Romania, Europe's new gateway for non-EU drivers? Costs and predictability

Status as of 21.10.2026: On WorkinRomania.gov.ro, employer registration, employer authorisation and the submission of the single application (cererea unică) for D/AM2 visas remain deactivated. The next hearing date that matters for unblocking is 02.12.2026, in the merits case file 5258/2/2026. The European pilot described below moves forward regardless of the blockage: the first Egyptian drivers reach the exam in Romania after the training stage in Egypt.

The European Union has chosen Romania as one of the two countries in which it is testing, with European money, a legal corridor for professional drivers from outside the EU. The Skilled Driver Mobility for Europe II (SDM4EU II) project trains 600 drivers in Egypt and Morocco and brings 200 of them to work in the EU: 100 Egyptians to Romania, 100 Moroccans to Italy. The choice of Romania rests on one figure: a non-EU driver costs here, until they can drive legally, €8,720, compared with €19,065 in Italy and €22,136.80 in Spain. This article explains where these figures come from, why Romania comes out cheaper, how large its role is today compared with Poland, and where predictability breaks down.

In brief

What exactly the European Union is testing

SDM4EU II is the first project that turns the EU's “Talent Partnerships” policy into a measurable recruitment system for road transport. The figures and the roles:

• 600 drivers trained (300 in Egypt, 300 in Morocco) to training standards set by IRU; 200 of them enter the mobility process: 100 to Romania, 100 to Italy. In parallel, 30 local trainers are being trained, so that the schools in Egypt and Morocco can continue on their own.
• Who leads the project: GOPA PACE, with funding from ICMPD through the Migration Partnership Facility. IRU is the technical partner for standards and certification. AASTMT implements in Egypt, Soleterre on the Morocco–Italy corridor, the ICAR Foundation in Romania. The integration of drivers after arrival is handled by UNTRR in Romania and FAI in Italy.
• A driver's path: recruitment and selection in the country of origin → technical and language training → employer-led selection missions, directly in Egypt → legal mobility → integration, mentoring and monitoring after arrival → employment and retention, with a reintegration path for those who return home.
• The end goal: a replicable plan that EU institutions, Member States and partner countries can use for the next corridors, with cross-border recognition of qualifications and CPC attestations.

Romania was not chosen at random. Phase I of the project (June 2024 – April 2025, budget of €99,500) analysed 11 Member States (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Portugal, Belgium, Poland) and 5 partner countries (Egypt, Bangladesh, Morocco, Pakistan, Tunisia). On 11 March 2025, IRU and UNTRR brought together in Bucharest more than ten Romanian transport companies to discuss precisely the Egypt–Romania corridor. The resulting plan retained Italy, Romania, Morocco and Egypt as working pairs.

Where the €8,720 figure comes from

The figures are not official fees but estimates of the total cost borne until the driver can legally drive in commercial transport: visa and work and residence permits, obtaining or exchanging the driving licence, professional training, accommodation and the other formalities.

Two conclusions of the study weigh as much as the table. First: in the 11 countries analysed, the work permit took on average more than 90 days, and the right of residence even longer. Second: at EU level there is no mechanism for recognising drivers' professional training obtained in third countries, so the driver repeats in Europe the training required by European rules; in some states, the licence exchange must be done even before starting the courses.

The cost structure emerges from the companion study carried out by IRU for the European Commission (“Bus and truck drivers from third countries”, published in 2026), based on interviews with transport companies: an average cost of €20,157 per driver, of which €14,600 is the salary and contributions paid during the training and regularisation period, €3,815 transport from the country of origin, accommodation and initial integration, €1,385 obtaining or exchanging the licence, and only €357 the CPC course and attestation. In other words, more than 70% of the cost is paid idle time, not fees. The same study also measures time: for drivers, legal and administrative procedures take between six months and a year, compared with four to six months in the rest of the economy.

Why Romania comes out cheaper than Italy and Spain

1. The wage base and contributions. The dominant component is the salary paid while the driver cannot yet work. The same month of waiting costs two to three times less in Romania: a driver's gross salary is lower, and the employer's contribution is the labour insurance contribution (CAM) of 2.25%, compared with employer contributions of around 30% in Spain and Italy. Since the idle period is the largest component, the difference is multiplied.

2. A shorter professional qualification. Romania is one of the nine Member States (alongside Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Malta and the Netherlands) in which the CPI initial qualification is obtained through an exam only, with no mandatory course of 140 or 280 hours. For the exam, ARR requires proof of legal stay on the date of the exam, not 185 days of prior residence, a requirement flagged by hauliers as a major barrier in Germany and Czechia. The theory exam for the freight/passenger CPI can also be taken in English, in Bucharest, in scheduled sessions. Directive 2003/59/EC requires the third-country driver to obtain the initial qualification in the Member State of the employing company, so the exam is taken in Romania, not in Egypt. For international transport, the driver attestation (atestat de conducător auto) provided for by Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 is added, also issued by ARR (fee: 200 lei).

