Start here: you already have the right to work
Romania is in the EU, and freedom of movement for workers has applied fully since 2014. You do not need a work permit and you do not need a visa to take a job in Germany. If a recruiter or an agency suggests otherwise, or offers to sell you a permit, that is a warning sign rather than a service.
What remains is not permission. It is being legible to a German employer — and that is mostly conventions and paperwork.
1. The Europass problem nobody warns you about
Europass is an EU-backed CV format and it is used heavily in Romania, often because a university or an employment office recommended it. That recommendation is well-meant and, for applying in Germany, frequently works against you.
Two reasons:
It parses badly. The classic Europass template is built on a table with a narrow left column for labels and a wide right column for content. Applicant tracking systems read a document in reading order, and table-based layouts routinely come out interleaved — a date landing inside a job description, a section label attached to the wrong entry. The newer Europass online editor produces cleaner output than the old template, but plenty of people are still exporting the old one.
It reads as impersonal in the German market. German recruiters are used to a Lebenslauf that is laid out by the applicant. A Europass document looks like a form return, and it signals "applying abroad, does not know the local convention" before anyone reads the content.
Neither is fatal, and if an employer specifically asks for Europass, send Europass. But do not use it by default in Germany. A plain, single-column Lebenslauf outperforms it on both parsing and first impression.
2. Which language do you write in?
Write in the language of the job advert.
- Advert in German — send a German Lebenslauf. Applying in English to a German advert reads as "cannot work in German".
- Advert in English — English is fine, and common in tech and in international companies.
Give your German level on the CEFR scale — A2, B1, B2, C1 — not as "bine" or "mediu". German employers read those levels precisely. For healthcare, construction site work and anything customer-facing, B1 to B2 is often the practical floor, and for regulated medical roles a specific level is usually required by the licensing authority rather than the employer.
Do not overstate it. It is tested in the first five minutes.
3. Format details that matter
Diacritics. ă, â, î, ș, ț are handled correctly by most modern systems, but not all — and this is the single most common place a Romanian CV loses information. Write your name exactly as in your passport. Do not strip the diacritics to be safe, because your name then stops matching your documents, which causes problems later at the Bürgeramt and the bank.
Name order. Romanian official documents often put the surname first, sometimes in capitals. On a German CV, write it the German way — given name, then surname — and keep it consistent everywhere you apply.
Photo. Common in both countries, so this feels familiar. Many larger German employers now ask you to omit it and none may require it. If you include one, keep your contact details as ordinary text rather than inside the box beside the photo, or a parser can lose them.
Dates. MM/YYYY, applied consistently, ongoing roles as seit 03/2021.
Headings. Use the German ones — Berufserfahrung, Ausbildung, Kenntnisse, Sprachen. Parsers match on those words.
4. The reference that does not exist in Romania
German employers expect an Arbeitszeugnis: a written reference from your previous employer assessing your work and conduct. It is a legal entitlement in Germany, and recruiters read it closely — the wording follows conventions where specific phrases carry specific meanings.
Romania has adeverință de vechime and the entry in REVISAL, which are factual records: who employed you, in what role, for how long. They contain no assessment, because Romanian law does not provide for one.
So you will be asked for Zeugnisse and have nothing that resembles one. Explain it rather than leave a silence — one line in the cover letter saying Romanian employment law provides a factual certificate rather than an evaluative reference, and that you can give contactable referees instead.
Ask two former managers for permission before you start applying.
5. Documents, with realistic costs and waiting times
Verify current fees and processing times before relying on them. Official charges change, and waiting times vary by county, by city and by season. Each item names the body that issues it so you can check at source.
### Start these first
Recognition of qualification (Anerkennung)
Required for *regulated* professions — and this matters more for Romania than for most corridors, because healthcare and construction trades are among the largest flows and many are regulated. Nurses (asistent medical), doctors, electricians and several trades need recognition before they can work at their level.
- Where: anerkennung-in-deutschland.de tells you whether your profession is regulated
- For academic degrees, ZAB issues a Zeugnisbewertung (statement of comparability), typically in the region of €200
- Typical time: allow several months from a complete application, longer for regulated medical roles which often involve a Land-level authority
- This is by far the longest item. Start it before you apply, not after you get an offer.
Apostille and certified translations
Romanian educational documents usually need an apostille before they are accepted abroad, obtained through the relevant Romanian authority for that document type, and then a translation by a sworn translator (vereidigter Übersetzer).
- Typical cost: apostille is a modest administrative fee; sworn translation is charged per page and varies widely
- Typical time: days to a few weeks, depending on the issuing office
- Ask which documents genuinely need a *certified* translation. Translating everything is a common and expensive mistake.
Criminal record certificate (cazier judiciar)
Asked for in healthcare, education, security, finance and work with children.
- Where: Romanian police, available online, and also through Romanian consulates if you are already abroad
- Typical cost: a small administrative fee
- Typical time: often days; the consular route takes longer
### Once you have the job
Anmeldung — registering your address. Legally required, generally within two weeks of moving in, at the local Bürgeramt. Nearly everything depends on it: the tax number, the bank account, health insurance administration.
- Cost: free. Time: the appointment is short, but getting one can take weeks in larger cities — book before you move if the city allows
- You need a Wohnungsgeberbestätigung from your landlord. Ask on day one.
Steuer-ID. Issued automatically after Anmeldung and posted to you. Without it you are taxed in the harshest bracket and reclaim later.
- Cost: free. Time: typically a couple of weeks by post.
Health insurance (Krankenversicherung). Mandatory; you choose a public insurer and they issue the confirmation your employer needs.
German bank account. Most banks want your Anmeldung confirmation first — which is why Anmeldung sits at the centre of everything.
Führungszeugnis. Some employers want the German police certificate once you are resident, in addition to the Romanian cazier.
- Typical cost: a small fixed fee, in the region of €13. Time: one to two weeks by post.
### The order that saves the most time
1. Check today whether your profession is regulated — it costs nothing
2. If it is, start Anerkennung immediately; it outlasts everything else
3. Get the apostille moving in parallel
4. Ask two referees while you are still employed
5. Apply
6. On accepting: book the Anmeldung appointment before you move
6. Two things that quietly cost interviews
Your notice period. Romanian law sets a minimum *preaviz*, and it is commonly longer for management roles than for other positions — check what your own contract says, because it can be longer than the legal minimum. German employers plan around a known start date and dislike learning about a delay late. Put it in the cover letter.
Your address. A Romanian address raises an unasked question about relocation. Answer it: one line saying you are relocating and available from a given date. If you already have a German address, use that instead.
What this does not change
None of this makes you a stronger candidate for a job you are not qualified for. It removes the friction that has nothing to do with your ability — the recognition started three months too late, the reference you could not have known to explain, the Europass template you were told to use.
Those are the things that cost people offers they had already earned.