It is granted to foreigners who are or are going to become shareholders or associates with attributions of management and administration of some commercial companies registered in Romania and who are going to make an investment, in accordance with the law.

This visa is granted, on the basis of an approval issued by the Ministry of Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship, on the basis of well-established documentation following the fulfillment of certain criteria.

Thus, the approval is granted to aliens who cumulatively meet the following conditions:

a) presents a business plan that will include certain data regarding the identification of the company, the object of activity, the value of the investment, the number of jobs that will be created, the location of the investment, the projection of the financial activity for a period of at least 3 years, and other documents.

b) proves, through a bank account statement issued by a Romanian bank, that they have the necessary funds to carry out the activity, amounting to at least 100,000 euros.

c) will make in maximum of 12 months from the date of obtaining the residence permit, an investment according to the business plan, bringing a capital or technology contribution of at least 100,000 euros.

d) through the activity that the proposed investment implies, it will create, in maximum of 12 months from the date of obtaining the residence permit, at least 10 jobs.

If there are one or more partners or shareholders in a company requesting the approval, the conditions will have to be analyzed for each applicant separately, the value of the investment to be made and the number of jobs to be created increasing accordingly according to the number of applicants for an approval.

The approval is valid for a period of 6 months from the date of issue and aims to ascertain the fulfillment of the technical, utility and economic feasibility conditions of the investment to be implemented by the foreign citizen.

Foreigners who have previously obtained an approval from the Ministry of Business Environment, Trade and Entrepreneurship may request the issuance of another approval, in the following situations:

a) prove the objective impossibility of realizing the previous business plan;

b) prove that they have completed the previous business plan.

After obtaining the approval from the Ministry, the applicant can apply for a visa from the diplomatic missions or consular offices of Romania in his country of origin, and this request will be verified by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Romanian Immigration Office, for approval according to the competencies.

Therefore, the first step is to set up a company in Romania, and then the entire approval and investment procedure must be completed, after which the visa and residence permit will be obtained for a longer period.

Author: Attorney at law Cristian Badea, Law Office Grecu & Partners.

This is native content supported by Grecu & Partners.