Three Months for Anyone, Six If You Are Looking for Work, and a Resources Test Pegged to the Guaranteed Minimum Income Rather Than a Wage
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Paraguay on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
154 exceptions recorded across 56 countries · none match Paraguay to Romania · Residency under a regional treaty
A Union, EEA or Swiss citizen is not a foreigner in Romanian immigration law at all: article 2(a) of Ordinance 194/2002 defines a foreigner as a person who has neither Romanian citizenship nor that of another member state of the Union or the European Economic Area nor Swiss citizenship, which takes them out of that Ordinance entirely and puts them under Emergency Ordinance 102/2005. That Ordinance gives three months of residence on entry with no further condition, and six months - written into the statute, not left to an administrative practice - to a Union citizen who comes looking for work. Beyond three months the usual four grounds apply: worker status, sufficient means with health insurance, enrolment at an accredited institution, or being the family member of someone in one of those or of a Romanian citizen with domicile or residence in Romania. The resources benchmark is the softest in this corpus: not a minimum wage and not a subsistence minimum but the venitul minim garantat, the guaranteed minimum income, and even that only de regulă - as a rule. Registration is a duty with a three-month deadline, permanent residence comes after five years of continuous and lawful residence, and it is lost by two consecutive years of absence.
At a glance
- Residence on entry
- 3 months, with no further condition
Article 11(1) of Emergency Ordinance 102/2005.
- If you are looking for work
- 6 months, with no further condition
Article 11(2) of Emergency Ordinance 102/2005, which writes the job-seeker's period into the statute instead of leaving it to practice.
- The resources benchmark
- As a rule, at least the guaranteed minimum income in Romania
Article 12(1)(b) and (c) of Emergency Ordinance 102/2005. The words de regulă qualify it, and the Ordinance states no amount.
- Registration
- A duty, within 3 months of entry
Article 13 of Emergency Ordinance 102/2005, which requires the application to be lodged at the territorial office of the Romanian Office for Immigration.
- Permanent residence
- 5 years of continuous and lawful residence
Article 20(1) of Emergency Ordinance 102/2005, and paragraph (2) for non-Union family members.
- Absences that do not break continuity
- Up to 6 months in a year, or 12 consecutive months for a listed reason
Article 20(5) of Emergency Ordinance 102/2005, which lists pregnancy and childbirth, serious illness, study or vocational training and a work posting abroad.
- Losing permanent residence
- Two consecutive years of absence
Article 20(6) of Emergency Ordinance 102/2005.
- Family of a Romanian citizen
- Covered by this Ordinance too
Article 12(1)(d) of Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 names family members of a Romanian citizen with domicile or residence in Romania alongside family members of Union citizens.
Requirements
- A valid national identity document or passport
- For a stay over three months, worker status, sufficient means with health insurance, enrolment in education, or family membership
- Registration with the territorial immigration office within three months of entry, for a stay over three months
- For permanent residence, five years of continuous and lawful residence
Country-level policy
Romania publishes its law in Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, and that is the only text with legal force. Everything a reader can actually open is a consolidation, and Romanian consolidations are unusually honest about what they are. The consolidated text of Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 that the immigration authority itself publishes prints, above the first article, that the content of this act belongs exclusively to S.C. Centrul Teritorial de Calcul Electronic S.A. Piatra-Neamţ and is not a document of an official character, being intended for the information of users. It then prints something more useful still: a window. The copy read for these records states that it is valid from 27 April 2026 until 30 April 2026 - a four-day window that closed more than five months before it was read, because an amendment took effect on 1 May 2026 and this file was never replaced. The consolidation of Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 on the same site carries a window that closed on 14 March 2024. The tax administration says the same thing in its own words about the Fiscal Code: the text is updated by electronic means and is not a republication, and it names the last amending law rather than a date to which anything was swept. A Romanian text that looks current is making two separate claims, and the smaller print tells you which one has expired.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Paraguay
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«(1) Cetăţenii Uniunii Europene care intră pe teritoriul României beneficiază de drept de rezidenţă pentru o perioadă de până la 3 luni de la data intrării în ţară, fără îndeplinirea vreunei condiţii suplimentare.»Our translation - not official
(1) Citizens of the European Union who enter the territory of Romania enjoy a right of residence for a period of up to 3 months from the date of entry into the country, without meeting any additional condition. (2) By way of exception to paragraph (1), citizens of the European Union who enter the territory of Romania and are looking for employment enjoy a right of residence for a period of up to 6 months from the date of entry, without meeting any additional condition.
