While Romania saw little change to legislation affecting migrant integration in 2024, some amendments were made to the citizenship act and to the new support programme for the refugees from Ukraine. In terms of practical support for integration, calls launched by the national Asylum, Migration and Integration (AMIF) programme in March and September have set the trend for the next 2 years. An overview of related developments is laid out below.

Shift from emergency humanitarian assistance to focus on integration and inclusion for beneficiaries of temporary protection (BTPs) from Ukraine

From March 2022 - October 2024, 181 927 temporary residence permits were issued to people displaced from Ukraine. For those who choose to stay in Romania, the government is focusing on access to mainstream education for children, access to employment and recognition of qualifications for adults, and provision of health services and counselling to the vulnerable persons. The new AMIF programme targets measures to facilitate the integration of BTPs at local level, ensuring that local authorities (LA) can benefit from capacity building and training on working with vulnerable migrant populations. LA will also be provided with the support of interpretation services, cultural mediators and trained staff to set up local networks of professionals to solve local integration issues. 

In addition to investment in the capacity of LA to deal with BTP integration issues, focus will be placed on supporting those displaced from Ukraine to access language training and cultural orientation sessions, medical assistance, and the national education system.

Integration of beneficiaries of international protection (BIPs) and third country nationals (TCNs)

Romania's new AMIF programme is further developing the network of regional integration centres across the country. For operational purposes, the country was divided into 6 regions comprising several counties, each of them hosting a Governmental Accommodation Centre (Bucharest – Region 1, Galati – Region 2, Radauti – Region 3, Somcuta Mare – Region 4, Timisoara – Region 5, and Giurgiu – Region 6). 

Source: IOM Romania, 2024

In each region, in the areas with the highest migrant populations, two additional integration centres will be opened. All centres will provide integration support for BIPs, TCNs and BTPs: language courses, cultural orientation sessions, information and social and legal counselling. The AMIF projects also include assistance for obtaining long term residence and Romanian citizenship, support for payment of health insurances and medical services for vulnerable persons, school supplies for children and rent subsidies for BIPs. Mobile teams have also been created and attached to integration centres to intervene locally when needed. 

5 organisations have been contracted for 2 years to provide integration services in the 6 regions of Romania under this programme: IOM (regions 1 and 4), the Jesuit Refugee Service Romania (region 2), the ICAR Foundation (region 3), the Ecumenical Association of Churches from Romania – AIDROM (region 5), and the Global Help Association (region 6). 
In order to ensure that BIPs will not be left without appropriate housing after completing the integration programme, a special strand of the AMIF programme is directed to rent subsidies and support for utilities  for BIPs. The organisation implementing the project for 2024 – 2026 is Jesuit Refugee Service Romania.

Labour migration

Although labour migration is not specifically targeted by the country's integration measures, it is worth mentioning because migrant workers are eligible for certain services, such as language courses, cultural orientation, counselling and advice, under the AMIF-funded projects implemented by NGOs that facilitate the integration of TCNs.

In 2024 Romania aimed for a similar number of migrant workers as the previous year: 100 000, with the demand from Romanian companies for migrant workers doubling since 2022. Though the process of obtaining a work permit in Romania in the first place is long (8 months, on average), the extension of a residence permit for work purposes is simple. Between January – October 2024 the General Inspectorate for Immigration (GII) issued 87 815 work permits.