Moldovans make up a high ratio among the 4500 foreigners permitted to work in Romania

From the beginning of the year until now the Romanian Office for Immigration (ORI) issed 4500 work permits for foreigners, most of which were requested by nationals of Turkey, Moldova and China in the construction sector in Ilfov, Iasi, Timis, Cluj and Bucharest. ORI estimates that in the next period the number of applications will grow. The Romanian government approved for the year 2007 a maximal number of 12000 work permits for foreigners who wish to work in Romania. Even though the activities of issuing work permits by the ORI have started relatively recently (only tow months ago), the Office has managed to process by the end of July all pending applications, together with other 600 applications from a number of 1200 applications submitted in July and August. The deadline for processing an application is 30 days. ORI intends to de-centralize the activity of issuing work permits, starting with 2008, towards the managements by the territorial structures. Under to the ordinance no. 55-2007, starting with June, the Romanian Office for Immigration has assumed all legal rights and obligations of the Office of Labour Force Migration concerning the issuance of work permits for foreigners.