Government to radically amend legislation on migrant workers, new framework to take effect from 1 January 2026

The Government will radically amend the legislation on foreign labour and will repeal the current law, while the new law for migrant workers could come into force on 1 January 2026, Ciprian Vacaru, secretary of state with the Ministry of Labour, Family, Youth and Social Solidarity (MMFTSS), said on Tuesday in a press release."The issue of foreign labour involves a new draft law, which will be drawn up by an interministerial working group set up at Government level, comprising several ministries as well as various Romanian agencies. By the end of this week, or perhaps early next week, we will have the final version of what concerns migrants coming to work on Romanian territory. We will radically amend the legislation, repeal the law currently in force, and introduce a new law for migrant workers, to be applied from 1 January 2026," the Labour Ministry official explained.According to him, the new piece of legislation will provide a simpler procedure with shorter deadlines for bringing foreign workers to Romania."We are talking about certain conditions for companies, so that we no longer see the phenomenon that is happening today, where we have a quota of 100,000 people but the work visas issued amount to roughly 75,000-90,000. These are people who are actually working, while the work permits are slightly above half that number. At present, with a multitude of labour placement companies that do not have clear and strict rules to follow, there are workers who do not even reach Romanian territory but leave immediately after receiving their work visas and permits. They can move freely in Europe because of Schengen. There are many others who come to Romania, then immediately leave for other states and work illegally," Ciprian Vacaru added.He pointed out that a foreign worker "after receiving a work permit in Romania, cannot then work in another EU country.""We already have regulations for companies that bring foreign workers to Romania, and if these are not respected, their labour placement authorisation can be suspended or even cancelled," Vacaru also said.The secretary of state added that the new draft law will also include control mechanisms and "financial guarantees for the costs related to these workers."Ciprian Vacaru took part on Tuesday in the conference titled "Rapid Delivery Platforms: A Driver of Economic Growth, Digitalisation and Entrepreneurship," organised by the Digital Economy Coalition Association.