Romania Work Permit from Vietnam: Aviz de Muncă, Visa Steps and Costs (2026)

Is Romania realistic for Vietnamese workers in 2026?

Yes, and more than realistic: Romania has become one of the largest EU destinations for Vietnamese workers, in construction, shipyards, furniture and food factories, and the recruitment pipeline between Vietnamese export-labour companies and Romanian employers is mature. The trade-offs are also real: wages are at the low end of the EU, winters are cold, and the licensed Vietnamese companies charge fees that eat the first months of salary.

Compared with Italy, Romania is faster and far more likely to actually issue the permit. Compared with Poland, it is similar in speed; Poland pays somewhat more and has a bigger Vietnamese community, Romania has had more open quota.

The legal route: aviz de muncă, then the visa, then the permit

Romania is employer-first too, but the machinery is faster than Italy's. Your employer applies to the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) for a work authorisation, the aviz de muncă (aviz de angajare). Romania sets an annual quota of foreign workers (100,000 in recent years; check the current year's figure on igi.mai.gov.ro), and unlike Italy the quota has not been exhausted in minutes. With the aviz, you apply for a long-stay visa for employment (type D/AM) at the Romanian mission that covers your country. After arrival, the employer and you apply for the residence permit (permis de ședere) at IGI.

Expect roughly 30 to 45 days for the aviz, then the visa appointment and processing, then the permit. Four to six months from first contact to a permit card is a normal honest timeline. Romania's wage floor for foreign workers is the national minimum wage; many contracts are at or near it, so do the maths on what is left after accommodation.

Where Vietnamese citizens apply, and the documents

The Embassy of Romania in Hanoi handles long-stay visas for Vietnamese citizens; applications go through the eViza portal first, then the appointment. The file:

• Passport: valid beyond the visa, free pages.
• Aviz de muncă: the original issued to your employer, plus the employment contract or binding offer.
• Criminal record: Phiếu lý lịch tư pháp, recent, legalised.
• Legalisation: Vietnam is not in the Hague Apostille Convention. Documents are notarised, certified by the Vietnamese MOFA consular department, then legalised by the Romanian embassy, with Romanian or English translation.
• Medical certificate: stating you do not have diseases that endanger public health.
• Proof of accommodation: usually employer-provided housing, stated in the file.
• Travel insurance: for the entry period, until the permit.

Official fees and the true total

The Romanian long-stay visa fee is €120 (roughly 3.2 to 3.4 million VND). The aviz is paid by the employer. The residence permit after arrival costs about 260 RON plus a small tax, paid by you or the employer as the contract says. Your own costs in Vietnam:

• Judicial record: about 200,000 VND.
• Legalisation and translations: about 2 to 5 million VND.
• Medical certificate: about 1 to 2 million VND.
• One-way ticket Hanoi to Bucharest: about 15 to 25 million VND.
• Licensed export-labour company fee: Vietnamese law caps what these companies may charge, roughly the equivalent of one to three months of the contract salary depending on the market. Anything above the legal cap is illegal, and a receipt for it is your protection.

Realistic total, legally, is the equivalent of €1,000 to €2,500 including a lawful company fee. As of October 2026, check the current fees on igi.mai.gov.ro and the embassy page.

Trades where Romania hires Vietnamese workers

Construction (formwork, rebar, finishing), shipyards in Constanța and Galați (welders, fitters), furniture and wood processing, food and meat processing, textile factories, and hotel kitchens on the coast and in Bucharest. Welders with certificates should list the processes and positions exactly.

After you land: the permit card, the bank account and your rights

Within the first weeks, you and the employer apply at the IGI office for the residence permit (permis de ședere); you give fingerprints and a photo and receive the card in two to four weeks. You will need a Romanian personal numeric code (CNP), which comes with the permit, to open a bank account; insist that your salary is paid to an account in your name, never in cash through a supervisor. You are covered by Romanian labour law from the first day: written contract registered in the REVISAL system, paid overtime, 20 days of paid leave per year, and health insurance deducted from salary. A worker who is not registered in REVISAL is working illegally, and that is the employer's crime, not yours, but it is you who loses the permit, so ask to see the registration.

A monthly budget that is honest. Most contracts for Vietnamese workers in Romania are at or just above the national minimum wage, which after tax leaves roughly €500 to €650 a month as of 2026, more with overtime in shipyards and construction. Employer accommodation is often free or deducted at €50 to €100; food is €150 to €200 if you cook; a phone plan is €5 to €10. If you are repaying a company fee, that comes out too. Many Vietnamese workers send home the equivalent of €200 to €350 a month in the first year. Those are real figures from workers already there, not a promise; your contract decides yours.

Scams aimed at Vietnamese workers going to Romania

• Fee above the legal cap: the most common one. Ask for the written cost schedule and compare it with the cap published by the Ministry of Labour (MOLISA).
• A 'visa' with no aviz behind it: no aviz, no visa. Ask to see the aviz with your name on it.
• Contract swap on arrival: a different employer or lower salary than promised. The contract attached to the aviz is the one that counts; keep your copy.
• Passport held by the employer: illegal in Romania. Your permit card and passport stay with you.

How to check the employer before you pay anything

Every Romanian company has a CUI (fiscal code) and a J-number in the trade register kept by ONRC. The Ministry of Finance publishes company data free of charge by CUI (mfinante.gov.ro), including whether the company is active and roughly how many employees it declared; a company with two employees that promises to hire sixty should make you pause. Ask also whether the company has already brought foreign workers; IGI approvals are faster for employers with a clean history.

Before you sign anything

First, four things people get wrong:

• Myth: Romania is a back door to Germany: fact: a Romanian work permit lets you work in Romania. Leaving to work elsewhere in the EU is illegal and ends your status. Romania joined Schengen fully in 2025, which eases travel, not work rights.
• Myth: the employer takes care of everything: fact: the aviz is the employer's job; the visa, your documents and usually your ticket are yours unless the contract says otherwise. Read that line.
• Myth: the first contract binds you forever: fact: you can change employer in Romania, but the new employer needs a new aviz and the permit must be updated. Leaving without that is what gets people deported.

Then the checks that take ten minutes and save months:

• See the aviz with your name: before paying anything beyond the lawful company fee.
• Check the employer: Romanian companies have a CUI number you can look up in the trade register (ONRC).
• Count what is left: minimum wage minus accommodation minus the fee repayment, per month, honestly.
• Keep every receipt: it is your evidence under Vietnamese and Romanian law.

Where this leaves you

If you have read this far, you already know more than most people who hand money to an agent. The pages below go one level deeper on the pieces that matter for your case.

• Romania work visa 2026: types, cost, processing time, how to apply
• Romania work permit processing time
• Welder jobs in Romania for foreign workers
• Construction jobs in Romania for foreign workers

The Workuro profile is free, employers search it and contact you, and nobody is ever charged to be listed - create a free profile.