People arrive at this subject from several directions. A founder wants a European base and has heard Romania is straightforward. A company already selling here is deciding between a subsidiary and a branch. Someone already working in Romania wants to go independent. A family is considering relocating and assumes a company will bring residence with it. Each of those situations has a different answer, and the last one contains a mistaken assumption that costs people a great deal.

Three things are commonly treated as one and are not.

• Owning a Romanian company. Decided by the National Trade Register Office, on whether the file is complete and lawful.
• Having the right to live in Romania. Decided by a ministry, a diplomatic mission and the immigration authority, in that order, on their own separate criteria.
• The business succeeding. Decided by the market. Nobody in this process has any influence over it.

Succeeding at the first does not deliver the second, and neither has any bearing on the third. A great deal of misleading marketing in this area depends on blurring exactly that.

What AtoZ Serwis Plus Does

• Explains how business establishment in Romania works, in plain language
• Explains the differences between the available structures so you can put informed questions to a professional
• Sets out the documents likely to be requested for your nationality, structure and activity
• Assists with preparing, checking, translating and organising those documents
• Introduces you to authorised Romanian professionals: lawyers, notaries, accountants and tax advisers
• Coordinates the administrative file and keeps track of what is outstanding
• Supports communication where language is a barrier
• Explains what the next administrative step is and which body decides it

What AtoZ Serwis Plus Does Not Do

We are not an investment firm, investment adviser, financial adviser, fund manager, broker or financial intermediary, and we hold no authorisation from the Financial Supervisory Authority in any capacity. We are not a law firm, a notary, a tax adviser, an accountant or an auditor.

We do not offer, promote, distribute or arrange any investment, security, financial instrument or investment product. We do not give personalised investment, financial, legal, tax or accounting advice, and we do not recommend a structure or a course of action to you on your particular facts, because that is regulated work. We do not register companies in our own name, open bank accounts, or decide, issue, accelerate, or influence any registration, authorisation, visa, or residence permit.

Authorised Romanian professionals carry out the regulated work, and the Romanian authorities make the decisions.

Who Can Establish a Business in Romania

Ownership and residence are separate questions. Work through both.

• Romanian citizens and residents. No additional immigration question arises.
• EU, EEA and Swiss nationals. Freedom of establishment applies, so you may set up and run a business in Romania on essentially the same footing as a Romanian national. Residence formalities are lighter and follow a different route from the non-EU one described below.
• Non-EU nationals establishing from abroad. You may generally hold shares in a Romanian company without residing in Romania. Holding those shares does not give you the right to live in Romania, and the immigration route is separate and conditional.
• Non-EU nationals already legally resident in Romania. What is possible depends on the permit you hold and what it permits you to do. Establish this before you act.
• Foreign companies establishing a subsidiary. A Romanian company owned by a foreign parent, with its own legal personality and obligations.
• Foreign companies establishing a branch or representative office. No separate legal personality. A representative office is limited in what it may do and generally cannot trade.

Registering a company is a registry act, not an endorsement. The trade register checks that the file is complete and lawful. It does not assess whether your business idea is sound, and registration carries no implication that it is.

Business Structures in Romania

Choosing between these is a decision to take with a Romanian lawyer or accountant based on your own facts. What follows describes the forms so you know what to ask about.

We do not publish minimum capital figures, registration costs or timescales. Capital requirements have recently changed and differ by form and turnover, and charges are set by the registry rather than by us. Check the current position with the trade register or with your accountant.

The Company Registration Process

Registration runs through the National Trade Register Office, which maintains an online portal alongside its county offices. The sequence is broadly as follows.

