According to the US Embassy, American citizens are not required to obtain Romanian visas for stays up to 90 days. Those staying longer than 90 days must obtain a visa from Police Headquarters (located in most of the larger cities). Those who stay beyond their visa expiration date face fines and possible deportation.

Working visas can be obtained from the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection with documentation of employment by a Romanian employer. It is recommended that the procedure be initiated before arrival in Romania, generally five weeks in advance. Since laws and rules change often, contact the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection to get a current list of required documents.

Temporary resident permit

All foreign nationals need to apply for a temporary residence permit if they plan to stay in Romania for 120 days or more. It is required that foreigners, before making the trip, contact the office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the area in which they plan to reside.

Permanent stay permit

The following information is from the Romanian Embassy's UK website:

The establishment of the domicile in Romania shall be approved, upon request, by the head of the Authority for Aliens.

The aliens may establish their domicile in Romania if they simultaneously meet the following main conditions:

a. a temporary legal stay and continuous for at least
- 3 years, in the cases of aliens married with Romanian citizens;
- 6 years for the other categories.

b. during this entire period, they have acquired means of support as follows:
- at least the level of the monthly average salary per national economy in the case of aliens married to Romanian citizens;
- they hold appropriate dwelling space;
- they speak Romanian at a satisfactory level.

The application for establishing domicile in Romania shall be submitted personally to the territorial units of the Authority for Aliens.

The application shall be filled in Romanian and shall be accompanied by the following documents:

- notarized copies of the civil status documents;
- state border crossing document, in original and copy;
- supporting documents regarding the dwelling space, in original and copy;
- acts proving the means of support;
- criminal record certificate or other document of the same legal value issued by the authorities from the country of origin and by the Romanian authorities;
- medical certificate issued by a public or private medical institution evidencing that they do not suffer any disease which may endanger the public health;
- proof of medical insurance.

The term for solving an approval request for establishing the domicile shall be of 6 months as of the date of registration.

The alien whose establishment in Romania has been approved shall be bound to present himself within 30 days as of its notification to the territorial group of the Authority for Aliens where the request was registered to issue the permanent stay permit.

The permanent stay permit shall be issued on the date the establishment of the domicile in Romania is granted, for a period of 5 years and shall be successively renewed for the same period of time.