The citizens of the 27 EU member states and of other states will be able to work in the Republic of Moldova without needing a work permit. This way, the authorities aim to import labor force and the skills needed for the national economy. The initiative was presented in a press briefing by Deputy Prime Minister Dumitru Alaiba, Minister of Economic Development and Digitalization, IPN reports.
The official noted that together with the approval of this initiative, besides the 18 categories of foreigners stipulated in the legislation, work permits will also not be required of the citizens of the EU and those of the U.S., the UK, Japan, Norway, Siwtzerland, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Balkan states, etc. These are countries with much larger commercial and investment potential than the one realized with Moldova at the moment.
“For example, when an investor comes to start a business in Moldova, this will not need to begin with the asking for a work permit from the Bureau of Migration and Asylum. If the person wants to come with a team that will be immediately employed here so as to launch and operationalize the business faster, this should be possible easily, quickly and without bureaucracy,” stated Dumitru Alaiba.
According to him, the work permit should also not be an impediment when a company from Moldova wants to hire foreign experts. “In Moldova, we have international companies that very often need specific expertise from other countries. We have companies that are connected to the European economic circuit and they often need specific expertise. We want to ease this process for them and also for large international companies that are already present in Moldova,” said the official.
The minister noted the IT sector is an economic sector that develops dynamically, but about 95% of this sector is aimed at export. Even if a 50% rise was recorded during a year alone, the limit of the local labor supply was already reached. “Other sectors of the economy, from industry to communications and many others, need labor force. Our economy needs also unskilled labor and we know this. By this reform, we offer access to the states that can provide such labor force to our economy and companies,” noted the Deputy Prime Minister.
Dumitru Alaiba also said that there are over 5,000 foreign students in Moldova and these can work legally for only ten hours a week. The ceiling can be reviewed. This upper limit in many states is much higher, even threefold.