3. The driving licence. Romania exchanges without an exam the licences issued by the states party to the Convention on Road Traffic: the Philippines, Vietnam, Pakistan, Iran or Peru fall directly into this category, while drivers from Nepal, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh first go through driving school. Spain applies the Geneva Convention and exchanges the licence only if there is a bilateral agreement with the country of origin; without an agreement, the driver obtains a C+E licence from scratch, the most expensive and slowest step. Italy was rated favourably because the foreign licence can be used for up to a year, but the exchange still depends on bilateral agreements. For the Egyptian corridor, checking the licence against the DRPCIV list for exchange without an exam is the first step for any interested haulier.

4. Accommodation and living costs. The cost of living is lower, and Romanian hauliers usually provide their own accommodation. GEO 32/2026 (OUG 32/2026) also sets a protective rule: the rent charged to the foreign national cannot exceed 25% of the net salary (Art. 7 para. 2).

Two nuances to bear in mind. Romania is not the cheapest in the study: Germany, Belgium and Poland have lower estimates, and Poland also has the fastest procedure in the EU, four to six weeks from the signing of the contract for citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova, on the basis of the simplified declaration of employment. And “cheap for the employer” means “less attractive for the driver”: it is precisely the low salaries that tempt the driver to leave for the West once they hold the Romanian attestation, valid across the whole EU. The study warns that the level of costs becomes a serious obstacle when part of the expenses falls on the driver, not on the employer.

How large Romania's role is today (and why we do not write “largest supplier”)

The official measure of non-EU drivers in European international transport is the driver attestation under Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009: every third-country driver employed by an operator holding a Community licence has one. The latest EU-wide figure, published by the European Commission in 2026, is for the end of 2022: 302,526 attestations in circulation, of which 90% were issued by just five states and more than half by Poland (160,664). Next came Lithuania (66,073), Spain (22,895) and Slovenia (13,827); Italy had 2,619.

The Polish figures are up to date and show a leader that is contracting slightly, not one that is disappearing. On 31 July 2026, there were 146,090 valid attestations for non-EU drivers in Poland, compared with 145,977 at the end of 2025: 69,339 for Ukrainians, 57,644 for Belarusians, and Indians passed 2,000 for the first time. In 2025, Poland issued 97,803 new attestations, 15.7% fewer than in 2024. The Polish engine is the procedure: the simplified declaration of employment for citizens of Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia and Moldova shortens the path to four to six weeks.

Romania is on a different scale. The latest statistics published by ARR show 2,816 foreign drivers employed by Romanian operators (2,717 men and 99 women) as of 2 May 2023, up from 1,389 in January of the same year, i.e. a doubling in four months, and 411 driver attestations issued, up from 348 in January 2023. Demand has grown since then: when setting the 2026 annual quota, the Ministry of Labour counted 11,135 vacancies for road freight transport drivers and 12,237 for car and van drivers reported repeatedly by employers, and recruitment firms describe 2025 as the year in which drivers from India became among the most sought-after foreign workers in Romania.

On these figures, the headline “Romania, the largest supplier of non-EU drivers” does not hold up: Poland has tens of times more. What does hold up is something else:

• The Romanian fleet works in the West. In 2024, Romania recorded 67 billion tonne-km, the seventh-best performance in the EU, immediately after Czechia and ahead of Lithuania and the Netherlands, with the international segment growing through cross-trade. Eurostat places Romania among the top five cabotage operators in the EU, alongside Poland, Lithuania, Spain and the Netherlands.
• The Romanian attestation is European. The driver qualification card obtained from ARR and the driver attestation under Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 allow an Egyptian driver employed by a company in Arad or Suceava to drive on all EU routes.
• The shortage is the largest relative to the fleet. UNTRR estimates a shortage of 70,000 truck drivers and 150,000 professional drivers in total.
• Romania already knows how to bring in non-EU workers at scale. At the end of 2025, more than 148,000 non-EU citizens held residence permits for work, 48% more than at the end of 2024. In 2025, employers submitted 230,885 applications for work authorisation (aviz), 2.3 times the annual quota of 100,000.
• The EU has put Romania on the map. Out of 11 Member States analysed, the pilot retained two destinations. Romania is one of them.

