Romania

The temporary protection is granted for a period of one year and can be automatically extended for periods of 6 months, for a maximum of one year, if the need for it persists.

If you decide to stay and benefit from the temporary protection in Romania, you can receive your permit by contacting the authorities available at the temporary accommodation and humanitarian support camps or the centres of the General Inspectorate for Immigrations, listed here.

Rights as a beneficiary of the temporary protection:

1. to be provided with a document granting permission to remain on the territory of Romania;
2. to be informed of the provisions relating to temporary protection (in writing, in a language which the applicant can understand);
3. to be employed, to carry out independent activities (respecting the rules applicable to the profession), as well as educational opportunities for adults, vocational training and practical work experience, in accordance with the law;
4. to benefit, on request, from the necessary assistance for maintenance, in case they do not have the necessary material means;
5. to receive adequate medical assistance if the applicant has special needs;
6. to have access to the state education system under the conditions provided by law for Romanian citizens, in case the applicant has not reached the age of 18.

If you or a member of your family have fled from Ukraine on or after 24 February 2022, have stayed in Romania for at least 7 days and are in need of economic assistance to meet your basic needs, please use this form to schedule an appointment (UNHCR Cash Program).

Within the temporary accommodation and humanitarian assistance camps, or in other accommodation locations established by the county/municipality committees of Bucharest for emergency situations, you will have access to the following during the period of temporary accommodation:

1. food;
2. clothing;
3. personal hygiene products;
4. primary health care and appropriate treatment, emergency medical care, as well as free medical care and treatment in cases of acute or chronic life-threatening diseases, through the national healthcare system;
5. the right to be included in the national public health programs aimed at the prevention, surveillance and control of contagious diseases, in situations of epidemiological risk.

If you need any kind of resources, food, products, or clothing, you can register your request on https://sprijindeurgenta.ro/.

Like Romanian citizens, foreign nationals, or stateless individuals who come from the region of armed conflict in Ukraine, can receive medical supplies, medicines, medical devices, and medical services that are part of the national curative health programs. This does not require making contributions to the social health insurance system or paying a personal contribution for the medicines provided during outpatient treatment.

Medical services in specialised outpatient health care are provided without a referral from the doctor (form used in the social health insurance system).

If you need specialised medical assistance, or you suffer from a rare or chronic condition, there are clinics that support people in vulnerable situations or who need emergency medical care, such as Sanador (see clinics in Bucharest here), Medicover (supports the Ukrainian refugee mothers with free paediatric consultations and pregnancy monitoring - see clinics here). In order to access the medical services you need as quickly and easily as possible, Medicover provides a unique number from which refugee women in Ukraine can obtain information: +4021 796 7391 (answered by a Ukrainian-speaking operator and five English-speaking operators).

Currently there is no financial support for renting a home.

As a response to the emergency, six refugee centres have been set up in the country. They are located in Timisoara, Maramures, Suceava, Giurgiu, Tulcea and Bucharest. The Romanian government accommodates mothers with children from Ukraine free of charge. Meals are provided free of charge until the situation is resolved. On the official website you can learn more about the rules of assistance to Ukrainian refugees.

Early education, primary and secondary schools

Ukrainian children benefit from the right to education in Romanian schools under the same conditions as Romanians.
Rights:

• free accommodation in boarding schools;
• allocation of food provided through ongoing social programmes;
• free resources (supplies, clothing, footwear, textbooks);
• health examination in schools and free vaccinations;
• free transport for orphaned students, students with special educational needs, and those with a special protection measure;
• free Romanian language courses.

Higher Education

Students who are Ukrainian citizens can continue their studies in Romania under the same conditions as Romanian citizens, regardless of whether or not they have documents confirming their studies in Ukraine. Doctoral students will have to present the diplomas that allowed him/her access to the study cycle in which he/she was enrolled to the higher education institution in Romania, before completing their studies.

To pay the tuition fee, Ukrainian citizens can benefit from the Romanian state funding.
Procedure: Students will submit a written request to the University they wish to enrol in. The university will evaluate the application according to its own regulations, and in case of a positive answer, it will issue a letter of acceptance of academic mobility.

More information can be found on the Ministry of Education website.

People fleeing from Ukraine can use CFR trains and STB shuttle buses free of charge with a "Help Ukraine Ticket". Ukrainian refugees can use Romfour shuttle buses from station to station free of charge. Romfour organises bus transport to Italy and other European destinations. Foreign citizens coming from Ukraine can travel for free inside Romania with CFR Călători. Also, as a refugee, you can leave Romania and go to Hungary for free. CFR Călători will issue the free ticket towards the border, and the conductor MAV, and further on the Hungarian territory to Budapest or to the next border.