Known to be out of date. The consolidation states its own validity as ending on 14 March 2024, so a later version exists and was not read. Anything the Ordinance says about Schengen signalling or about the Union residence card may have moved since.
Six months for a job-seeker is in the statute itself. The Directive leaves the period to the member state.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Romanian immigration authority, a structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, created by Emergency Ordinance 55/2007 out of the Authority for Foreigners and the National Office for Refugees. It administers the regime of foreigners and decides visas, residence extensions and long-term residence. Its Legislaţie page is also, in practice, the most reliable public source of the immigration statutes themselves: it serves consolidated PDFs of Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners, Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 on free movement of Union, EEA and Swiss citizens, Ordinance 25/2014 on employment and secondment, Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 on access to the labour market, Law 122/2006 on asylum and the implementing decisions, at stable wp-content/uploads addresses. These are the only consolidated Romanian immigration texts reachable from outside the country, because the Ministry of Justice's legislative portal answers nothing.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It is not the publisher of record and the files say so. Every consolidated PDF it serves is produced by S.C. Centrul Teritorial de Calcul Electronic S.A. Piatra-Neamţ and carries that company's disclaimer above the first article: the content belongs exclusively to CTCE and is not a document of an official character, being intended for the information of users. The official text is the Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, issue cited in each amendment annotation. Each file also prints a validity window with an end date, and the Inspectorate does not replace the file when the window closes: the Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 copy read on 10 October 2026 states its validity as running from 27 April 2026 until 30 April 2026, and the Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 copy states 8 to 14 March 2024. It cannot be cited for anything outside the regime of foreigners - not for tax, not for health insurance, not for road traffic, not for citizenship, which is the National Citizenship Authority's - and it cannot be cited for administrative practice: fee schedules, the Shortage Occupations List and the annual labour contingent are ministerial orders and Government decisions published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«(1) Cetăţenii Uniunii Europene aflaţi în una dintre următoarele situaţii au dreptul de rezidenţă în România pentru o perioadă mai mare de 3 luni: a) au statutul de lucrător; b) deţin mijloace de întreţinere pentru ei şi membrii lor de familie, de regulă cel puţin la nivelul venitului minim garantat în România, şi asigurare de sănătate; c) sunt înscrişi la o instituţie din România, acreditată în condiţiile legii, având ca obiect principal de activitate desfăşurarea de activităţi de învăţământ sau de perfecţionare a pregătirii profesionale, au asigurare de sănătate şi asigură autorităţile competente, printr-o declaraţie pe propria răspundere sau prin orice alt mijloc, că deţin mijloace de întreţinere pentru ei şi membrii lor de familie, de regulă cel puţin la nivelul venitului minim garantat în România; d) sunt membri de familie ai unui cetăţean al Uniunii Europene care îndeplineşte una dintre condiţiile prevăzute la lit. a)-c) sau ai unui cetăţean român cu domiciliul ori reşedinţa în România.»Known to be out of date. The consolidation states its own validity as ending on 14 March 2024, so a later version exists and was not read. Anything the Ordinance says about Schengen signalling or about the Union residence card may have moved since.
