Romania

This is the editors' opinion, not an extract from a document. We keep it apart from verified figures on purpose — so that one cannot be mistaken for the other.

• Opinion

  In Romanian recognition the bottleneck is not the fee but the opening hours and the letter's deadline

  The fee for the procedure there is nominal, which is precisely why it is easily mistaken for a measure of difficulty. The real cost lies elsewhere: the recognition centre's reception window is narrow and falls within weekday working hours, and the letter of acceptance is issued within a period counted in working days from receipt of a complete file. We advise planning the trip and the submission around those two deadlines rather than the size of the fee: money is not the bottleneck here, the calendar is.

  Rests on:Cnred working hoursScrisoare 30 working daysCnred fee

• Opinion

  The Romanian state competition runs on its own calendar, not the university's

  The foreign ministry competition has its own submission window and its own results date, and they do not coincide with the universities' admission campaign. The programme covers more than tuition, while the language of instruction at the first levels is Romanian, with a preparatory year. We advise deciding about the competition before deciding about the university: choosing a programme and then learning that its language does not fit the scholarship's terms means choosing again — but by then without time.

  Rests on:Mfa deadline 2026 27Mfa romanian onlyMfa scholarship covers

• Opinion

  In Romania the visa window opens with the acceptance letter, not with your paperwork being ready

  The count for filing a visa runs from the date of the acceptance letter, which is not the same as «when I have the folder together»: the clock starts without your involvement, and everything is inside it — translation, appointment, travel. The deadline for the permit after entry is built differently and counts backwards from the visa's end. We advise putting both dates in the calendar on the day the letter arrives: two deadlines with different mechanics in one country are the commonest way to be late while formally breaking nothing.

  Rests on:Visa apply deadlineResidence permit deadline

Some answers are not on this page and cannot be: recognition of your certificate and the apostille are done at home, while the visa code, processing deadlines and Erasmus+ are the same in all five countries.