1. Name verification and reservation. You submit proposed names, in order of preference, and the registry checks availability and distinctiveness. You cannot draft the constitutive documents properly until the name is settled.
2. Registered office. The company needs a Romanian address, evidenced by a lease, a loan-for-use agreement or an ownership document. Where the address is a flat in a shared building, additional consents may be required.
3. Activity codes. You select the classification codes describing what the company will do. Some codes attract sector-specific conditions.
4. Constitutive documents. The constitutive act sets out the associates, the capital, the shares, the administrators, their powers, decision-making and profit distribution. The registry publishes model forms, but a model is a starting point, not a substitute for advice.
5. Share capital. Subscribed and, where required, paid in, evidenced as the registry requires.
6. Identification of associates and administrators. Identity documents for individuals; registration documents and a signing mandate for corporate associates. Foreign documents generally need apostille or legalisation and authorised Romanian translation.
7. Declarations. Including the declaration on conditions of operation and, where it is not already contained in the constitutive act, the declaration of beneficial ownership.
8. Submission. The file is submitted to the trade register office for the county of the registered office, either in person or through the portal, with the registry charge paid. Where the file is submitted online, qualified electronic signatures are required.
9. Registration and fiscal registration. Upon approval, you receive the registration certificate and the unique identification code, with the fiscal annex included in the same file.
10. After registration. Bank account, accounting arrangements, any sector authorisation required before trading, and employer registrations if you will hire.

Which parts require an authorised professional

• A notary is required where the constitutive act must be authenticated, including where immovable property is contributed to capital, and for certain powers of attorney.
• A lawyer for drafting and certifying documents, for shareholder arrangements, and for anything beyond a straightforward file.
• An accountant from the outset, since the accounting and filing obligations begin with the company, not with its first sale.
• An authorised translator for foreign documents.

AtoZ Serwis Plus does not perform any of that work. We explain what is needed, help you prepare and organise it, and introduce you to authorised professionals who do.

Documents That May Be Requested

Requirements vary by structure, nationality and activity. Nobody is asked for everything below.

Identity and status

• Passport or national identity document for each associate and administrator
• Proof of address
• Romanian personal identification number, where applicable
• Residence document, if you are already in Romania

The company

• Name reservation evidence
• Constitutive act
• Registered office evidence, and any consent required from a property association
• Evidence relating to share capital
• Declaration on conditions of operation
• Beneficial ownership declaration, where not incorporated in the constitutive act
• Specimen signatures and administrator acceptance

Corporate associates and foreign parents

• Registration certificate or equivalent from the home register
• Shareholder or board resolution approving participation
• Mandate authorising the person signing on the parent’s behalf
• Constitutive documents of the parent, where required

Foreign documents

• Apostille or consular legalisation, depending on the issuing country
• Authorised Romanian translation
• Fiscal record certificate, or a declaration in its place where you have no Romanian fiscal registration

Activity-specific

• Qualification or professional evidence for activities requiring it
• Sector authorisations required before trading begins

Documents must be genuine, valid and mutually consistent. A name transliterated differently across a passport, a company document, and a translation is a routine cause for a file to be returned for correction.

Residence for Business Purposes

Romania does not operate a citizenship-by-investment programme. There is no golden visa, no investor passport and no route by which money buys residence or nationality. Anyone marketing one to you is misrepresenting Romanian law.

Owning a Romanian company does not by itself give you any right to live in Romania. Shareholding and residence are governed by different rules and decided by different bodies.

EU, EEA and Swiss Nationals

Freedom of establishment applies. You may set up and run a business here and reside on that basis, subject to registration formalities that depend on the length and circumstances of your stay. The ministry endorsement and long-stay visa described below do not apply to you.

Non-EU Nationals

The route for third-country nationals who are shareholders or have management or administrative responsibilities in a Romanian company and intend to invest here follows a fixed order.

1. Ministry endorsement of the business plan. A technical specialist endorsement is issued by the ministry competent for the business environment and foreign investment, following assessment of the business plan against technical, utility and economic feasibility criteria. The endorsement is valid for six months from the date of issue and may be used only to obtain the long-stay visa.
2. Long-stay visa for commercial activities. Applied for at the Romanian diplomatic mission or consular office competent for your place of residence. The application requires the ministry endorsement, a criminal record certificate or equivalent, medical insurance valid for the period of the visa, and evidence of accommodation. A consular charge applies and is payable in the state where the application is made.
3. Immigration authority opinion. As an internal procedure, the visa is approved by the National Visa Centre only after the opinion of the General Inspectorate for Immigration, which is issued within thirty days of receipt of the request and may be extended by up to fifteen days.
4. Entry and residence permit. The long-stay visa is granted for ninety days, with one or more entries. After entering Romania, you must obtain a residence permit from the territorial unit of the immigration authority for the county where you live.
5. Extension. Extending the right of residence for commercial activity requires, among other documents, the endorsed business plan, a document from the foreign investment department confirming that the activity is being carried out in accordance with that plan, a trade register certificate showing thecompany’ss standing and principal economic indicators, and a certificate from the territorial labour inspectorate showing the number of persons employed. Renewal is applied for before the current permit expires, allowing the margin required by law.

