Romania: visa and entry rules

Romania's borders: every crossing point

Control on the land borders was lifted on 1 January 2025 — Romania joined Schengen in full under the EU Council decision of 12 December 2024.

With Hungary and Bulgaria the borders are now internal: Nagylak towards Hungary, Giurgiu — Ruse towards Bulgaria, over the bridge across the Danube.

With Moldova it is the external Schengen border: Albita — Leuseni, and Siret towards Ukraine. Control is full.

With Serbia it is also an external border: Stamora Moravita.

Moldova is visa-free for Russian citizens, and entering Romania from there means entering Schengen with all the checks.

By sea there is the port of Constanta on the Black Sea.

Driving to Romania

The country has declared no national ban of its own — but you cannot count on that. The restriction follows from the European Commission's general sanctions guidance, which binds every member state, and cars on Russian plates are turned back even where no national announcement was made.

The roads require a vignette, the rovinieta, electronic and bought in advance.

A Green Card is compulsory.

Mountain roads are narrow, and the Transfagarasan highway is only open in summer.

An International Driving Permit is needed only if your licence was issued outside the EU and the EEA; a licence from an EU or EEA country is valid as it is.

Travelling to Romania with a pet

The rules are the same across the whole EU.

An ISO-standard microchip is compulsory, and it is fitted BEFORE the rabies vaccination — otherwise the vaccination does not count.

A rabies vaccination — not before 12 weeks of age, and 21 days must pass between the vaccination and entry.

A rabies antibody titre test is required only for pets from a country not on the EU's approved list. The US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK are on the list, so this does not apply to pets travelling from those countries; Russia is one of the countries it does apply to. The blood is taken no earlier than 30 days after the vaccination, then there is a three-month wait before entry.

An EU veterinary certificate is required, issued by the state veterinary service.

No more than five animals per person without commercial paperwork.

Overstaying your visa in Romania

The breach is recorded across the whole Schengen area, not by individual country.

The main consequence is a refusal of your next visa. The record stays in the system, and getting a Schengen visa afterwards is substantially harder.

An entry ban for a significant overstay covers the entire area at once.

Days are counted across the whole of Schengen. The typical mistake is to count the stay in each country separately.