Useful information for Romanians living abroad

Freedom of movement is a fundamental right of all Romanian citizens, and the decision to choose the place to live in for a certain period, or even permanently, is an option for every citizen. The decision to return is a personal motivation and involves an adaptation effort, both human and social.

To facilitate this process, we provide you with information on how the Romanian state supports those who want to repatriate and reintegrate into the Romanian labor market or who want to return as investors or small entrepreneurs.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Justice, through its employment and labor mobility policies applied by the National Employment Agency, offers a range of facilities to Romanian citizens both to those in Romania and to those who return to country, in order to facilitate their insertion into the local labor market.

Thus, Law no. 76/2002 on the unemployment insurance system and the stimulation of employment, as subsequently amended and supplemented, provides for concrete measures, supported by the unemployment insurance budget, for increasing the employability of people seeking employment and for stimulating employers for the employment of the unemployed and creating new jobs.

The National Agency for Employment (NAE) implements measures to stimulate employment:

job mediation – whereby employers are brought into contact with jobseekers in order to establish working or employment relationships. Mediation services are provided free of charge to jobseekers registered in the NAE’s database.

information and professional counseling – offering a range of free services to jobseekers aimed to provide information on the labor market and the evolution of occupations;

professional training – which ensures the increase and diversification of professional skills in order to ensure mobility and integration on the labor market, is offered free of charge to the persons registered in the database of the County Agency for Employment. Access to training programs is based on information and professional counseling or mediation.

Assessment and recognition of professional skills acquired in non-formal and informal context – is provided for people who do not have certificate of professional competence, qualification or graduation for certain skills, occupation or skill and have any medical restrictions. Jobseekers benefit, free of charge, from the Budget of unemployment insurance, services of assessment and certification of occupational skills acquired in non-formal practices. Access to free services for the assessment and certification of professional skills acquired in other ways than formal ones is done through information and professional counseling or mediation.


Granting bonuses for employment as following:

the activation bonus – the unemployed registered with employment agencies of at least 30 days who do not benefit from the unemployment allowance in the case of full-time employment for a period longer than 3 months afterwards the date of registration with the employment agencies, benefit from an activation premium of ROL 1,000.

The activation bonus is granted in two installments:

• A tranche equal to 50% of the amount set at the time of employment;

• A tranche equal to 50% of the amount set after the expiry of the 3-month period after employment.

first insertion bonuses – to graduates of educational establishments and graduates of special schools aged at less 16 years old, within 60 days of graduation, register with the employment agencies and undertake full-time for a period of 12 months, benefit from the unemployment insurance budget an insertion bonus equal 3 times the value of the social reference indicator in force at the time of classification.

The insertion bonus set in the above quote is given in two installments as follows:

• one installment equal to 50% of the amount set at the time of employment;

• a tranche equal to 50% of the amount set after the expiry of the 12-month period after employment.

mobility bonuses (first employment, installation and relocation) of registered unemployed, including long-term unemployed, as follows:

1.    the first employment bonus – persons registered as unemployed to the employment agencies may benefit and who, according to the law, are employed within a locality at least 15 km from their place of residence.The amount is calculated at 0.5 lei / km, but not more than 55 lei / day, in proportion to the number of days in which it actually carries out its work with the employer.The first employment bonus is awarded for a period of 12 months.

2.    the first installment bonus – persons registered as unemployed to employment agencies that are employed according to the law, in another locality located more than 50 km away from the locality in which they are domiciled or residence, and as a result of this, they change their domicile or establish their residence in the respective locality or in the neighboring localities. The installation bonus is granted as follows:

•    12.500 lei for people registered as unemployed with the employment agencies and who are employed according to the law in another locality and, as a result of this, change their domicile / residence;

•    15.500 lei for persons registered as unemployed with the employment agencies and who are employed according to the law in another locality and as a result of this they change their domicile / residence, if they are accompanied by family members within the meaning of Law No. 287/2009 on the Civil Code, republished, and in the case of the one-parent family, if they are accompanied by the child or the dependent children;

If both spouses are eligible for the first installation, one will receive the sum of 12,500 lei and the other will receive a first installation in the amount of 3,500 lei.

Installation bonuses, in the amounts quoted above, are granted in two installments: 50% of the amount set at the time of installation and 50% after the expiry of the 12-month period after employment.

By way of exception, if the employer or the local or central public authorities provide for a dwelling or the corresponding expenses from the employer’s funds or public funds, the installment is granted in a different amount as follows:

• 3,500 lei for each spouse  who qualifies for the installation bonus.

• 6,500 lei for people who change their domicile or residence and are accompanied by family members and the one-parent family, when accompanied by the child or dependent children;

• 3,500 lei for people who change their domicile or residence;

The installation bonus, established by the exceptions, is granted in one tranche at the time of installation.

3.    the relocation bonus – people registered as unemployed to employment agencies that can be employed according to the law in another locality located more than 50 km away from the locality where they have their domicile or residence and, of this fact, change their domicile or establishes their residence in that locality or in its neighboring, receive a non-taxable relocation bonus from the unemployment insurance budget equal to 75% of the amount intended to cover the expenses for housing in the new home or new residence, but not more than 900 lei per month for a period of 36 months.

The activation bonus can be combined with the insertion bonus and the first installment  bonus.

The full-time mobility bonus is granted for full-time workers for a period of at least 12 months. The first employment and the first installment bonuses, referred to as mobility bonuses, do not cumulate.

Please note that the first installment bonus is also granted to Romanian citizens who have exercised their right to free movement of workers within the European Union and the European Economic Area for a period of at least 36 months in the amounts set by law if they fulfill the following conditions:

•    the domicile on the territory of Romania to which they return or the new domicile, the new residence which they establish on the territory of Romania as a result of their return to Romania is in the locality in which they are employed or in the neighboring localities;

•    they are registered with the County Employment Agencies in whose territorial jurisdiction they have their domicile/residence;

•    the months that represent the period of at least 36 months in which they exercised the right to free movement in one or more States within the European Union and the European Economic Area, prior to their return to Romania, are consecutive;

•    are Romanian citizens during the period when they exercised their right to free movement of workers within the European Union and the European Economic Area;

•    have a document or any other document issued by a public authority of the State or States within the European Union and the European Economic Area in which they exercised their right to free movement of workers within the European Union and the European Economic Area for a period of at least 36 months attesting that they have had their domicile or residence in that Member State or have exercised their right of legal residence on the territory of that State (s);

•    is employed on a full-time work contract for at least 12 months.

To find out the rules of according mobility bonuses:

Rules of according bonuses

Information for employers

Transfer of social security rights

NAE manages the settlement of requests for the issuance of unemployment insurance certificate forms, the certification of the income of the family members of an unemployed person in another Member State of the European Union or the maintenance of the right to unemployment benefits of a person moving to another Member State of the European Union to look for a job.

What is the aggregation of insurance periods?

•    If a person has worked in at least two EU/EEA Member States and has been insured for unemployment, he/she can benefit from unemployment benefits by aggregating the insurance periods completed in all the countries in which he/she worked.

•    Unemployment benefits are required, with certain exceptions, in the state where the worker was last insured (last job) and not in the State of origin.