German to Romania Requirements

As you hold a German passport, you do not need to have any visa to live or work in any EU country.

Thank you for the reply. I thought as much.
Do you know if I would need to register the residency within 90 days though? If so, do you know which application I should choose since I work online as self-employed?

If you intend to stay for longer than 3 months, you should apply for a registration certificate from the Romanian Office for Immigration.

Gotcha. Do you happen to know which application I should file for in my work situation? Since I don’t work for a company or provided services within Romania. I’m thinking it would be the ‘professional activities’ one, but not sure what type of ‘proof’ I would need to provide either.
I did send a email to them a few days ago but still waiting for a reply.

You could apply as someone with personal means of support; it's probably the least hassle. You just need to open a bank account, put about 50 Euro in it, get the bank to print out a bank statement, and you take that to immigration along with your passport, the filled in application form, and some health insurance (just take out a private policy with one of the insurance companies, cost about 20-30 Euro).

You can apply for the registration certificate in the morning, collect it in the afternoon.

That does sound much easier. I was thinking that ‘support’ meant something else on those applications.
So I would file for the ‘1.2.Residency based means of support’ one?

Yes, that's the one. You can download the application form from the site too, to save some trouble. They take your photo there. You should also make some photocopies of your passport. But it's pretty straightforward - I used this means and it only took 15 minutes (plus a bit of queuing).

By the way, when you go to the insurance company, make sure they give you insurance for residency, not for tourism.

Awesome you’ve been a great help!
Also, for the insurance, do you have any recommendations on which company to use? I received a quote from Cigna but it was a little over 100 eur

A mate of mine did his certificate last week and got a one-year policy from Groupama for  130 lei (just under 30 Euro).

Cool, I’ll look into them. Thank you so much for all of your help

You're welcome.

A while ago I was looking for the same info, except that it was Romanian passport - residence in Italy. At the time I found that to obtain residence in another EU country, through self-funded means of support, one would have to show an income at the minimum level of income, which I think was tied to the level of social security level (or welfare type income). That would be derived from any monthly incoming income stream, such as pension, investments/dividends, rent, etc.

The reason I mention this is that it should not be any different, in theory, the situation of a German passport holder requesting the same (residence through self-funding) in Romania.

Quick google search, came up with this link
http://igi.mai.gov.ro/en/content/citizens-eu-eea


Home » Free movement » Residence registration » Citizens of EU / EEA

Under section '1.2.Residency based means of support', we find the following:

1.2.Residency based means of support

1. application form;
2. ID card or passport (original and copy);
3. proof of the existing of support;
4. proof of the existing health insurance - excluding people who are insured without paying contributions according to the Law no.95 213/2006 on healthcare reform, with subsequent amendments;

At #3, 'proof' is a link, once opened, it reveals the following:
<<<
The means of support must be proven at the level of the minimum guaranteed revenue in Romania
(in accordance with the Law no. 416 of 18 July 2001 on the minimum guaranteed revenue, as
further amended and supplemented), and the proof may be made by: pension slip, issued at most
3 months before the date of entry on the territory of Romania (other similar document), statement
concerning the global income tax for the year prior to the date of entry on the territory of Romania
(other similar document), bank account statement or other equivalent documents certifying that
the applicant earns the necessary revenues to ensure subsistence.
The proof of the means of support for your family members lies with you, except for the cases
where they carry out dependent or independent activities in Romania and, as such, they are able to
support themselves.
As an exception, Romanian citizens are not required to prove the means of support for their family
members.
If you come to Romania to study, you may submit an affidavit stating that you are able to support
yourself.
The document submitted must certify the monthly level of the minimum guaranteed revenue *
amounting to:
a) 135,5 lei (RON) for single persons
b) 244 lei (RON) for families made up of 2 persons;
c) 342 lei (RON) for families made up of 3 persons;
d) 423 lei (RON) for families made up of 4 persons;
e) 504,5 lei (RON) for families made up of 5 persons;
f) 35 lei (RON) for each other person above the number of 5 persons,
_____________________________
* in accordance with the Law no. 416 of 18 July 2001 concerning the minimum guaranteed revenue
(updated by 15 Mai 2013)
<<<


I am not sure why the amounts have not been revised since 2013, but let's say they are the same. The amounts are very small, but the question is would you be allowed to show that amount x 60 months (for a 5 year permit) or would they say that it needs to be a continuous stream of income i.e. pension, dividends, etc? Not sure how that works really.

That's a good question. I've been waiting for an answer myself x) I think it might have got overlooked as another answer. Since that's what it appears like at first.
If I were to make a educated guess, I would say you just have to show that you had a income of that amount in the past 3 months.
Since it stats you can show a bank statement, if you have a bank statement showing that you made that amount for the previous 3 months, I believe that should be good. It also stats that you could also use your previous years taxes. So if you made that amount x 12 , that may also be alright.

Seeing as you have to apply within the first three months of arrival, it would technically be impossible to show that you've had that amount coming in for the previous three months. I've renewed the certificate three times now, and the first two times I did it based on 'means of support' and just showed them a bank statement with some cash in it, although admittedly it was much more than the required amount.

To be honest, they can't actually refuse you anyway, unless you are wanted by Interpol or used to work for a terrorist organisation or something like that, so I'd just stick a few hundred euros worth of Lei into a Romanian bank account (Lei one) and get an official (stamped) statement from the bank.

@ixDavidxi it would be nice if you could come back and update after you have gone through the process and detail the experience from the perspective of self-funding requirements. Thanks.

Sure thing, I’ll do that.
It’s going to be about two months before I arrive in Romania.

The easiest path for you as an EU citizen to settle in Romania is to find a company and get hired for 3 months ( whatever call-center, teaching , cooking etc) and get all your papers done. Or if you are a freelancer, open a business in Romania (witch is recommended due to low taxation), hire yourself and then you are done.

@Cristian_G
It was no easy task but I finally did it.
I’ll try to explain my experience as short as possible, I could probably write a book though lol.
I did move to a smaller city than Bucharest, called Ploieşti. So they may have been why it was more complicated.

The first thing that I knew I had to do was open a bank account and deposit the required amount, to prove income. I went to several banks throughout a 3 week period. I kept getting turned away pretty much because the employees did not know the regulations to open an account with my German passport. I decided to bring someone with me just to put his foot down and yell at them when they came up with some excuse. 8 hours of waiting later, I finally had a bank account. I only deposited 200 Lei, for the paperwork.

The next day, I went to the immigration office and was told that the health insurance I had (Cigna World) was not good enough and it had to be from a local company. So I ran to a insurance company so I could make it back in time. Then I had the same problems with them. They just didn’t know how to establish a insurance plan for me. So the next day I went back to the insurance company with my friend to ‘put his foot down’. 5 hours of complications later, I had health insurance.

The next day, I went back to the immigration office and went through a interview and was told to come back the next day. The next day, I finally had my registration certificate. So it was about a 3.5 week process for me.

I also had complications with internet companies, but that’s a different subject lol.

Also, the people at the immigration office did not know any English at all. I was lucky that the day I had to do that interview that there was one person that knew little English.

@ixDavidxi - Seems like quite an ordeal, glad you got it sorted and thanks for updating, I am sure others will benefit.