The placement agency guarantee: what counts towards the 250 and what does not

The question comes up for every placement agency doing its arithmetic before authorisation: does the ceiling of 250 placed foreigners also get consumed by workers already in Romania, for whom the agency merely intermediates a change of employer?

Short answer: no. The ordinance contains an explicit counting rule, and it refers to one thing only — the D/AM2 visa. Below is the chain of articles, because every link matters.

The legal chain, article by article

1. How large the guarantee is (art. 25). The financial guarantee is constituted in favour of the competent tax authority and amounts to 75,000 euro for up to 250 placed foreigners (art. 25 para. (2)). For each additional batch of 250 placed foreigners, the guarantee increases by 50,000 euro (art. 25 para. (3)).

2. What the guarantee limits (art. 37 para. (1)). The placement agency intermediates the conclusion of individual employment contracts "within the limit of the number of foreigners for which it has proved the constitution of the financial guarantee".

3. Who is counted within that limit (art. 37 para. (2)). Here is the answer:

"For the purposes of the limit set out in para. (1), account is taken exclusively of placed foreigners who have been issued a long-stay visa for employment of type D/AM2, provided for in art. 27^2 of Government Emergency Ordinance no. 194/2002."

The word "exclusively" leaves no room for interpretation: the ceiling does not count all placements, only those completed with a D/AM2 visa.

Why a D/AM2 visa means, in practice, "brought in from outside Romania"

The D/AM2 visa is issued on the basis of the single application filed by the placement agency or by the authorised employer in the electronic platform (art. 44 para. (2) of GEO 194/2002, as amended). It is requested for permanent, seasonal and cross-border workers, on the basis of the placement contract, the services contract and the individual employment contract registered in REGES-ONLINE (art. 27^2 para. (1)).

The decisive element for our question, however, is another one: art. 44 para. (5) provides that, "at the moment of appearing in person to apply for the long-stay visa", the foreigner must present the border-crossing document. A long-stay visa is applied for at Romania's diplomatic missions and consular offices — that is, from outside the country.

A worker already legally in Romania who changes employer does not obtain a new visa. He goes through the procedure for extending the right of stay for work, with a single permit. He therefore does not meet the condition in art. 37 para. (2) and does not occupy a new slot out of the 250.

The confusion comes from a broad definition

The ordinance defines the "placed foreigner" in art. 2 para. (2) lit. h): the foreigner for whom the agency "has taken steps with a view to putting him in contact with registered employers from Romania and who has concluded a placement contract, respectively an individual employment contract".

This definition does not require the person to come from abroad. That is where the very widespread reasoning starts, according to which any placement — including a change of employer for someone already here — would consume part of the ceiling.

The reasoning stops too early, however. The definition in art. 2 establishes who is a placed foreigner, that is, towards whom the agency has obligations. The counting rule for the ceiling is a different one and is found in art. 37 para. (2). The two do not overlap:

In practice: you can be a placed foreigner without consuming a slot out of the 250. The agency's obligations towards that person still exist — only the numerical ceiling is not touched.

What it means for a change of employer

The regime for changing employer is governed by art. 40 and is closely tied to the agency:

• the foreigner may not take the initiative of changing employer for 6 months from the date of starting the activity registered in REGES-ONLINE (art. 40 para. (2));
• by way of exception, he may take the initiative earlier in cases duly justified by a serious breach by the employer of contractual clauses or of employment relations (art. 40 para. (3));
• after those 6 months, and in the exceptional situation as well, the foreigner may change employer only through the placement agency that is party to the placement contract, until 2 years have elapsed from the start of activity (art. 40 para. (4)).

The consequence for calculating the guarantee: a foreigner brought in by the agency with a D/AM2 visa has occupied a slot only once, upon entering the market. The changes of employer that the same agency intermediates for him over the following 2 years are a legal obligation of the agency, not new placements for the purposes of the ceiling.

What each placed person costs you anyway, regardless of the ceiling

The fact that the ceiling is not consumed does not mean that a placement without a D/AM2 visa is free from a risk point of view. Obligations attach to the status of "placed foreigner", not to the visa:

• Duration of the guarantee. The guarantee is maintained for the entire validity of the authorisation, "as well as for the entire period during which the placement agency has obligations ... in relation to the number of placed foreigners" (art. 25 para. (7)). The wording uses the broad notion.
• The lump sum of 2,000 euro. ANOFM recovers 2,000 euro per person from the agency, upon the IGI notification regarding the removal of the placed foreigner (art. 26 para. (1)).
• Replenishing the guarantee within 30 days after enforcement, on pain of suspension of the authorisation (art. 26 para. (9)).
• Notification obligations for 2 years from the start of the activity registered in REGES-ONLINE (art. 39 para. (1) lit. j)).
• Fines per worker. The offences in art. 42 para. (2) apply "for each placed foreign worker", with a fine of 5,000-10,000 lei.
• Suspension of the authorisation if, over six consecutive months, labour inspectors establish that more than 10% of the placed foreigners do not meet the qualification requirements for the position held (art. 30 para. (1) lit. a)).

The arithmetic an agency actually does

An agency that in one year makes 100 external recruitments with a D/AM2 visa and 150 changes of employer for people already in Romania does not reach 250 consumed slots. It has consumed 100. The 75,000 euro guarantee still covers it for up to 250 new entries onto the market.

On the other hand, it has active obligations towards all 250, and the risk of the guarantee being enforced relates to all of them.

What remains unclarified

Two aspects are worth following until ANOFM and the WorkinRomania.gov.ro platform publish the reporting methodology:

1. The tension between art. 37 para. (2) and art. 25 para. (7). The former limits the counting to D/AM2 visas; the latter ties the duration of the guarantee to "the number of placed foreigners", the broad notion. The text can be read coherently — the ceiling counts entries, the duration follows the obligations — but an administrative clarification would be useful.
2. How the platform actually reports a change of employer: as a new event on the same placed foreigner, or as a distinct placement. The way it is displayed does not change the norm, but it may generate discussion during an inspection.

Until there is a clarification, the prudent position for an agency is to size its guarantee according to the number of D/AM2 visas it estimates, and to size its internal procedures and risk provisions according to the total number of placed foreigners. The two figures are not the same and must not be confused.

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This resource is informative and does not replace legal advice. The texts quoted come from GEO no. 32/2026 on the access of foreigners to the labour market in Romania (Official Gazette no. 335 of 27.04.2026) and from GEO no. 194/2002 as amended by it. Verified: 6 August 2026.