Return ticket?

Mate, your info is well out of date, but don't worry, it's only good news.

Romania has been in the EU since 2007. This means there are no permits or visas required for another EU citizen (and as a Brit, you are one) to visit or even live in Romania. This means, practically, that you can turn up with your passport and enter the country and stay as long as you like. The 90-day rule expired back in 2006. You don't need a return ticket, you don't need to show where you are staying, absolutely zilch. You are entitled by law to come and go as freely as you want.

The only caveat to that is that if you do want to stay longer than three months, you have to register with the authorities. This is not a 'permit', so unless you're a wanted criminal or something you can't be refused, it's just a registration. It normally only takes a morning to sort out, and costs very little.

Anyway, you've got nothing to worry about regarding your visit.

Thanks mate... I have been mulling this over all night long, panicking about turning up at customs and then being turned away because i dont have a return ticket. I intend to live with my girlfriend, and see how that goes before deciding my next move, its all a bit crazy at the minute, but i have a feeling i will want to stay on a more permament basis with my partner.

I read so much about the 90 days stay thing, and as i said some sites were saying i need a return ticket along with travel documentation and sufficiant funds for those 90 days stay. The UK foriegn office website only says i need a passport that lasts longer than the intended stay (6 months) and that was all i could find there, same story on the Romanian equivliant, neither site actually mentioned this return ticket requirement, and because they are both government sites i then went ahead and booked a one way flight from the UK.

I have done too much thinking about it now. I have been told and assured by my Partner that i dont need that return ticket, but she will kill me if i am refused entry (big smile), what with Valentines day on the Monday too!

Its good to hear from a fellow Brit who is already in country!

How do you find Bucharest Maykal?

Hi Daz,

I know what you're going through. I moved here about seven years ago and it was impossible to find consistant information. People put stuff up on website and forums, but the requirements are constantly changing so you get so much conflicting information. Fortunately it's all pretty straightforward now for EU citizens wanting to live in another EU country so you'll have no worries. Relax and enjoy the trip. Bring some warm clothes, though, it's a bit chilly here at the moment!

Life in Bucharest is ok. It's not exactly the most fascinating city, to be honest, but if you want to live in Romania it's the best option in terms of work and opportunities, and it's not without its charms when you know where to look. It's improved a lot in recents years, too.

There is an area known locally at 'the old town', 'the historic centre' or 'Lipscani' where you find lots of bars and restaurant. It's still slowly (VERY slowly) being improved and restored, but it's a decent area to head to for nights out, especially when the weather gets better and you can sit outside.

Bucharest also has a lot of parks, some more ornamental (like 'Cismigiu' Park) and others more open, usually with a lake (like 'Herastrau' Park). Most of the main roads are lined by big ugly blocks of flats, and this gives you the impression that the whole city is one big urban development programme, but if you get behind them into the smaller streets you find that it's only one-block deep and there are a lot of interesting buildings to see.

There's not that much to do in Bucharest as a tourist. Romania's beauties are definitely located in the countryside, which is fantastic with old towns, castles, forests, mountains, and traditional villages. In Bucharest, you can visit a few museums, the People's Palace, and the Village Open Air Museum. None of them is particularly stunning, but most are probably worth a quick visit.

As for living here, I quite like it. The cost of living can be low, if you know where to shop and adapt to local standards (i.e. shopping for typically Romanian products in local markets, rather than buying imported stuff from up-market boutique stores). An all-lines monthly  pass for the public surface transport (buses, trams, trolley buses) only costs about a tenner. Compare that to a London one-month travel pass. Rent is reasonable, unless you want to live in a luxury expat pad in a fancy part of town. Nights out are cheap (again, if you avoid the pretentious places, which cost as much as in the west).

The people are nice when you make the effort to get to know them, especially the younger generation. They are perhaps a little reserved at first but you'll have an 'in' thanks to your girlfriend, so you should find getting to know them quite easy. You'll notice that the service in the shops and restaurants is a little 'gruff', let's say, until you work out which are the best places to go to, or just get used to it.

The language isn't too bad, much easier than other Eastern European languages because it's a latin language in origin so a lot of the words are recognizable, specially if you did a bit of French or Latin at school. The only thing that might set you back in learning it is that a lot of the people you'll be hanging out with will probably speak pretty good English, and that can make you lazy, necessity being a major driving force in language acquisition.

There's not such a big expat community in Bucharest (compared to other European capitals) but there are quite a few of us around. There are a few expat groups which meet up from time to time for drinks/food and other activities. There's the usually ubiquitous array of 'Oirish' pubs, where you usually find some expats hanging out.

If you were to consider living here for the long term, I think the biggest challenge would be to find work.

Finding work is a problem just about anywhere at the minute. My Girlfriend is a teacher by trade, so i am confident under her guidence even i will be able to learn enough Romanian to get me by at first, long term i would look for employment, possibly working for myself, i am a landscape gardener by trade at home, so i would be interested in plying that trade in Romania, either for myself or within a company.

I am not one for just sitting around not doing alot, so i can see us spending plenty of time in the countryside, taking in the scenary and enjoying long walks. Ana, is a resident of Bucharest so she knows it well obviously, i atleast have a head start with her by my side, i can learn so much from her.

Long term finding a job is a must if i do stay obviously.