Four points that follow from this and that no marketing can change.

• The endorsement, the visa and the permit are three separate decisions by three separate bodies, each on its own criteria.
• A positive outcome at one stage carries no entitlement at the next.
• The size of an investment does not purchase a decision at any stage.
• At extension you are assessed against what the business has actually done, not against what the plan said it would do. The plan is not a formality to be got past.

Other routes exist for people appointed to head a subsidiary, branch or business unit of a foreign company, and for professional activities, each with their own conditions. Establish which route applies to you before spending anything.

Taxation and Ongoing Obligations

A Romanian company carries obligations from the day it is registered, whether or not it trades. In outline, these fall into the following categories.

• Corporate taxation. How a company is taxed depends on its turnover, activity, and structure, and more than one regime may apply.
• Value added tax. Registration is required where the applicable threshold is exceeded, and may be sought voluntarily. Registration brings its own filing and invoicing obligations.
• Payroll taxes and contributions. Where the company employs staff, including its own administrator, payroll obligations follow.
• Statutory accounting. Romanian accounting rules apply; records must be kept in Romania; and, in practice, you will work with a Romanian accountant.
• Annual filings. Financial statements and declarations, on statutory deadlines, with penalties for late filing.
• Beneficial ownership. Ongoing declaration obligations, with annual filing required for certain categories of companies.
• Electronic reporting. Romania has extended mandatory electronic invoicing and reporting obligations in recent years. Confirm what currently applies to your activity.

We do not publish rates, thresholds, allowances, or exemptions on this page. Romanian tax rules change frequently, sometimes more than once a year, and any figure published on a website is a liability to whoever relies on it. Only a Romanian tax adviser or authorised accountant can tell you how your company will be taxed.

Employing Staff in Romania

If your company will employ staff, the core obligations are a written individual employment contract, registration of that contract in the national employee register before the employee’s activity begins, payroll and contribution duties, and workplace health and safety obligations. Employing third-country nationals is a separate procedure with its own conditions and its own authority. See our employer page for the full details.

Premises and Property

Every company needs a registered office in Romania, evidenced in the trade register. That is a legal requirement and is distinct from where you actually operate.

When acquiring rather than leasing, the position depends on the buyer.

• Romanian-registered companies are Romanian legal persons and are treated accordingly, regardless of who owns them.
• EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals may acquire land in Romania under conditions set by EU law and the accession framework.
• Non-EU nationals face restrictions on the direct acquisition of land, subject to treaty and reciprocity conditions that vary by nationality. Buildings and land are treated differently under Romanian law, a distinction that surprises many buyers.

This is an area where the general rule matters less than your particular nationality and the particular property. Take Romanian legal advice on your own case before committing to anything, and do not treat a summary on any website, including this one, as an answer.

We publish no property prices, yields or market forecasts, and we do not present property as an investment product.

Banking and Capital

A Romanian company will need a bank account. Two things are worth knowing before you plan around it.

First, banks apply their own customer due diligence and may decline an application. Anti-money-laundering rules require them to understand the ownership structure, the source of funds, and the intended activity, and a structure they cannot follow or a business they cannot evidence is commonly refused. Non-resident directors and complex ownership chains attract more scrutiny, not less.

Second, nobody can guarantee that an account will be opened. We do not name banks, we do not describe any bank’s requirements as authoritative, and we do not promise an outcome. What we can do is help you assemble a clear, complete, and consistent set of documents, which most refused applications lack.

