More work permits to be issued under new regulations

A new law regulating work permits in Romania has been enforced by government decree. Prior to this, a draft amendment to the law had been drawn up by the government and submitted for public debate. The new amendment aims at harmonising the legislation regulating workers’ access to the labour market in line with the European Economic Area Agreement.

Regulatory framework for work permits

Law No. 203/1999 on work permits initially regulated the employment of foreign citizens in Romania and the conditions for granting work permits.

In accordance with this law, a ‘foreign citizen is defined as a person who does not have Romanian citizenship’, while a ‘work permit is a legal document which entitles the holder to perform work for or to be posted with a single employer in Romania’.

The law also provides legal definitions for foreign trainees, as well as seasonal, cross-border and posted workers. The traineeship timescale of foreign trainees working in Romania is strictly defined, as is the purpose of the traineeship, namely the improvement of professional and language skills. Seasonal workers are granted a fixed-term employment contract that may not exceed six months within a 12-month period, while cross-border workers must return to their neighbouring country of origin every day or at least once a week. Posted workers are employed by a foreign legal entity and may carry out their work in Romania for a limited period of time, which may not exceed one year within a five calendar-year period.

The residence permit for employment purposes is granted following approval by the Office for Labour Force Migration (Oficiul pentru Migratia Fortei de Munca, OMFM).

This particular law has since been amended twice, namely by Law No. 18/2005 and by the Government Emergency Ordinance No. 130/2005.

Number of work permits granted

The number of work permits to be granted is approved on an annual basis, for the following year, by government decision at the proposal of the Ministry of Labour, Social Solidarity and Family (Ministerul Muncii, Solidaritatii Sociale si Familiei, MMSSF). Statistics show that there has been a substantial increase in the number of work permits granted to foreigners, from an initial 1,500 plus an additional 600 work permits in 2004, to 2,500 plus 500 work permits in 2005, up to 10,000 work permits in 2006.

The supplementary number of work permits granted in 2004 and 2005 came as a result of the growing ratio between labour supply and labour market demand, as well as the increasing number of applications for work permits. In the past few years – largely due to the migration of Romanian workers to other labour markets in EU Member States – Romania has been confronted with a workforce deficit in certain sectors and has attempted to resolve the issue by granting work permits to foreign workers.

Conditions of new bill

Earlier in 2006, the Romanian government (Guvernul României) promoted a draft bill in order to achieve full harmonisation of the legislation on foreigners’ access to employment and the labour market in Romanian territory, in line with European Commission recommendations as well as with the policy of executive management, which aims at enhancing the development of the business environment.

The new bill, which was open to public consultation, regulates the status of foreign workers posted in Romanian territory by employers with head offices in EU Member States, or by signatories of the European Economic Area Agreement. The restrictive 12-month employment period in the case of foreign workers posted in companies with head offices in Romania, or with branches, agencies and representative offices of companies from abroad, may impede at times the fulfilment of certain contractual obligations. As a result, the bill includes the possibility of extending the contract up to a period of three years.

The new regulation also takes into account Romania’s commitment to transposing the provisions of Directive 96/71/EC on the posting of workers in the framework of provision of services.

Finally, to prevent discrimination related to the free movement of workers, Romania will also grant free labour market access to third-country nationals who are family members of Romanian citizens.

Criminal records may constitute grounds for denial of work permits only in the case of occupations for which such a precondition is explicitly stipulated in Romanian legislation.

Subsequent to public debate, the new regulations were passed by Government Ordinance No. 49/2006.

Foreign worker statistics

According to the information provided by the Department for Labour Abroad (Departamentul pentru Munca în Strainatate, DMS), some 5,302 work permits had been granted to foreign workers as of 1 September 2006. The workers’ countries of origin included Turkey (26.7%), China (15.2%) and the Republic of Moldova (14.5%).

The main areas of activity included: trade (31%), manufacturing (29%) and services (20.9%). Nearly a third of the work permits were issued for managerial jobs.

According to National Centre estimates, the number of foreigners working in Romania exceeds by far the number of permits issued. This is particularly true in relation to agriculture and construction, where the demand for blue-collar workers occasionally exceeds the level of supply.

The social partners in Romania do not oppose the official position on work permits for foreigners, provided that employment conditions are in line with Romanian legislation. They are particularly disparaging of illegal work, something which the new legislation is hoping to curtail.

Constantin Ciutacu, Institute of National Economy, Romanian Academy