Romania · Tax regime
Romania Schengen Membership and Eurozone Status
Romania has been a full Schengen member since 1 January 2025, with air and sea checks lifted from 31 March 2024 and land checks from 1 January 2025, per the JHA Council decision of 12 December 2024. Romania is not in the eurozone and has no target date to join. It fails every convergence criterion, per the ECB's 2026 Convergence Report.
Romania and Bulgaria joined Schengen together on 1 January 2025, after 13 years of being blocked, first by the Netherlands and then by Austria. But they diverged sharply on the euro. Bulgaria adopted it on 1 January 2026, and Romania fails every criterion with no target date. That divergence is now the main structural difference between the two.
Qualifying routes
Air and sea internal border controls were lifted on 31 March 2024. Land border controls were lifted on 1 January 2025.
Not adopted. Romania is not participating in ERM II. There is no target date.
The facts
- Total landed cost
- Not applicable
- Route type
- Tax regime, not a visa
- Physical presence
- Not applicable
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable
- Citizenship
- Not applicable
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Romania fails every euro convergence criterion, according to the ECB's 2026 Convergence Report of 24 June 2026. Inflation sits considerably above the 2.7% reference. The deficit is above 3%, with an Excessive Deficit Procedure running since 2020 and a correction deadline extended to 2030. Debt is projected above reference in 2026. Long-term rates stand at 6.7% against a 5.1% reference. There is no ERM II participation, and legal convergence is not fully compatible. The ECB said progress since 2024 had been limited.
- Prior political targets of 2029 have slipped. Realistic adoption now looks like the 2030s. Leu exposure remains a permanent planning assumption.