That is why the correct wording is: Romania can become a gateway for non-EU drivers into European transport, through Romanian transport companies running in the West with Egyptian, Nepalese or Indian drivers qualified in Romania. The EU pilot is precisely the test of this gateway, and the distance to Poland shows how much room for growth there is.

What it means for a Romanian haulier: the steps and fixed costs in 2026

The pilot does not create a separate procedure. Egyptian drivers come under the GEO 32/2026 regime, the same as for any non-EU driver:

1. Registering the company in WorkinRomania (R.A.S.). ANOFM approves or rejects within at most 30 working days; the basic conditions are no debts to the state budget, at least one year of activity in the field and no sanctions for undeclared work.
2. Choosing the D/AM2 route. Either through an authorised placement agency (R.A.P.S.: 42 agencies as of 20.10.2026), or as an authorised employer (R.A.A.), which requires 24 months of uninterrupted activity, at least 50 employees in the previous year and a guarantee of €1,000 for each foreign national; the authorisation is issued within at most 15 working days. As of 20.10.2026, no company had yet been authorised.
3. The firm job offer (oferta fermă). The vacancy notice is published in PULS (ANOFM) and taken over into WorkinRomania; it must contain the gross and net salary, the working time, and accommodation and transport if the employer provides them. The number of foreign nationals employed under D/AM2 cannot exceed the average number of employees in the previous year.
4. The single application and the visa. The occupation must appear on the List of shortage occupations (Lista ocupațiilor deficitare). The long-stay visa costs €300. After arrival: individual employment contract in Romanian and in the driver's language, registration in REGES, then the single permit.
5. Qualification in Romania. Licence exchange at DRPCIV → CPI exam at ARR (in English, in Bucharest; the preparation course is optional) → driver attestation for international transport. The period up to the exam is paid in full by the employer and is the largest component of the €8,720.
6. Obligations that remain after hiring. Salary paid into a bank account, rent of at most 25% of the net salary, Romanian language course of at least 6 hours per week in the first 6 months, occupational health and safety (SSM) training in a language the driver understands, notification of IGI within 5 days of the termination of the contract, retention of documents for 5 years.

The costs fixed by law are few and predictable: the €300 visa fee, the €1,000 guarantee per worker for the authorised employer or the agency's €75,000 guarantee (included in the agency's fee), the ARR fees (250 lei for the CPI/CPC card, 200 lei for the driver attestation), plus the lump sum of €2,000 per person for removal, covered from the guarantee if things go wrong. The rest of the €8,720 is salaries, accommodation, transport and qualification, i.e. exactly the components you can shorten through good planning of the ARR exam.

Predictability: what holds and what does not

The low cost is half of the equation. The other half, the predictability of the procedure, looked like this in 2026:

Overlaid on these dates is the annual quota: 90,000 newly admitted workers in 2026 (GD 1169/2025), compared with 100,000 in 2025 and with the 230,885 applications submitted last year. And the SDM4EU study puts Romania at the same table as the other ten countries analysed: more than 90 days, on average, for the work permit.

What is predictable, and works in the employer's favour:

• The driver cannot change employer on their own initiative in the first 6 months from the start of activity, and up to 2 years the change can be made only through the agency that is party to the placement contract (Art. 40 of GEO 32/2026).
• On termination of the contract, the agency presents at least two offers within 90 days; if it does not find an employer, the agency or the authorised employer bears the costs of return. The risk of a “driver left stranded” does not fall on the haulier.
• The guarantees, the visa fee, the rent cap and the integration obligations are written into law, not negotiated case by case.

What is not predictable, and must be budgeted as a risk: the availability of the platform, the content of the List of shortage occupations, the size of the annual quota and the calendar of ARR's exam sessions in English, organised only in Bucharest.

What you can do now, as a haulier

• Prepare the WorkinRomania registration file (tax clearance certificate, the shareholders' and directors' declarations) so you can submit it on the day the flow comes back.
• Decide on the route: authorised agency or your own authorisation. The threshold of 50 employees and 24 months of activity decides it for most companies.
• Publish the vacancy notice in PULS with PCLM recipients, so the firm job offer is ready in WorkinRomania (how to choose the recipients in PULS).
• Check with DRPCIV whether the licence from the country of origin is exchanged without an exam; if not, add driving school to the budget and the calendar.
• Schedule the CPI exam in English and put the date of the ARR session into the payroll plan: every month of waiting is the most expensive line in the budget.
• Budget €8,720 per driver plus a reserve; write the accommodation (at most 25% of the net salary) and the transport into the firm job offer, do not leave anything for the driver to bear.
• For the Egypt–Romania corridor, get in touch with UNTRR, the pilot's integration partner, and with the ICAR Foundation, which leads the implementation in Romania.
• Follow the hearing dates in the PIFM case files, 03.11.2026 and 02.12.2026 (the hearing dates that matter for unblocking).

