The onboarding journey, mapped
Understanding the relocation timeline
"Onboarding" here means something simple: the sequence of paperwork and decisions that tends to unfold in the months around a move to Romania. This page walks through three of the biggest pieces, in the order most readers encounter them.
Pre-arrival
Visa granted, translations prepared, first rental searches begin online.
First 30 days
Rental contract signed, residence permit request lodged at IGI.
First 90 days
Family doctor chosen, CASS contribution status clarified, permit card collected.
When you sit down to prepare your application folder
Say you arrived last month on a long-stay visa for work or study. Somewhere on your calendar there is a deadline, usually before the visa expires, to lodge a residence permit request with the General Inspectorate for Immigration. Based on what IGI publishes, applicants are typically asked to gather several categories of documents.
A completed application form is standard, alongside your passport and a copy of the visa page. Most files also need proof of accommodation, which can be a rental contract or an owner's declaration, and proof of sufficient financial means, shown through bank statements or an employment contract. Health insurance coverage valid in Romania is generally requested as well, along with recent passport-style photos and proof that the relevant fee has been paid.
The exact combination shifts depending on whether the stay is for employment, study, family reunification or another purpose, and IGI's own published lists are the only reliable way to confirm what a specific case requires. A folder assembled from an outdated article is rarely a shortcut worth taking.
When a landlord asks for a Romanian guarantor
Picture a straightforward search: a decent one-bedroom apartment, a landlord who seems reasonable, and then the question that stalls the conversation. "Do you have a Romanian guarantor?" For many foreign tenants without local family or long-standing employment history in the country, the honest answer is no.
Landlords ask for this because Romanian tenancy law leans toward tenant protections once a contract is registered, and because a guarantor gives the owner someone local to pursue if rent goes unpaid. It is a practical risk-reduction habit, not a legal requirement for every rental.
Foreign tenants without a guarantor commonly offer a larger deposit, prepay two or three months of rent upfront, or provide an employer's letter confirming income. Working with a rental agency that mediates the contract sometimes eases the conversation too, since the agency effectively vouches for the process. Whatever is agreed, having the contract properly registered matters later, both for renewing a residence permit and for the landlord's own tax reporting to ANAF.
When it's time to register with a family doctor
Once a residence permit is in hand, the next practical question is usually about healthcare. Romania's public system runs through CNAS, the national health insurance house, and access generally follows from paying the CASS health contribution, either automatically through an employer or voluntarily for those who are self-employed or between jobs.
Being registered lets a resident choose a medic de familie, a family doctor who becomes the usual first point of contact for referrals, prescriptions and routine check-ups. Registration paperwork at a chosen clinic is typically light: an ID document, proof of address and confirmation of active health insurance status. Some residents also keep private health insurance for shorter waiting times or English-speaking specialists, using the public system as a baseline rather than a sole option.
Whether contributions are already active is something CNAS or a payroll department can confirm directly. Assuming coverage without checking has caused more than one unpleasant surprise at a pharmacy counter.
Next up: registering with the tax office
Once housing and healthcare are underway, the tax registration side of settling in tends to follow. The corporate invoicing guide covers that stage.
Continue to tax and invoicing