7 REASONS WHY ROMANIA

IS AWESOME FOR REMOTE WORKERS!

1. Romania offers a Special Visa

just for Digital Nomads!

Let’s start with the best part: Romania offers Digital Nomad Visas for remote workers from all countries and the requirements are clear and not impossible to meet at all!

The conditions to be eligible for a Digital Nomad Visa are three:

• you need to be working for a company registered outside Romania (also your freelancing job is fine!),
• you use telecommunications technology (work with a laptop!),
• you earn 3 times the average gross monthly salary in Romania (which would be around 3700Euro/month)

If you define yourself as a “digital nomad”, the first conditions are probably already met: you are already working, and you are doing it from a laptop!

As for the third condition, surely is not accessible for everyone (especially if you’re just starting your digital nomad journey), but it’s also one of the lowest requirements you can find between EU countries offering a similar Visa.

If you meet the criteria and you’re eligible, the processing times for a Romania Visa take approximately two weeks after handling all the documents required (proof of funds, criminal record, letter of intent, entrance ticket, proof of health insurance, and proof of employment).

Being granted a Romanian Visa will give you the right to stay for one year (with unlimited renewals) and plenty of other benefits (that will be seen later in the article) 🙂

2. Romania is one of the

Most Affordable Countries of the EU!

Romania’s official currency is the New Romanian Leu (RON), which trades at approximately 5Leu = 1Euro.

A weak currency and an underdeveloped economy (for its true potential!), place Romania at the bottom of the rankings for the cost of living in Europe, just before Bulgaria.

According to The Global Economy, living in Romania is twice as cheap as living in Italy or Germany and three times cheaper than living in Denmark (the most expensive country in Europe).

What does it mean for digital nomads?

That means that, while working and earning online, you could save quite a pretty penny on the cost of living: you can expect to pay 350 euros for a one-bedroom apartment in city centers (250 outside).

Renting a shared 3-bedroom apartment might be even cheaper (around 600 euros total in city centers, 400 outside).

Transportation, food, and beer are also very cheap, and overall as a digital nomad with an average lifestyle, you can expect to live comfortably within 800-1000Euro/month, all included!

You can check all the average prices in Romania here.

3. High-Speed Internet is Easily Available,

Reliable and Cheap!

In recent years, Romania greatly developed its internet infrastructure and today it’s as competitive as it can get (Romania scores 14th out of 182 countries in terms of internet speed, 2nd in Europe).

The average broadband speed in Romania in 2023 has been 170Mbps/110Mbps (way more than the average remote worker might need already, but with some contracts, you might reach up to 1Gbps and more!).

The coverage is great, fast, and reliable in the most remote areas of the country.

Seen the speed, let’s see the price: it’s damn CHEAP too!

• How much would it cost an unlimited data plan with 500Mbps? Just 6 euros/month!
• How much would it cost an unlimited data plan with 1Gbps? Just 8 euros/month!

No seriously! Mindblown!

If broadband is not your thing, and you’d rather get a SIM card, know that mobile data plans are affordable and pretty fast too (with an average speed of 53Mbps/13Mbps).

To give you an idea, a local Vodafone SIM card with unlimited 4G data might cost you around 16Euro/month 🙂

4. Romania is an Immersive Jump

in the Past and Cultural Richness

Romania is a curious country: if you travel just to its capital city, Bucharest, you’ll see colossal ex-communist and modern buildings (fun fact: the Palace of the Parliament is the heaviest building on Earth!), rushing modernity, and everything else you might expect in any other European capital.

When you leave the city though, it feels like jumping in the Europe of 50 years ago: small rural houses, people sitting on the benches just in front of them, a slow way of life connected to nature and its rhythm, speaking English is a chimaera.

This marked difference between city and countryside, makes Romania an interesting place to witness and experience with your own eyes.

The history of Romania, as you can guess by its name, dates back to the Dacian/Roman Empire age, over 2500 years ago. 

When venturing through Romania’s towns, castles and villages, you get the chance to grasp the long history, customs, and traditions of this country and why it’s so different from all of its neighboring countries too!

5. There are many Co-Working Spaces

and Networking Opportunities!

Every digital nomads could confirm this: in a co-working space you’re three time as productive as your own!

When I work alone on my laptop from our van, I get distracted easily (the fridge doesn’t help neither!) and sometimes it feels very lonely. Can you relate?

In Co-working spaces it is easy to focus (motivated by seeing others working hard), but more than that, they are also great spaces where to grow your network, make friends, get ideas, honest opinions, precious suggestions, start-up boosts, and perhaps also discounts from nearby shops!

In Romania, co-working spaces are blossoming in all major cities, with Bucharest being of course the pulsing heart of the co-working and digital community (you can see a list of Co-Working spaces in Bucharest here).

Prices start as low as 10 euros/day or 80 euros/month for a comfortable workstation and unlimited tea and coffee, which sounds fantastic! ;D

6. Romania offers a Diverse Scenery

and Many Natural Attractions!

As a digital nomad myself, I can comfirm that unwinding is as important as working hard.

Why would we decide to work in remote, if not for riping the benefits of travelling and geographical freedom? 😉

We all know that natural beauty plays a pivotal role to help us planning our travel itinerary: why would we travel to a ugly place, if we have freedom to choose where to stay? 🙂

If you agree with me, you’ll probably love Romania too: from the rugged and uncontaminated Carpazi mountains to the crazy kinked roads of the Transfăgărășan, the Danube Delta region and the sunny beaches on the Black Sea, it is hard to get bored!

Public transport in Romania is okayish-average, and renting a car is cheap, so either way moving around the country is not a big issue and that’s lot to explore! 

7. By 2024, Romania is bound to enter the Schengen Area,

which will allow free travels within the EU!

Romania awaited for long this moment: for entering the Schengen area (the agreement between EU countries thanks to which more than 400 million people can move freely without border controls).

Finally, the big day seems arrived and everything is ready for Romania to enter the agreement at the beginning of 2024.

If everything goes well with the last EU voting of December and Romania gets accepted unanimously within the area (as it seems probable!), as a digital nomad, getting a Visa for a now-Schengen country such as Romania, would mean that you would be free to roam every other EU country!

If you hold an extra EU passport, getting a Digital Nomad Visa for Romania would mean getting a Working-Travel Visa for all of the 26 EU countries for a year (with the possibility to extend it further!).

All in all, no doubt that the entrance of Romania into the Schengen area might lead to an explosion of digital nomads Visa applications: it’s just so convenient! :D

Conclusion

And here we come at the end of this article 🙂

In this article, we’ve seen  7 compelling reasons why you should consider moving to Romania as a Digital Nomad.

Overall, fast internet, a special Digital Nomad Visa, Nature, History, Affordable Cost of Living, and the upcoming entrance of Romania into the Schengen area, make Romania an appealing destination for remote professionals and freelancers alike!

Before going, I would like to ask you:

What do you think about Romania?

Have you had the chance to travel there before?

How was your experience? How do you see it as a digital nomad?

Let us know in the comments below! 😀

Hereafter I will leave you a few articles that you might also be interested in checking out:

•  Blog: Travel Curiosities, Fun Facts and Travel Tips
• Destinations of the World: Discover More Cool Destinations!
• Travel Italy: All you Need to Discover the Bel Paese!

Thank you for reading, and see you in the next article!