The EU Blue Card in Romania: the salary threshold after Law 28/2024

Law 28/2024, in force since 8 March 2024, lowered the Romanian EU Blue Card salary threshold from twice the average gross wage to at least the average gross wage. The working reference is the figure published by the National Institute of Statistics (INS), 9,740 lei for April 2026. The threshold now sits within reach of ordinary technical roles.

The threshold: from double to single, and where the figure comes from

Before Law 28/2024, an employer in Romania wanting to bring in an engineer or an IT specialist on the EU Blue Card had to offer twice the average gross wage. At 2026 levels that would have meant a gross monthly salary above 19,000 lei, a figure few technical roles justify outside Bucharest. Law 28/2024 cut the condition to at least the average gross wage, and that single change moved the Blue Card from the exception column into the usable column.

The reference figure is not set by the employer. It is the average gross wage published by INS, 9,740 lei for April 2026. Check the published value on the date the file is submitted, because the reference is updated monthly and a salary built on a figure a year old can fall below the threshold even though it cleared it when the offer was signed.

The European frame is Directive (EU) 2021/1883, which requires member states to set a threshold between 1.0 and 1.6 times the average annual gross salary, and lets them go below 80 percent of that for shortage occupations and for recent graduates, within 3 years of graduation. Romania placed itself at the bottom of that band, so an employer comparing destinations will find one of the more accessible thresholds in the region here.

What the employer gains over the single permit

The EU Blue Card and the single permit both cover the right to work and the right to reside, but they differ on three points that matter when a corridor is planned: family, mobility inside the Union, and the shortage occupation condition.

Filing the family reunification application at the same time is the change with the clearest operational effect. On the single permit, a spouse and children follow a separate procedure that starts only once the worker holds the permit, and the gap of several months is a frequent reason a specialist turns down the offer or leaves within the first year. Law 28/2024 allows both applications together, which takes that gap out of the recruitment conversation.

The second change is the category of highly qualified worker inside a mobility frame between member states. For a group operating in several Union countries, this means a specialist brought into Romania is not permanently fixed to the territory of one state.

How Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 fits, and what to plan for

Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 places highly qualified workers on the D/AM1 route, without the shortage occupation list condition, with a stay of up to 3 years plus 3 months. Dropping the list condition matters for roles that never appear on it and still require a degree, such as design or industrial automation positions. The list still governs the other routes, and how to read it is set out in the shortage occupations list.

Procedurally the file is still an employment permit application to the General Inspectorate for Immigration, with the 100 euro fee paid in lei at the day's rate and the 30 day decision term set by Ordinance 25/2014. On top of that sit the long stay visa and, after arrival, the permit itself. The common stages are detailed in the employment authorisation procedure.

The failure mode specific to the Blue Card is the qualification document. The directive asks for higher education or professional skills of an equivalent level, and the diploma has to be recognised, translated by a sworn translator and, depending on the country of origin, apostilled or legalised. A file submitted with an untranslated diploma comes back, and recognition usually adds four to eight weeks. Start with the diploma, not with the contract.

Internal mobility follows the general rule for every permit holder, Blue Card holders included: a move to another employer runs on a fresh employment permit, under the conditions described in change of employer. To assess a highly qualified corridor into Romania, see the employers page.