The four grounds for residence beyond three months. The resources benchmark in letters b) and c) is the guaranteed minimum income, qualified by de regulă.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Romanian immigration authority, a structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, created by Emergency Ordinance 55/2007 out of the Authority for Foreigners and the National Office for Refugees. It administers the regime of foreigners and decides visas, residence extensions and long-term residence. Its Legislaţie page is also, in practice, the most reliable public source of the immigration statutes themselves: it serves consolidated PDFs of Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners, Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 on free movement of Union, EEA and Swiss citizens, Ordinance 25/2014 on employment and secondment, Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 on access to the labour market, Law 122/2006 on asylum and the implementing decisions, at stable wp-content/uploads addresses. These are the only consolidated Romanian immigration texts reachable from outside the country, because the Ministry of Justice's legislative portal answers nothing.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It is not the publisher of record and the files say so. Every consolidated PDF it serves is produced by S.C. Centrul Teritorial de Calcul Electronic S.A. Piatra-Neamţ and carries that company's disclaimer above the first article: the content belongs exclusively to CTCE and is not a document of an official character, being intended for the information of users. The official text is the Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, issue cited in each amendment annotation. Each file also prints a validity window with an end date, and the Inspectorate does not replace the file when the window closes: the Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 copy read on 10 October 2026 states its validity as running from 27 April 2026 until 30 April 2026, and the Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 copy states 8 to 14 March 2024. It cannot be cited for anything outside the regime of foreigners - not for tax, not for health insurance, not for road traffic, not for citizenship, which is the National Citizenship Authority's - and it cannot be cited for administrative practice: fee schedules, the Shortage Occupations List and the annual labour contingent are ministerial orders and Government decisions published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«În vederea luării în evidenţă şi eliberării certificatului de înregistrare, cetăţenii Uniunii Europene aflaţi în situaţiile prevăzute la art. 12 alin. (1) lit. a)-c) vor depune la sediul formaţiunii teritoriale competente a Oficiului Român pentru Imigrări, în termen de 3 luni de la data intrării pe teritoriul României, o cerere însoţită de documentul naţional de identitate sau paşaportul, valabile, precum şi de următoarele documente, după caz:»Our translation - not official
For the purpose of being taken into evidence and of the issue of the registration certificate, citizens of the European Union in the situations provided for in article 12(1)(a) to (c) shall lodge at the premises of the competent territorial unit of the Romanian Office for Immigration, within 3 months of the date of entry into the territory of Romania, an application accompanied by the national identity document or the passport, valid, and by the following documents, as the case may be:
Known to be out of date. The consolidation states its own validity as ending on 14 March 2024, so a later version exists and was not read. Anything the Ordinance says about Schengen signalling or about the Union residence card may have moved since.
Registration is a duty with a deadline, as in Croatia and Slovakia, and unlike Czechia where the certificate is issued on request.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Romanian immigration authority, a structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, created by Emergency Ordinance 55/2007 out of the Authority for Foreigners and the National Office for Refugees. It administers the regime of foreigners and decides visas, residence extensions and long-term residence. Its Legislaţie page is also, in practice, the most reliable public source of the immigration statutes themselves: it serves consolidated PDFs of Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners, Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 on free movement of Union, EEA and Swiss citizens, Ordinance 25/2014 on employment and secondment, Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 on access to the labour market, Law 122/2006 on asylum and the implementing decisions, at stable wp-content/uploads addresses. These are the only consolidated Romanian immigration texts reachable from outside the country, because the Ministry of Justice's legislative portal answers nothing.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It is not the publisher of record and the files say so. Every consolidated PDF it serves is produced by S.C. Centrul Teritorial de Calcul Electronic S.A. Piatra-Neamţ and carries that company's disclaimer above the first article: the content belongs exclusively to CTCE and is not a document of an official character, being intended for the information of users. The official text is the Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, issue cited in each amendment annotation. Each file also prints a validity window with an end date, and the Inspectorate does not replace the file when the window closes: the Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 copy read on 10 October 2026 states its validity as running from 27 April 2026 until 30 April 2026, and the Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 copy states 8 to 14 March 2024. It cannot be cited for anything outside the regime of foreigners - not for tax, not for health insurance, not for road traffic, not for citizenship, which is the National Citizenship Authority's - and it cannot be cited for administrative practice: fee schedules, the Shortage Occupations List and the annual labour contingent are ministerial orders and Government decisions published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«(1) Cetăţenii Uniunii Europene care au o rezidenţă continuă şi legală pe teritoriul României pentru o perioadă de cel puţin 5 ani beneficiază de dreptul de rezidenţă permanentă. (2) Persoanele care nu au cetăţenia Uniunii Europene şi care au o rezidenţă continuă pe teritoriul României pentru o perioadă de cel puţin 5 ani, în calitate de membri de familie ai unui cetăţean al Uniunii Europene rezident sau rezident permanent, beneficiază de prevederile alin. (1).»Known to be out of date. The consolidation states its own validity as ending on 14 March 2024, so a later version exists and was not read. Anything the Ordinance says about Schengen signalling or about the Union residence card may have moved since.
