Romania has become a meaningful destination for Indian professionals on skilled-worker and EU Blue Card routes. A growing technology sector, a comparatively accessible cost of living, EU membership and an active recruitment of Indian IT, healthcare and skilled labour have made the India–Romania employee corridor busier each year. For HR and global mobility teams managing this programme, the question is not whether to run employee relocations to Romania, but how to run them consistently, compliantly and without absorbing disproportionate management overhead through every CNP issuance, residence-permit appointment or health-insurance enrolment query.
What the India–Romania corridor adds to programme management
Employee moves from India to Romania carry a complexity that moves from within the EU do not: the India export side. Each employee’s household shipment requires a shipping bill filed on ICEGATE, an AD code registered against the originating port, an accurate inventory and valuation, and export clearance from Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Chennai or Cochin. Handled inconsistently — different vendors, different levels of rigour, different documentation formats — this adds variance and delay across the programme. At the Romanian end, the EU transfer-of-residence relief needs to be applied for consistently and supported by evidence of twelve months’ ownership at the India address; missed, it can expose the employee to EU import VAT and duty on used personal effects that would otherwise have cleared free. We standardise both ends as thoroughly as each other, so the programme runs the same way for every employee, whether they ship from Mumbai or from Kolkata, and whether they land in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca or Timișoara.
What the programme covers
India export clearance per employee
ICEGATE shipping bill, AD code registration and Indian export documentation prepared for each move — consistently, from whichever Indian port serves the employee’s origin city.
Romanian import customs per employee
EU import declaration to the Autoritatea Vamală Română, EORI where needed, and the transfer-of-residence relief filed accurately for every Romania arrival — the employee does not have to navigate customs, and neither does HR.
Policy alignment
Every move runs to your mobility policy — volume caps, entitlements, freight mode guidelines, lump-sum versus managed treatment — configured once and applied consistently across Blue Card and work-permit moves.
Employee-facing coordination
Each relocating professional has one coordinator from the India survey to the Romanian delivery, with a written briefing on the residence-registration sequence on arrival — reducing questions back to HR and keeping the employee’s experience calm.
India origin cities we work from
We survey and pack from all of India’s major technology and professional hubs: Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune and Chennai for the south and west tech corridors; Mumbai and Ahmedabad for the west; Delhi NCR (Gurugram, Noida) for the north; Kolkata for the east. Shipments are consolidated at the nearest appropriate port — Nhava Sheva or Mundra for western origins, Chennai or Cochin for the south — and the same ICEGATE documentation standards apply regardless of which city the employee ships from. Air consolidations route through BOM, DEL, BLR or MAA into Bucharest Henri Coandă (OTP) where the timeline calls for it.
What relocating employees encounter on arrival in Romania
The first weeks in Romania involve a sequence of formalities the employer can help orchestrate but cannot bypass. Non-EU nationals enter on a long-stay visa tied to their work authorisation, and after arrival the residence permit (permis de ședere) is applied for through the Inspectoratul General pentru Imigrări. Central to almost everything is the CNP — the cod numeric personal, a unique personal numeric code that functions as the individual’s identifier for tax, banking, healthcare and public services. The employee also needs to be registered with the Romanian health system and enrolled in payroll under their individual labour contract recorded in REVISAL. Confirmed housing matters early, because a residence address is needed to progress the permit and the registration steps that follow.
Employees arriving from India are also adjusting to a new language, a different administrative culture, and often the practical gap between their shipment reaching Constanța and their household goods clearing customs. We brief each employee on the arrival sequence and what to have ready — passport, long-stay visa, employment contract, proof of accommodation, health-insurance confirmation — which reduces the volume of first-week queries that would otherwise land on HR or the global mobility inbox.
How the programme runs
- Programme alignment. We map to your mobility policy once: entitlements by grade, freight mode guidelines, Blue Card and work-permit handling, reporting format and escalation paths.
- Move initiation. HR refers the employee; we schedule the India survey, prepare ICEGATE export documentation and return a policy-checked quote.
- Manage the relocation. Packing, sea or air freight from India, import clearance with the Autoritatea Vamală Română including the transfer-of-residence relief, and last-mile delivery are coordinated for each employee, with HR updated at each key milestone.
- Report consistently. Quotes, inventory records, shipping documents, customs filings and invoices are provided in a consistent format across every move in the programme — supporting your finance reconciliation and any internal cost-attribution model.
Whether you are relocating a handful of Blue Card professionals to Romania this year or building towards a sustained high-volume programme, the infrastructure is the same and it does not lose consistency as it scales. The corridor itself is set out in our guide to moving from India to Romania. Get in touch to set up the programme correctly from the first move.
Common questions about this move
Anything specific to your situation? A specialist for this corridor is happy to help.
Contact usHow long does a move to Romania take?
Transit time depends on the freight mode and the volume. Your coordinator gives you a realistic window when quoting — sea freight is slower and more economical, air freight is faster for time-sensitive moves.
Do you handle customs at both ends?
Yes. Export and import documentation is prepared and submitted on your behalf, and clearance is coordinated at both origin and destination.
Is my shipment insured in transit?
Transit insurance is available on every corridor. Your coordinator explains the cover options when quoting so you can choose what suits the shipment.
How far ahead should I book?
Two to four weeks is comfortable for most international moves, but we regularly handle urgent relocations. The earlier you reach out, the more flexibility you have on dates and freight space.
Will I have one point of contact?
Always — a dedicated coordinator owns your move from first quote to final delivery, including the customs and freight handovers in between.