Romania long stay work visa D/AM: what happens at the consulate

Once the General Inspectorate for Immigration issues the employment authorisation, the file moves to the Romanian mission in the worker's country of residence. The D/AM visa application must be filed within 30 days of the authorisation being issued, according to the Ministry of Labour guidance, and the National Visa Centre decides within 20 days of filing, per eviza.mae.ro.

The 30 day window and how it is lost

The employment authorisation does not open an unlimited window. The D/AM visa guidance published by the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity sets 30 days from the issue of the authorisation for the visa application to be filed. The clock runs from the date on the authorisation, not from the day the employer forwards it to the worker, and that is the usual reason the window closes: the authorisation sits a week in internal correspondence, another ten days in courier to the country of origin, and the candidate reaches the consulate with four days left and no translated police certificate.

The application is filed in person, at the Romanian diplomatic mission or consular office in the worker's state of residence, by appointment. At busy missions the appointment itself consumes part of the 30 days, so the slot is booked on the day the authorisation is issued, not once the file is complete. Missing documents can be added up to the appointment date; a missed appointment cannot be recovered inside the same window.

The National Visa Centre, part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, decides on the application within 20 days of filing, per the information published on eviza.mae.ro. That period runs from a complete application. A missing document means an application that has not started, not one under examination, and the difference shows up directly in the planned start date.

What the counter asks for

The D/AM file is built around the employment authorisation, but the authorisation alone does not carry the application. The mission checks four components, each with its own document source.

• The employment authorisation issued by the General Inspectorate for Immigration, together with the identification details of the employing company.
• Proof of means of support at the level of the guaranteed gross minimum wage, covering the whole period entered in the visa. This is not a sum for the month of arrival, it covers the full validity period.
• A police certificate from the worker's state of residence, translated and legalised as the mission requires.
• Medical insurance valid on the territory of the European Union member states, with minimum cover of 30,000 euro, the threshold set by OUG 32/2026.

The requirement that sends most applicants back from the counter is the insurance. A policy issued locally, valid only in the country of origin or capped below 30,000 euro, does not meet the condition in OUG 32/2026, and the worker goes home with the file refused on a formal ground. Check the territory covered and the cap before the appointment, not at the counter.

Two fees: the statutory one and the consular one

OUG 32/2026 sets the long stay work visa fee at 300 euro. On top of that, each mission charges its own consular fee, and the amount differs by post: the equivalent of 120 euro in Georgia and 135 USD in the Philippines, according to the Romanian embassies on mae.ro. A corridor budget is calculated against the specific mission where the file is lodged, not against an average.

For a full hiring budget, the visa fee sits alongside the cost of the authorisation, travel, and the accommodation duties. Those costs are broken down in the cost of hiring a non EU worker in Romania, and the duties that start on the day of arrival are in employer obligations for foreign workers.

Realistic planning runs backwards: the date the worker has to be on site, minus 20 days for the National Visa Centre decision, minus the wait for the first available appointment at the mission, minus the time needed for the police certificate and the insurance policy. If the result falls before the date of the authorisation, the plan does not work in that form. The steps that come earlier, from the quota to the authorisation itself, are set out in the employer's employment authorisation steps, and corridor specific details for employers are on the employers page.