Five years for the Union citizen and five for a non-Union family member who held that status throughout.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Romanian immigration authority, a structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, created by Emergency Ordinance 55/2007 out of the Authority for Foreigners and the National Office for Refugees. It administers the regime of foreigners and decides visas, residence extensions and long-term residence. Its Legislaţie page is also, in practice, the most reliable public source of the immigration statutes themselves: it serves consolidated PDFs of Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners, Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 on free movement of Union, EEA and Swiss citizens, Ordinance 25/2014 on employment and secondment, Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 on access to the labour market, Law 122/2006 on asylum and the implementing decisions, at stable wp-content/uploads addresses. These are the only consolidated Romanian immigration texts reachable from outside the country, because the Ministry of Justice's legislative portal answers nothing.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It is not the publisher of record and the files say so. Every consolidated PDF it serves is produced by S.C. Centrul Teritorial de Calcul Electronic S.A. Piatra-Neamţ and carries that company's disclaimer above the first article: the content belongs exclusively to CTCE and is not a document of an official character, being intended for the information of users. The official text is the Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, issue cited in each amendment annotation. Each file also prints a validity window with an end date, and the Inspectorate does not replace the file when the window closes: the Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 copy read on 10 October 2026 states its validity as running from 27 April 2026 until 30 April 2026, and the Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 copy states 8 to 14 March 2024. It cannot be cited for anything outside the regime of foreigners - not for tax, not for health insurance, not for road traffic, not for citizenship, which is the National Citizenship Authority's - and it cannot be cited for administrative practice: fee schedules, the Shortage Occupations List and the annual labour contingent are ministerial orders and Government decisions published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«(6) Dreptul de rezidenţă permanentă se pierde în cazul unei absenţe de pe teritoriul României pentru o perioadă mai mare de 2 ani consecutivi.»Our translation - not official
The right of permanent residence is lost in the case of an absence from the territory of Romania for a period of more than 2 consecutive years.
Known to be out of date. The consolidation states its own validity as ending on 14 March 2024, so a later version exists and was not read. Anything the Ordinance says about Schengen signalling or about the Union residence card may have moved since.
Two years, against the twelve months that end a third-country national's long-term residence under article 70(3)(c) of Ordinance 194/2002.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Romanian immigration authority, a structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, created by Emergency Ordinance 55/2007 out of the Authority for Foreigners and the National Office for Refugees. It administers the regime of foreigners and decides visas, residence extensions and long-term residence. Its Legislaţie page is also, in practice, the most reliable public source of the immigration statutes themselves: it serves consolidated PDFs of Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners, Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 on free movement of Union, EEA and Swiss citizens, Ordinance 25/2014 on employment and secondment, Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 on access to the labour market, Law 122/2006 on asylum and the implementing decisions, at stable wp-content/uploads addresses. These are the only consolidated Romanian immigration texts reachable from outside the country, because the Ministry of Justice's legislative portal answers nothing.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It is not the publisher of record and the files say so. Every consolidated PDF it serves is produced by S.C. Centrul Teritorial de Calcul Electronic S.A. Piatra-Neamţ and carries that company's disclaimer above the first article: the content belongs exclusively to CTCE and is not a document of an official character, being intended for the information of users. The official text is the Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, issue cited in each amendment annotation. Each file also prints a validity window with an end date, and the Inspectorate does not replace the file when the window closes: the Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 copy read on 10 October 2026 states its validity as running from 27 April 2026 until 30 April 2026, and the Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 copy states 8 to 14 March 2024. It cannot be cited for anything outside the regime of foreigners - not for tax, not for health insurance, not for road traffic, not for citizenship, which is the National Citizenship Authority's - and it cannot be cited for administrative practice: fee schedules, the Shortage Occupations List and the annual labour contingent are ministerial orders and Government decisions published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
«a) au statutul de lucrător dacă, în momentul încetării activităţii, au împlinit vârsta prevăzută de legislaţia naţională în vederea pensionării pentru limită de vârstă sau, în cazul în care contractul de muncă încetează cu drept de pensionare anticipată în condiţiile legii, dacă au fost angajaţi în România cel puţin în ultimele 12 luni şi au avut o şedere continuă mai mare de 3 ani pe teritoriul României. Pentru rezidenţii care desfăşoară profesii liberale, condiţia referitoare la vârsta de pensionare se consideră îndeplinită în momentul împlinirii vârstei de 60 de ani, dacă legea nu prevede altfel;»Known to be out of date. The consolidation states its own validity as ending on 14 March 2024, so a later version exists and was not read. Anything the Ordinance says about Schengen signalling or about the Union residence card may have moved since.
