Romania offers citizenship and residency to foreign investors who commit to invest in Romanian businesses and job creation. The naturalization time is reduced by half for citizenship, if the foreigners invest atleast EUR 1 million or more under the currently citizenship legislation.
Romania is a EU member state, but currently in the process of joining schengen area. Romania has committed the euro once it fulfils the necessary conditions.
Temporary Residence
To receive temporary residency in Romania, foreigners must invest
- EUR 100,000 and creation of at least 10 new jobs in the case of a limited liability company;
- EUR 150,000 and at least 15 new jobs in the case of a joint-stock company
Permanent Residency
Foreign nationals who invested an investment of EUR 1,000,000 EUR or 100 new jobs, the conditions of continuous residence of five years and personal financial means equal to the minimum wage are waived. In addition they must meet the following
- The applicant has public health insurance;
- The applicant has his/her place of residence in Romania;
- Satisfactory knowledge of the Romanian language
- Not a threat to national security or public order
Proof of investment can be made with certificates issued by the Trade Registry, certificates from the tax authorities and financial evaluation reports prepared by certified accountants.
Once granted permanent residence, the foreigner must maintain a continuous physical residence, otherwise the right to permanent residence will cease; the foreigner must not be granted permanent residence in another country, must not be absent from the Romanian territory for more than 12 consecutive months
Romania Citizenship
No special rules pertaining to the granting of citizenship on the basis of a residence permit obtained by an investor. Investors who wish to become Romanian citizens have to go through the general naturalisation process. Romanian citizenship can be granted to those foreigners who have had their main residence in Romania for the past eight years (or five years, if the foreigner was married and cohabited with a Romanian citizen).
This timeframe can be reduced to half of its duration if the applicant invested at least EUR 1,000,000 in Romania – four years or two and a half years if the foreigner is married to a Romanian citizen. If the applicant spends more than six months in a year abroad, that entire year is disregarded for the purposes of the citizenship application.
Aside from the condition of residence, the foreigners who apply for Romanian citizenship need to also fulfil certain additional criteria:
- Demonstrated their loyalty towards the Romanian state through their actions, conduct and attitude;
- Demonstrate that they did not undertake or support actions directed against the rule of law or national security and that he/she has never had such conduct in the past either, Is over the age of 18;
- Has adequate financial means;
- Is known to have a good conduct and has not been convicted, either in Romania or abroad, for crimes which make him/her unworthy to be a Romanian citizen;
- Speaks the Romanian language and has basic knowledge of Romanian culture and civilisation, capable of allowing him/her to integrate into the social life;
- Is familiar with the provisions of the Romanian Constitution and with the national anthem
Tax benefits
There are tax incentives in place that benefit all investors, foreign or Romanian, including e.g.:
- Tax credit of up to 80% of the corporate tax due, for up to 10 years, for investments exceeding approx. EUR 330,000, subject to EU state aid legislation.;
- Incentives for investment in certain sectors (production, logistics, service centres, R&D, tourism, film production, sports, etc.
- 50% additional corporate tax deduction for eligible expenditure related to R&D activities;
- Corporate tax exemption for the first 10 years of activity for taxpayers carrying out exclusively innovation, research and development activitypix
Romania Passport
The Romanian passport is 18th powerful EU passport in the world. As of 2019, Romanian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 169 countries and territories including Canada, United Kingdom but visa required to visit US.
Note: The above information were compiled from EU commission report fact finding study on investor residence and citizenship schemes available in Romania
