Learn more about your accommodation options once you apply for asylum in Romania.
Depending on your financial resources and on where you entered Romania from, you have the option of being accommodated in a Regional Centre for Asylum Seekers or you can stay where you choose, as long as you are near the place where your asylum application is being processed.
Where can I stay while I am an asylum-seeker in Romania?
If you do not have financial resources or if the authorities decide, you can be accommodated in one of the Regional Centres for Accommodation and Procedures for Asylum-Seekers. You will first be accommodated at the nearest Regional Centre (you may hear other people referring to it as camp or reception centre). See the map with all the Regional Centres here.
Can I choose the Center in which I would like to stay?
You cannot choose the centre where you would like to stay. This is because Romania distributes asylum-seekers between all regional centres to ensure that asylum applications can be processed as quickly as possible. It is therefore possible that soon after arrival you are moved to another centre within Romania, in a different city and region. Several non-governmental organizations (NGO, or ONG in Romanian) are working in each centre and can provide you with information, counselling and assistance.
Can I move around between different cities?
The Regional Centre to which you have been assigned is the only one responsible for analysing your asylum application, for providing you the monthly financial assistance and accommodation. If you move to another region by yourself, you will have to return to the centre you have been assigned to.
Is it mandatory to stay in the Regional Centre during the asylum procedure?
If you have enough money and you can afford the costs, you can stay outside the centre, in the area where you have been appointed.
Pay attention: you need to prove that you are legally staying there, by completing a contract with the owner of the apartment/hotel.You just have to ask for a contract from the owner/hotel. You can see an example of a contract here.
See the other sections about your “Rights & Obligations” as an asylum-seeker, and about “Living in a Regional Centre”