Sectors and Regulated Activities

Business activity in Romania is present across manufacturing and industrial production, automotive components, information technology and software, shared services, construction, logistics and distribution, agriculture and food processing, wood processing, retail, hospitality and tourism, transport, professional services, and health and care services.

That is a description of where activity occurs. It is not a statement about opportunity, growth, demand or return, and nothing on this page should be read as one.

Some activities cannot lawfully begin on registration alone. Financial services, insurance, healthcare, education, food handling, transport, security services, gambling, and other sectors require sector authorisation from the competent regulator before trading. Establish whether your intended activity is one of them at the planning stage, not after the company has been dissolved.

How Our Support Process Works

1. You submit an enquiry. Please tell us what you are trying to do, your nationality, and your current status.
2. We clarify the objectives and the legal position. We determine whether you need both residence and a company, and whether your intended activity is regulated.
3. We explain the structure options. What each form is and what it involves so that you can ask informed questions of a professional. We do not tell you which to choose.
4. You receive a document checklist. Specific to your nationality, your structure and your activity.
5. We introduce you to authorised professionals. Lawyer, notary, accountant or tax adviser, as the matter requires. You engage them directly.
6. We coordinate the file. We track what has been supplied, what is outstanding, and what needs translation or apostille.
7. The appropriate party submits the file. To the trade register, the ministry, the diplomatic mission or the immigration authority, depending on the step.
8. The competent body decides. Registration, endorsement, visa and permit are all decisions we neither make nor influence.
9. You receive post-registration guidance. What obligations now apply, what deadlines exist, and who to contact about each.

Steps five and seven belong to authorised professionals. Step eight belongs to the authorities. Every decision on your business belongs to you.

Risks and Realistic Expectations

This section exists because the alternative is letting you find these out afterwards.

• Businesses fail. A high proportion of new companies in any country do not survive their early years. No structure, jurisdiction or adviser prevents this.
• Registration is not approval. The trade register checks that your file is lawful and complete. It expresses no view on whether your business will work.
• Residence applications are refused. The ministry endorsement, the visa, and the permit can each be declined, and a refusal at any stage halts the process.
• Bank accounts are declined. This is common enough that you should plan for the possibility rather than assume the account.
• Obligations continue whether or not you trade. A dormant company still files, still needs an accountant and still accrues penalties for missed deadlines.
• Directors carry personal duties. Limited liability limits shareholder exposure. It does not protect an administrator who breaches statutory duties.
• Closing a company costs money and takes time. Dissolution and removal from the register are separate procedures with their own requirements. Budget for it before you need it.
• Nobody can promise a return. Any figure offered to you as an expected return on a Romanian business is a sales device, not information.

Verification and Anti-Fraud

• Check any Romanian company you are dealing with in the public trade register. Registration data, standing, and filings are publicly available.
• Check professional authorisation before paying for regulated advice: bar membership for lawyers, the notarial register for notaries, and the professional bodies for accountants and tax advisers.
• Request an invoice for every payment.
• Pay only into the officially stated company bank account. Never into a personal account, and never by untraceable transfer.
• Keep copies of every payment and every message.
• Be wary of anyone who quotes a guaranteed timescale, a guaranteed endorsement or a guaranteed permit.
• Be more wary of anyone offering a Romanian golden visa or citizenship by investment. Romania has neither, so the person offering it is either mistaken or dishonest.

No company can guarantee a government decision, and no company can sell one. Anyone offering either is not describing a lawful process.

Fees and Payments

We do not publish prices on this page. Any charge of ours is set out in a written agreement before you commit. See our refund policy and terms and conditions. Professional and official charges are paid to the relevant professional or authority, not to us.

Payment to anyone does not purchase a registration, an endorsement, a visa, a permit, or any decision, nor does it make one more likely to obtain any of them.