Permanent residence before five years for a worker who reaches pension age, or who retires early after at least twelve months of employment in Romania and more than three years of continuous residence.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Romanian immigration authority, a structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, created by Emergency Ordinance 55/2007 out of the Authority for Foreigners and the National Office for Refugees. It administers the regime of foreigners and decides visas, residence extensions and long-term residence. Its Legislaţie page is also, in practice, the most reliable public source of the immigration statutes themselves: it serves consolidated PDFs of Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners, Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 on free movement of Union, EEA and Swiss citizens, Ordinance 25/2014 on employment and secondment, Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 on access to the labour market, Law 122/2006 on asylum and the implementing decisions, at stable wp-content/uploads addresses. These are the only consolidated Romanian immigration texts reachable from outside the country, because the Ministry of Justice's legislative portal answers nothing.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It is not the publisher of record and the files say so. Every consolidated PDF it serves is produced by S.C. Centrul Teritorial de Calcul Electronic S.A. Piatra-Neamţ and carries that company's disclaimer above the first article: the content belongs exclusively to CTCE and is not a document of an official character, being intended for the information of users. The official text is the Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, issue cited in each amendment annotation. Each file also prints a validity window with an end date, and the Inspectorate does not replace the file when the window closes: the Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 copy read on 10 October 2026 states its validity as running from 27 April 2026 until 30 April 2026, and the Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 copy states 8 to 14 March 2024. It cannot be cited for anything outside the regime of foreigners - not for tax, not for health insurance, not for road traffic, not for citizenship, which is the National Citizenship Authority's - and it cannot be cited for administrative practice: fee schedules, the Shortage Occupations List and the annual labour contingent are ministerial orders and Government decisions published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The reading behind this record is a consolidation whose own stated validity ended on 14 March 2024. A later consolidated version exists and could not be read, because the publisher of record, legislatie.just.ro, does not answer any tool available here. Anything in this Ordinance that changed after that date is not reflected.
This record is about the right to stay and not about entry. Where Romania stands on the Schengen acquis is dated by notes in Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 rather than by anything in this Ordinance, and the decisions those notes cite were not read.
Switzerland is reached by the same Ordinance rather than by a separate agreement, which is not how every member state does it: the title names the Swiss Confederation alongside the Union and the European Economic Area.
- administersOrdonanţa de urgenţă a Guvernului nr. 102/2005 privind libera circulaţie pe teritoriul României a cetăţenilor Uniunii Europene, formă consolidată
Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări · consolidated to 2024-03-14
Known to be out of date. The consolidation's own validity ends on 14 March 2024 and a later version exists that we could not read.
About this source
The Romanian immigration authority, a structure of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, created by Emergency Ordinance 55/2007 out of the Authority for Foreigners and the National Office for Refugees. It administers the regime of foreigners and decides visas, residence extensions and long-term residence. Its Legislaţie page is also, in practice, the most reliable public source of the immigration statutes themselves: it serves consolidated PDFs of Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 on the regime of foreigners, Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 on free movement of Union, EEA and Swiss citizens, Ordinance 25/2014 on employment and secondment, Emergency Ordinance 32/2026 on access to the labour market, Law 122/2006 on asylum and the implementing decisions, at stable wp-content/uploads addresses. These are the only consolidated Romanian immigration texts reachable from outside the country, because the Ministry of Justice's legislative portal answers nothing.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: It is not the publisher of record and the files say so. Every consolidated PDF it serves is produced by S.C. Centrul Teritorial de Calcul Electronic S.A. Piatra-Neamţ and carries that company's disclaimer above the first article: the content belongs exclusively to CTCE and is not a document of an official character, being intended for the information of users. The official text is the Monitorul Oficial al României, Partea I, issue cited in each amendment annotation. Each file also prints a validity window with an end date, and the Inspectorate does not replace the file when the window closes: the Emergency Ordinance 194/2002 copy read on 10 October 2026 states its validity as running from 27 April 2026 until 30 April 2026, and the Emergency Ordinance 102/2005 copy states 8 to 14 March 2024. It cannot be cited for anything outside the regime of foreigners - not for tax, not for health insurance, not for road traffic, not for citizenship, which is the National Citizenship Authority's - and it cannot be cited for administrative practice: fee schedules, the Shortage Occupations List and the annual labour contingent are ministerial orders and Government decisions published elsewhere.
We re-read it every 45 days. More about this source