Romania · Residency by investment
Long-Term Residence Exemption for Investors (Article 71, GEO 194/2002)
Open. Note: the EUR 500,000 threshold often cited in the market is unverified. The confirmed figure is EUR 1,000,000, or more than 100 full-time jobs. The EUR 500 and EUR 700 per month figures circulating separately are means-of-subsistence proofs for the business visa. That is a different requirement entirely, and likely the source of the confusion.
Romania allows dual citizenship and does not require giving up an existing passport. That is the structural opposite of Bulgaria. For a UHNW client who will not surrender an existing passport, Romania's routes can in principle deliver citizenship where Bulgaria's investor route cannot. But at EUR 1m for long-term residence and eight years to citizenship, this is not a competitive investment-migration product.
Qualifying routes
Grants long-term residence without the usual duration-of-stay and means-of-subsistence conditions, bypassing the standard 5-year continuous residence requirement
An alternative to the capital threshold
The facts
- Minimum investment
- €1M
- Total landed cost
- EUR 1m of committed investment, plus legal and advisory costs. The job-creation alternative substitutes payroll for capital.
- Route type
- Residency by investment
- Timeline
- 3–9 months (The residence permit takes 30 days by statute, though in practice it often takes 2-4 weeks)
- Physical presence
- This exemption removes the duration-of-stay condition
- Family
- SpouseDependent children
- Permanent residency
- This is the long-term residence route. It bypasses the standard 5-year requirement.
- Citizenship
- 8 years of legal residence under ordinary naturalisation, which can be reduced by up to 3 years under Law 14/2025 for EU citizens or those born in Romania who also meet certain criteria, such as making a significant economic contribution
- Language test
- A B1-level Romanian language test, along with proof of social and cultural integration.
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- An investment of at least EUR 1,000,000, or the creation of more than 100 full-time jobs.A clean criminal record and a documented source of funds.
- The EUR 500,000 figure is wrong, though it is widely repeated. The verified threshold is EUR 1,000,000, or more than 100 jobs. Anyone quoting EUR 500k is likely confusing it with the monthly subsistence proofs required for the business visa.
- This has not been confirmed against a primary source. The Romanian immigration authority, IGI, blocks automated access, and the consolidated text of GEO 194/2002 could not be opened. The EUR 1m or 100-jobs figure is corroborated across multiple independent secondary sources, but it is not confirmed against the primary text. Verify with IGI directly before advising.
- There is no shortcut to citizenship. The ordinary 8-year clock applies, and you will need to pass a B1 language test.
- Romania has been under an Excessive Deficit Procedure since 2020, with the correction deadline extended to 2030. Further consolidation is likely, and the 10% flat rate remains a standing target.