Ukrainians fleeing the war can work without having a job permit and there is no need to obtain a visa to get a job. If you want to work in a field in which you have experience or for which you have studied and do not have the necessary documents (diplomas, certifications, attestations), you will have to give a statement claiming that you have had training or experience in the field (one of the requirements is not to have unspent criminal convictions). This declaration is valid for 12 months, but can be extended for 6 months or 1 year, during which you will have all the rights and obligations provided by the labour law. If you have studied medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, architecture or any liberal profession and you want to work in Romania, you must have the necessary documents. Ukrainian citizens who arrived in Romania due to the armed conflict can also benefit from measures to stimulate employment, as well as protection within the unemployment insurance system, under the conditions provided by law for Romanian citizens. See here the free services offered by ANOFM (National Agency for Employment).

LGBT+ people in Romania may face legal challenges and discrimination not experienced by non-LGBT+ residents. Attitudes in Romania are generally conservative, with regard to the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender citizens. Although the country has made significant changes in LGBT rights legislations, in 2022 ILGA-Europe ranked Romania 26th out of 27 EU countries for LGBT rights protection, after all EU countries except Poland.
Romania is among the countries of the European Union that do not recognise any form of civil union between people of the same sex. The Constitution of Romania defines the family as a freely consented marriage between spouses, without specifying their gender. Despite this, legislation in effect leaves no room for interpretation for representatives of marital status: marriage can only be the union of one man and one woman, and a same-sex couple cannot legally receive state protection as a family.

There is no recognition of the non-biological parent in same-sex couples in the country.
The law on the procedure of adoption in Romania does not stipulate the heterosexuality of the adopter as a condition, so, under the domestic laws, a homosexual can claim to adopt a child. On the other hand, Romania does not have access to joint adoption and adoption by the second parent.
It is legal for single women, including lesbians, to access means of assisted insemination, such as IVF.

Since 1996, it has been possible for someone who has gone through sex reassignment surgery to legally change their sex in their official documents.  However, the law governing the ability of transgender people to change their identity is vague and incomplete, resulting in inconsistencies in judicial practice. In some cases, authorities denied recognition of a change of identity unless a sex-reassignment intervention had occurred. Because of the difficult legal procedure for gender recognition, it is often impossible for transgender people to get documents reflecting their gender identity, which leads to difficulties in all services requiring identity documents (health care, transportation passes, banking services).

The law on civil registration data and the law on the procedures for identification documents offer indirect guidance on the procedure for sex change and for changes to names and identification data. Changing civil status requires a court decision based, in practice, on a certificate issued by the Institutul Național de Medicină Legală (National Institute for Legal Medicine) following an intrusive and arbitrary procedure that was developed ad hoc to fill a legal vacuum.

If you are coming from Ukraine and need safe, reliable information on access to the territory, services available, rights and obligations, as well as the application of the Temporary Protection Directive and accessing asylum in Romania, please visit: https://dopomoha.ro/uk

LGBT+ ORGANISATIONS HELPING UKRAINIANS FLEEING THE WAR

The ACCEPT Association (LGBTQIA + NGO in Romania) is helping Ukrainian refugees with:
- Relocation support
- Transport to Bucharest from the border with Romania
- Accommodation in a shelter for LGBTQIA+ people and additional LGBTQIA+ friendly accommodation.
- Food and other necessary items such as clothes, medicines, personal care products, baby products, etc.
- Free Legal counselling
- Free Psychological counselling

You can contact them at the phone number +40 770 613 630 (Romanian & English) or you can write them an email at help@acceptromania.ro (Romania, English and Ukrainian). You can also write to them on WhatsApp and Telegram on this phone number (+40 770 613 630).

LESBIAN ORGANISATIONS

Queer sisterhood Cluj is located in the city of Cluj (Transylvania) and provides humanitarian support in Ukraine and to refugees.
CONTACTS

GENERAL ORGANISATIONS HELPING UKRAINIANS FLEEING THE WAR

Romanian National Council for Refugees (CNRR)
Services: information, legal counseling
Email: office@cnrr.ro
Hotline: (004) 0730073170
Phone: (004) 0213126210

UNHCR Romania
Office Phone: +40 21 201 7873 (Monday-Friday: 9:00-17:30)
Hotline: +40 723 653 651 (available 24/7)
Email: rombu@unhcr.org

Ukrainian pets can come to Romania without a microchip, vaccine, or passport. All pets are allowed. After entering Romania, the owner or person in charge must fill in a form that can be downloaded from the ANSVSA web portal.