Romania is home to more than 420,000 people born abroad

Romania was home for 421,801 people born in other countries at the beginning of 2017, twice the number recorded in 2014, according to EU official data.

The number of persons born abroad, according to present time borders, who are usually resident in Romania was 211,210 in 2014, but rose to 281,048 in 2015, 350,753 in 2016 and 421,801 in 2017.

In the European Union, the United Kingdom has the largest foreign-born population, of 9.3 million people in 2017, followed by France (8.2 million), Italy and Spain (both 6 million).

On January 1, 2017, Romania had a total resident population of 19.6 million persons.

Despite rapid increase of the number of people born abroad, Romania is not an important attraction for foreign workers.

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According to General Inspectorate for Immigration data sent to Business Review, Romania issued work permits during the first two months of this year for 1,174 foreign employees which came mainly from Vietnam, Turkey, Nepal, China and Serbia.

Between January 1 and March 1, The General Inspectorate for Immigration, a branch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, issued 1,174 new work permits for foreign employees from Vietnam (251 work permits), Turkey (234), Nepal (101), China (92), Serbia (78), Moldova (58), Morocco (56), Philippines (48), Bangladesh (30), Brazil (23) and other countries (202).

Official data show the total number of work permits for foreign employees issued by Romanian authorities and still in use was 7,249 on March 1, 2018, up from 6,709 in December 2017 and 5,594 at the end of 2016.

Statistics don’t include EU citizens, which don’t need a permit to work in Romania.

China and Turkey are by far the two leading countries of origin of migrant workers in Romania, with 1,473 work permits and 1,332, respectively, followed by Vietnam (1,012), Philippines (538), Sri Lanka (297), Serbia (263), Nepal (216), India (162), Ukraine (151) and Moldova (146).  1,659 migrant workers came from other countries, according to official data sent to Business Review.