission or the Romanian consular office will inform you, by e-mail, about the settlement of the submitted application. The status of your request will also be available by accessing the account associated with your file on the portal. Once the request has been resolved, you can present yourself at the diplomatic mission or consular office where you have filed your visa application to collect your passport. If the visa has been resolved positively, the passport will contain the issued visa.

ENTRY AND TRANSIT WITH A VISA OR RESIDENCE PERMIT ISSUED BY ANOTHER SCHENGEN STATE

Third-country nationals, subject to the visa requirement pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, can transit and stay in the territory of Romania, which has been a full Schengen member since 1 January 2025, for a period that does not exceed 90 days in any 180 days period (counted for the whole Schengen area), without first obtaining a Romanian visa, if they are holders of one of the following documents issued by the other states that fully apply the Schengen acquis (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sweden, Hungary, as well as Switzerland, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway):

• a uniform visa, defined in Article 2 point 3 of the Visa Code (Regulation (EC) no. 810/2009), which is valid for the whole Schengen area, including Romania;
• a long-stay visa referred to in Article 18 of the Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement;
• a residence permit, defined in Article 2, point 16 of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 (Schengen Borders Code).

Conditions for the exemption from the obligation to obtain the Romanian visa:

• The duration of validity of the mentioned documents must cover the duration of the transit or stay in Romania.
• The citizens concerned are exempted from the obligation to obtain the Romanian visa, but they must still fulfill the entry conditions set out in Article 6 (1) of Regulation (EU) 2016/399 of the European Parliament and of the Council of March 9, 2016 – Schengen Borders Code (valid document of border crossing, supporting documents of the purpose and conditions of the journey, proof that he possesses sufficient means of subsistence, no alert in the SIS).
• Since Romania applies the Schengen acquis in full, no separate Romanian transit visa is needed: a valid Schengen visa, long-stay visa or residence permit allows the holder to move within the Schengen area, including Romania, within the 90-day limit.

Foreign nationals who intend to remain in the country for medium to long-term purposes can, in time, become eligible for Romanian citizenship. There are several routes to acquire this status, however, for adult foreigners, their option is to request citizenship by application. Our team can give you more details about the procedure and the documents, if you have completed the minimum time of lawful residence.