The digital nomad is the foreign person who:

• Is employed based on an employment contract to a foreign company registered outside Romania and who renders services using the information and telecommunication technology;
• Owns a company registered outside Romania, for which it renders services at distance using information and telecommunication technology.

The foreign person represents the person who doesn’t own Romanian citizenship, the European Union or the European Economic Space citizenship, or the Swiss Confederation’s citizenship.

• Granting a long-stay visa for digital nomads

During their temporary stay in Romania, foreign persons can benefit from certain rights if they have a residence visa. Some of these rights are:

• general protection for wealth and persons, which is granted by the Romanian Constitution, by other Romanian laws, and also by international treaties on which Romania takes part;
• they can move, and they can establish their residence or, as the case may be, their domicile anywhere on the Romanian territory;
• during the validity of the residence permit, they have the right to reenter on Romanian territory if they have temporarily left Romania;
• the foreign persons who have residency or domicile in Romania can benefit from social protection measurements in the same conditions as the Romanian citizens;
• the foreign persons for whom the Romanian Immigration Office has issued a document, have the right to check the personal data entered on it and to ask the correction or the elimination of some unreal personal data;
• the foreign persons included in the educational system have access, without restrictions, to school and instruction activities.

The entitled person to the long-stay visa has the right to ask for the extension of the temporary residence for more than 90 days.

The digital nomads can benefit from a long-stay visa for other purposes if they wish to travel and to stay on the territory of Romania, while they will continue to obtain:

• incomes from rendering services using the information and telecommunication technology based on an employment contract to a foreign company registered outside Romania

or

• Incomes from the activity rendered at distance, using the information and telecommunication technology, for their own company registered outside Romania.

To benefit from a long-stay visa for other purposes, the digital nomad must cumulatively meet the following conditions:

• to dispose of financial support obtained from rendered activities in the amount of at least three Romanian’s monthly medium gross salaries for each of the last six months before the date of long-stay visa is requested and also for the whole period of the long-stay visa;
• The rendered activities which generate the necessary incomes must be done at distance, using information and telecommunication technology.

* The Romanian’s monthly medium gross salary for 2022 is 6.095 RON, according to Law 318/2021 regarding the budget of social insurances for the year 2022.

The long-stay visa for other purposes is granted by request by the diplomatic missions and by the consular offices of Romania from the country where the foreign persons, respectively the digital nomads, have their domicile or residence.

The digital nomads are entitled to receive a visa, by case, only if:

a) they present in original, together with the authenticated translation into Romanian:

• The employment contract concluded with a company registered outside Romania, proving the services are rendered at distance and by using the information and telecommunication technology or
• The proof of administrating a company outside Romania by using information and telecommunication technology for at least three years when requesting the visa.

b) they present in original together with the authenticated translation into Romanian:

• a document issued by the employer from outside Romania, whit whom the digital nomad has concluded an employment contract or
• a document issued by the company registered outside Romania, which the digital nomad owes; this document must contain the identification and the contact data of the foreign company and also the domain of activity, the participation of the foreign person in the company, and information about the legal representatives of the company;

c) they present an intention letter in original together with its authenticated translation into Romanian, through which the foreign person gives details about the purpose of going to Romania and the activities to be rendered on the territory of Romania;

d) they present in original an apostille or super-legalized document, by case, together with its authenticated translation into Romanian, issued by the local public administration institution from the place of the fiscal residency, attesting that at the date of the visa, the foreign person has all the taxes and social contributions paid up to date and also that the foreign person does not have acts and facts of fiscal evasion or fiscal fraud;

e) they present the booking of a travel ticket valid until destination or the driver’s license, the green card, the vehicle’s registration documents, and the proof of the itinerary for the drivers;

f) they present the proof of medical insurance for the whole period of the visa, which is available for the territory of Romania and with coverage in the amount of at least 30.000 euros;

g) they present the proof of the financial support obtained from the rendered activity, in the amount of at least three Romanian’s monthly medium gross salaries for each of the last six months before the date of long-stay visa request and also for the whole period of the long-stay visa;

h) they present the proof of accommodation;

i) they present a criminal record certificate or other documents with the same juridic value (apostille or super-legalized, by case, and also translated in the Romanian language), which is issued by the authorities from the state of origins and, if the case, by the state where the foreign person is a legal resident and from which the foreign person obtains incomes from rendering services based on an employment contract outside Romania or from activities rendered for a company registered by the foreign person outside Romania, proving that there are no records of penal acts;

j) they present to the Romanian authorities other requested documents, in addition to the ones mentioned at points a)-i).

• Extension of the right of temporary residence of digital nomads

The temporary residence represents the non-resident’s right to stay on the territory of Romania for a definite period, by the conditions of the law.

The digital nomads who entered Romania based on a long-stay visa for other purposes can ask for the extension of their temporary residence by cumulative fulfillment of the following conditions:

(i) they present the following documents both in original and their authenticated translation into Romanian:

• The employment contract concluded with a company registered outside Romania to prove that the services are rendered at distance using the information and telecommunication technology or
• The proof that the digital nomad owns a company outside Romania for at least three years before asking for the visa. The company is administrated at distance using information and telecommunication technology.

(ii) they present an original document together with the authenticated translation into Romanian, issued by:

• The employer of the digital nomad registered outside Romania or
• the company owed by the digital nomad registered outside Romania. This document contains the following aspects: the identification and contact data of the foreign company and the domain of activity, the quality of the foreign person in the company, and information about the company’s legal representatives.

When receiving or extending the right of temporary residence, the digital nomads must prove that they realize a monthly income at least at the level of three Romanian’s monthly medium gross salaries for the extended required period.

The first extension of the right of temporary residence for digital nomads is six months. The further extensions can be given if the digital nomad fulfills the following conditions:

• must prove that they realize a monthly income of at least three Romanian’s monthly medium gross salaries for the period for which the extension of the right of temporary residence is requested and
• they present an income statement issued by the competent fiscal authority.

The digital nomad’s temporary residence permit shall be mentioned as “digital nomad” or “nomad digital” in the Romanian language.

• Recording the digital nomads as fiscal residents in Romania

The digital nomad who is present in Romania for a period or more periods longer than 183 days, during any interval of 12 consecutively months, becomes a fiscal resident. The digital nomad will be considered a fiscal resident until he leaves Romania.

At the moment of arriving in Romania, the digital nomads will fulfil and submit to the competent authority of Romania a questionnaire regarding the establishment of fiscal residency and a notification regarding the fulfilling of the residence conditions. The digital nomad will be considered a tax resident of Romania until the person leaves Romania. The digital nomad should fulfill and submit to the competent authority in Romania a questionnaire in term of 30 days before leaving Romania for a period or more periods longer than 183 days, during any interval of 12 consecutively months, and will not prove the change of the fiscal residency in another state. They will also fulfill and submit a leaving notification.

• Taxation of incomes in Romania

The digital nomads who have become fiscal residents owe the payment of tax on income for the incomes obtained from any source, both from Romania and outside Romania, starting the first day of arriving in Romania.

The social contributions to be paid in Romania for the incomes obtained from abroad will be established by following the rules for each type of income and fulfilling the European legislation and the social security agreements on which Romania is part.

The digital nomads who are residents of states with which Romania has concluded Double Taxation Treaties can be excepted from paying income tax and social contributions, according to the specific provisions of those treaties. They must prove their residence to the Romanian authorities by submitting a certificate of residency issued by the fiscal authority from the foreign state or by submitting other documents issued by another authority than the fiscal one.