According to the recently published General Inspectorate for Immigration (GII) report, in 2021 approximately 148 000 foreign citizens - of whom approximately 96 000 are third country nationals (TCNs) - were registered with legal stay in Romania. Most of the TCNs came from the Republic of Moldova, Turkey, China, Syria and Nepal.

With respect to the type of residence permit they hold,  the majority of TCNs in Romania came for work, for family reunion / family reasons, to study, for international protection or for long term residence. Most of them (1 / 3 of the total TCN population) are living in Bucharest and Ilfov county, both areas providing the most opportunities in terms of work, education, cultural facilities and networking. Other counties preferred by migrants are Constanța, Timiș and Cluj, where over 5 000 TCNs have so far decided to settle.

The number of labour migrants in Romania has increased steadily over the last five years. In 2021 over 59 550 requests for work permits were registered with GII, and 49 962 of these were granted. These were for all types of workers - permanent, posted, highly skilled, seasonal and so on - and amounted to almost double the number of work permits predicted at the beginning of the year. The majority of these labour migrants came from Nepal (over 10 000), Bangladesh (over 8 600), Sri Lanka (approximately 6 800), Turkey (approximately 7 100) and Pakistan (approximately 5 700). They were employed mostly by companies from Bucharest, Ilfov, Constanța, Timiș and Prahova.

The number of asylum applications also rose in 2021, standing at 9 591 by the end of the year. This was a 36% increase in comparison with 2020. Most of these asylum seekers originated from Afghanistan (4 260), Syria (1 243) and Bangladesh (875). During the same reference period, 1 120 asylum seekers received international protection.

The report also shares that 1 625 beneficiaries of international protection were newly enrolled in Romania's integration programme in 2021, and 738 completed it.

Residence permits issued by GII that were due to expire in 2021 have been automatically extended.