Frequently asked questions

Can I hire an Egyptian driver from the SDM4EU II pilot directly? Yes, as a registered employer, through an authorised placement agency, or as an authorised employer if the company has at least 50 employees and 24 months of activity. Drivers from the pilot are selected through employer missions in Egypt, coordinated with UNTRR and the ICAR Foundation.

Does a driver trained in Egypt still take an exam in Romania? Yes. Directive 2003/59/EC requires the third-country driver to obtain the initial qualification in the employer's Member State. The training in Egypt shortens the time to the ARR exam, but does not replace it. In Romania, the initial qualification is obtained through an exam only, with no mandatory course, and the CPI theory exam can be taken in English, in Bucharest.

Why does a driver cost €8,720 in Romania and €22,136 in Spain? Because more than 70% of the cost is the salary paid during the period in which the driver cannot yet work. In Romania, the gross salary is lower and the employer's contribution is the CAM of 2.25%, compared with employer contributions of around 30% in Spain. Added to this are the CPI exam with no mandatory course, the licence exchange without an exam for many countries of origin, and cheaper accommodation.

How many non-EU drivers does Poland have compared with Romania? Poland had 146,090 valid attestations for non-EU drivers as of 31.07.2026, and at the end of 2022 it had issued more than half of the 302,526 attestations in the whole EU. Romania had, according to the latest statistics published by ARR (May 2023), 2,816 foreign drivers employed and 411 driver attestations. The difference is tens of times over, which is why Romania is a gateway under construction, not the “largest supplier”.

Is Romania the cheapest EU country for non-EU drivers? No. Germany (€7,935), Belgium (€6,980) and Poland (€6,705) have lower estimates. Romania is the cheapest of the southern and south-eastern EU countries analysed and 2.5 times cheaper than Spain.

How many drivers does the pilot bring to Romania, and when? 100 Egyptian drivers, out of 600 trained, in the period June 2026 – December 2028. The first stage is the training in Egypt; the arrivals and the exams in Romania follow after it.

What is blocking the hiring of a non-EU driver in Romania today? Since 15.09.2026, WorkinRomania has had employer registration and authorisation and D/AM2 single applications deactivated, after the Bucharest Court of Appeal suspended Order 1073/2026 (the List of shortage occupations). The suspension holds until the ruling on the merits; the first hearing is on 02.12.2026. A new order approving the list would unblock the situation sooner.

Sources

• IRU – SDM4EU II, pagina proiectului
• IRU – New project to open safe legal mobility pathways for professional drivers (10.08.2026)
• IRU – From Cairo to Bucharest: workshop București, 11.03.2025
• Migration Partnership Facility – fișa SDM4EU II
• Migration Partnership Facility – fișa SDM4EU faza I
• trans.info – Recrutarea șoferilor din afara UE poate costa peste 22.000 € (08.10.2026)
• trans.info – UE testează un nou model de recrutare pentru șoferi africani
• Comisia Europeană, DG MOVE – „Bus and truck drivers from third countries”, raport final realizat de IRU, 2026 (ISBN 978-92-68-31404-3); prezentarea IRU
• Trasporto Europa – structura costului per șofer non-UE și atestatele de conducător auto în UE
• Transport i Logistyka Polska – date GITD, 31.07.2026: atestate valabile pentru șoferi non-UE
• ARR – „Ce spun cifrele ARR după primele patru luni ale anului 2023” (șoferi străini angajați, atestate 1072/2009)
• ARR – Comunicat privind susținerea unor examene în limba engleză
• ARR – Tarife în vigoare de la 30.12.2025
• trans.info – Eurostat, transportul rutier de marfă în UE, 2024
• Eurostat – Road freight transport statistics: cabotage
• Euronews România – preschimbarea permiselor pentru șoferii din afara UE
• Ministerul Muncii – contingentul 2026 și locurile vacante raportate repetat (30.12.2025)
• TVR Info – PIFM: peste 230.000 de cereri depuse la IGI în 2025
• undelucram.ro – IGI: 148.000 de permise de ședere pentru muncă la finalul lui 2025
• Revista Biz – Șoferii profesioniști din India, printre cei mai căutați în România (2025)
• Profit.ro – Platforma WorkinRomania, blocată după suspendarea Listei ocupațiilor deficitare
• OUG nr. 32/2026 privind accesul străinilor pe piața muncii din România (M. Of. nr. 335/27.04.2026); HG nr. 1169/2025; Directiva 2003/59/CE; Regulamentul (CE) nr. 1072/2009