Why Work With AtoZ Serwis Plus

• Romania-specific information. Written for Romanian procedures and Romanian authorities, not adapted from another country.
• Clear document checklists. You know what is likely to be requested before you start paying for translations and apostilles.
• Structure explained, not chosen for you. You go into a professional consultation understanding the options, which makes that consultation shorter and cheaper.
• Introductions to authorised professionals. Lawyers, notaries, accountants and tax advisers who do the regulated work.
• File coordination. Someone tracking what is outstanding across several parties and several languages.
• Communication support. Assistance where language is a barrier.
• Both questions handled together. The business route and the immigration route, explained as the separate things they are.
• An honest account of our role. We tell you what we cannot do, and we do not sell certainty that nobody can provide.

Official Romanian Business and Investment Links

Official sources for company registration, taxation, immigration and verification. Always treat these as authoritative over any summary on this page.

• National Trade Register Office: company registration, forms, model constitutive acts and the public register
• Trade register: registration of legal persons: document lists by company form
• Trade register: branch of a foreign company
• National Agency for Fiscal Administration: fiscal registration, declarations and taxpayer verification
• Financial Supervisory Authority: registers of authorised financial, insurance and investment entities
• National Bank of Romania: banking supervision and the register of credit institutions
• Ministry of Finance: fiscal legislation and public company data
• Immigration authority: commercial activities: the long-stay visa route and its conditions
• Immigration authority: extending residence for commercial activity
• General Inspectorate for Immigration
• eVisa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: long-stay visa applications and consular charges
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs: long-stay visa categories
• Romanian legislation portal: consolidated texts of laws and procedures
• Your Europe: business: EU rules on establishment, VAT and cross-border trade

Before paying anyone, verify the company in the public trade register and the professional with their own regulator.

AtoZ Serwis Plus provides general information, administrative assistance, document coordination, and introductions to authorised professionals, in accordance with its verified service scope. AtoZ Serwis Plus is not an investment firm, investment adviser, financial adviser, fund manager, broker or financial intermediary, and holds no authorisation from the Financial Supervisory Authority in any capacity. It is not a law firm, notary, tax adviser, accountant or auditor.

AtoZ Serwis Plus does not offer, promote, distribute or arrange any investment, security, financial instrument or investment product, and does not provide personalised investment, financial, legal, tax or accounting advice. Nothing on this page is a recommendation, a solicitation, an offer, or advice on which any person should rely in making a decision.

AtoZ Serwis Plus does not register companies in its own name, open bank accounts, or issue, decide on, accelerate, or influence any registration, authorisation, endorsement, visa, or residence permit. The National Trade Register Office decides registration; sector authorisation by the competent regulator; the business plan endorsement by the competent ministry; visas by Romanian diplomatic missions; and residence permits by the General Inspectorate for Immigration.

Romania operates no citizenship-by-investment or residence-by-investment programme. Owning a Romanian company confers no right of residence in Romania.

No business outcome, profit, return, tax treatment, registration, authorisation, bank account, permit or timescale is guaranteed. Requirements depend on nationality, structure, activity, documents, and individual circumstances, and the information on this page is general and may change as Romanian legislation is amended. Always confirm current requirements with the relevant authority and take advice from an authorised Romanian professional before making a decision. The service scope, commercial terms, payment conditions, and any applicable refund provisions are confirmed in a written agreement.

Official sources for company registration, taxation, immigration and verification. Always treat these as authoritative over any summary on this page.

• National Trade Register Office: company registration, forms, model constitutive acts and the public register
• Trade register: registration of legal persons: document lists by company form
• Trade register: branch of a foreign company
• National Agency for Fiscal Administration: fiscal registration, declarations and taxpayer verification
• Financial Supervisory Authority: registers of authorised financial, insurance and investment entities
• National Bank of Romania: banking supervision and the register of credit institutions
• Ministry of Finance: fiscal legislation and public company data
• Immigration authority: commercial activities: the long-stay visa route and its conditions
• Immigration authority: extending residence for commercial activity
• General Inspectorate for Immigration
• eVisa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs: long-stay visa applications and consular charges
• Ministry of Foreign Affairs: long-stay visa categories
• Romanian legislation portal: consolidated texts of laws and procedures
• Your Europe: business: EU rules on establishment, VAT and cross-border trade

Before paying anyone, verify the company in the public trade register and the professional with their own regulator.