The new Law on the status of foreigners in the Republic of Moldova

The law determines the order of entry and stay of foreigners in the territory of the Republic of Moldova, general conditions for issuing residence permits and visas for the entry to Moldova. This Law shall become effective from 24 December 2010

Here we are going to pay attention just to some aspects of the new law. Contact us for more details or any clarifications.

Article 19 of the new Law provides for the cases in which it is possible to issue long-term visas to foreigner. They can be issued for the following purposes:

-         carrying out entrepreneurial activities - for foreigners investing into the national economy which are or have the intention to become stock or shareholders with the right to conduct or manage commercial undertakings in the Republic of Moldova;

-         employment (however, in this case getting a working permit should be considered additionally);

-         studying;

-         family reunification (an application for a visa for this purpose must be accompanied by a confirmation from the Bureau for Migration and Refugees);

-         for carrying out humanitarian or religious activities;

-         for diplomatic or official purposes;

-         for medical treatment.

Long-term stay visas are granted for a period of not more than 12 months for one or more visits each of them not exceeding 90 days within the 6 months period from the date of the first entry into the country, and allow foreigners to apply for granting the right to reside in Moldova. 

The right to temporary residence in the Republic of Moldova, given to a foreigner may be extended by the competent authority for foreigners, if:

a) they continue to meet the conditions for the entry into the Republic of Moldova;

b) during the foreigner's stay in the Republic of Moldova there was not registered any of the circumstances that would not allow to enter the territory of the Republic of Moldova;

c) s/he has the documents for crossing the border, valid for the period for which an extension of the right to stay in the Republic of Moldova is sought;

d) they seek to extend the right to stay for the same purpose for which the visa was initially issued and the right to    stay granted;

e) the purpose for which the right to stay in the Republic of Moldova requested was observed;

f) the evidence of having living premises to stay at for the whole period for which the extension is requested and medical insurance is presented.

In general, the same aims are also provided for granting the right to temporary stay in the country with the issuance of a temporary residence permit. That is for in order to obtain a temporary residence permit the same requirements are set.

The right to permanent residence in the Republic of Moldova may be granted to a foreigner - the holder of the right to temporary residence if s/he meets all of the following conditions:

a) has stayed legally and continuously in the Republic of Moldova under the right of temporary residence for at least 3 years - for foreigners married to Moldovan citizens (or 5 years, if the duration of the marriage is less than 3 years);

b) has stayed legally and continuously in the territory of the Republic of Moldova for at least 5 years - for other categories of foreigners;

c) confirms availability of sufficient livelihood; this provision does not apply to persons married to citizens of the Republic of Moldova;

d) possesses living premises;

e) can speak the state language at a satisfactory level;

f) continues to meet the conditions for entry into the territory of the Republic of Moldova;

g) during the foreigner's stay in the Republic of Moldova there has not been registered any of the circumstances that do not allow to enter the territory of the Republic of Moldova;

h) did not had any criminal records over the past 3 years.

We should also indicate here the time periods for which foreigners are not allowed to enter Moldova in case they previously breached the time limits for staying in Moldova:

1 year - in the case of illegal residence for the period of 3 months to 1 year;

2 years - in the case of illegal residence for the period of 1 to 2 years;

3 years - in the case of illegal residence for the period of 2 to 3 years;

5 years - in the case of illegal residence for more than 3 years;

3 years - in the case of illegal employment;

5 years - for providing false personal information;

5 years - in the event of previous expulsion.

This post is part of the newsletter prepared by our law firm. You can download its full text in .pdf from here.

Migration Rules for Business Owners

One the first major things that many foreigners have to work out when starting a business in Moldova is getting the right to come and stay in Moldova. The issues of getting a residence permit and to stay legally in the territory of Moldova become a problem for many. This post will cover some of these issues.

Visas and visa prolongation

Moldova established the visa regime for visitors from most of the countries. Only representatives of certain states may enter Moldova without a visa. These are most of the CIS countries, EU members and some other European countries (Iceland, Norway, Swiss Confederation), US and Canada and Japan. Recently it was announced about lifting visa requirements for Israeli, Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein citizens from 01 March 2010 (see the full list of countries of which citizens may enter Moldova without a visa as well as the list all Moldovan Consulates abroad on the web site of the Ministry of Foreign Affars).

In any case, even the citizens of those countries that do not require a visa to Moldova have a limited right to stay in Moldoa for a long period of time. Without getting a residence permit you can only stay in Moldova for not more than 90 days (overall) during 6 months period.

In case you're in Moldova on a visa and you need to prolong it for certain reasons you should address the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication. There are no strict and clear criteria for visa prolongation, hence this issue is totally left at the authorities' discretion. The application for visa prolongation should be submitted no later than 72 hours before your visa expires.

Labour migration and residence permits for business owners.

Starting a business and registering a company in Moldova provides you with addtional possibilties to get a residence permit to stay in Moldova for longer periods of time. However, various legaislative acts have provided differing rules for same categories of persons in terms of stipulating clear criteria for granting residence permits.

As we say particularly about the persons who registered a company in Moldova in order to carry out certain business activities here, the latest official act regulating this issue is the Law on Labour Migration (No. 180-XVI of 10 July 2008; in force - since 01 January 2009).

Though owning and managing a company may not necessarily fall under the term "labour" in its literal sense, business owner are regarded by this Law as labour migrants.

As a general rule labour migrants in Moldova may undertake their labour activity on the basis of the work permit and the temporary residence permit. The work permit is granted by the Nationl Employment Agency, and the decision on granting the right to stay temporarily in the territory of Moldova is taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the basis of the work permit issued by the National Agency. Following the positive decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs on providing the right to stay in Moldova the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communication issues the temporary residence permit for working purposes.

In order to hire foreign employees the employer should ask the National Agency for the approval. However, in case of foreign citizens who have founded a company in Moldova may receive the work permit without such an approval by the Agency.

The followig documents should be presented to the Ministry of Home Affairs in order to get the work permit and the right to the temporary residence:

1) Company's application to the National Agency and to the Ministry of Home Affairs to issue working and residence rights;

2) The migrant's application form/questionnaire;

3) Company registration documents (the company's registration certificate, the extract from the State Legal Entities Registry, and the respective licence - if relevant);

4) Documents confirming the company's activity (the State Principal Fiscal Inspection on the lack of debts to the public budget, a copy of the financial statements for the recent period, if this period exceeds three months);

5) Individual labour contract (if relevant);

6) the copy of the foreign citizen's national ID (passport) with the respective stamp of the Border Service on crossing the border of Moldova;

7) Medical certificate from the respective Moldovan medical institution confirming that the applicant is not AIDS/HIV positive;

8) Documents about the applicant's living conditions (e.g. renting contract);

9) two recent photos (50x60 mm);

10) the certificate on the lack of previous criminal records from the applicant's country of origin (apostilled or legalized).

The general term of the temporary residence rights granted to companies owners is 1 year - with the right to prolng it (the decision on granting the right to reside in Moldova should be taken by the authorities within 30 days period).

Some categories of persons that made the investments for the sums that follow may be provided with the residence permits for longer periods of time (with the right of prolongation):

- USD 10 000 - 100 000 - up to 2 years;

- USD 100 000 - 250 000 - up to 3 years;

- more than USD 250 000 - up to 5 years.

For these categories of persons the decision is taken within 15 days.