To be honest, I've always thought that there was a niche for landscaping in Romania. Obviously most people in the capital live in blocks, so not much need for it there, but there is a developing middle class who are buying and building villas on the outskirts of Bucharest. They spend a lot of money on the house itself, but for the garden they generally just have a stretch of hard standing for their cars, a BBQ area, and then turf the rest with the odd tree/bush randomly spotted around.

I knew some guys who built on some land in the north of town, two three-floor blocks with an apartment on each floor on a plot of land about 3000m2. They paid 10'000 Euro just for the design of the garden (no labour or material, literally just the plans), and to be honest the design wasn't awfully good.

A lot of people are also currently inheriting their grandparents' houses in the countryside and turning them into summer houses and weekend retreats. The grandparents mostly used the land as a smallholding, whereas the kids are more interested in turning them into leisure/ornamental gardens.

Hi Grantham.
Makyal is giving you some good advice and hes dead right about life here ,we moved here from Qatar in the gulf and have been here 6 months and intend staying a long time,my wife is also a teacher (at one of the International Schools)and I am a retired sloth so Ive had plenty of time to look around Bucharest is indeed a lot nicer than it first looks (its a bit crumbly)but its a better place to live than the Gulf for start you can get a beer without having to drive 50 miles first lol,also on the 3 month thing Maykals again right this is the EU so you can live and work where you like and its dead cheap here as well,one thing
though watch out when you get here ,thier are few dodgy Brits who offer totally useless so called business and property settling in services they tell you all sorts of scare stories about getting things done here and tell you for only a few hundred Euros how they will sort it all out for you,its all bollocks,they are con men and Im ashamed to say Brits mostly,coincedently my stepson is also a landscape gardener (hes got a chain saw licence and everything lol)so Ive looked into it and like Maykal also think there is a niche here,good luck.

Hi, agian. I am now living in Bucharest, and things are working out very well, i had no issues with coming in on my one way ticket, so thanks to maykal for putting my mind at rest with that.

I really need to knuckle down and learn Romanian, i spent the day with my partners uncle in Giorgio today, he speaks no English and i was a bit tired of trying to understand everything he says, so i gave up, and went to sleep, ofcourse that got me in trouble with the misses. From what i have seen of Bucharest so far its not bad at all, i live in sector 5, i forget the street, i have only been here three weeks and i cant remember or pronounce the name yet, but i can now find it when i come back from a walk, or if i dont wander too far off in the car.

With regards to working, i am not sure what to do yet, i will probably end up taking some kind of driving job, once i have made a better effort at learning the language, which i must do.

I am looking though for an English speaking expat pub, or something where people like me meet up, it would be good to have a conversation with people who are in a similar situation to me, and to speak with them and hear there good advise.

I have not done too much exploring of the wider city yet, next week we are going back to england for a week, see family, sort my paperwork out etc etc, then its back home here, Ana wil return to work, and i must learn Romanian and keep myself busy during the day time.

The White Horse pub near Dorabanti is ok,Whispers is supposed to be the English pub but watch out for people trying to sell you so called settling services or finacial pension plans in there.

Hi Daz,

Glad you're enjoying it so far. The language isn't too difficult if you make the effort. I used 'Teach Yourself Romanian' when I first got here and it helped get me started, but I basically just picked it up as I went along and got to the point where I could do all the basic day-to-day things without help within about a year or so. You could do it a lot quicker if you made a more concerted effort. One problem is that as you've got an English-speaking girlfriend, you'll be tempted to get lazy and let her do all the talking for you, so try to put yourself into situation (alone) where you need to talk Romanian without help or insist that she let you order in restaurants and bars and only jumps in if you get into real difficulty.

Incidently, I've got a book called 'Romanian - An essential grammar' in pdf format. I've not used it but it might be of some use to you. It's quite grammar-intensive (as the name suggests) and probably not as good as the more learner-friendly 'Teach Yourself' book, but I'll happily send it to you if you PM me with an e-mail address. It'll give you a start in the language at least. There's no substitute for exposure and practice, though.

Regarding expat places, in addition to the ones Tommideast mentioned, there are quite a few 'Oirish' pubs in town; The Harp on Unirii, The Dubliner on Titulescu, and a few more here and there in the old town (Lipscani, near Unirii). Most of them have a few expats propping up the bar.

If you do a search on the net for 'meetups' (would post the link, but I guess it's not allowed as it's a kind of 'rival' site) there is a site which organizes meet ups for people, and there are a couple of expat groups for Bucharest who organize events, drinks evenings, and that kind of thing. Never been on one personally, but I suppose they could be useful for initially getting to know people.

By the way, if you're planning to stay here permanantly, and applying for a certificate of residence, make sure you bring back your documents to prove you've been paying into the UK health care system. I didn't have mine and ended up paying a load of backdated payments into the Romanian NHS contribution system. Shouldn't be a problem as you've only just arrived here (I'd already been here 3 years) but the generally rule here is to take every document you can think of just in case!

Work-wise, until you get to grips with the language, you could offer some English conversation practice. There are lots of people here would would happily pay for the chance of some corrected practice in English from a native speaker. Obviously without the proper training you couldn't offer more grammatical lessons or exam prep, but I still reckon you could get a few hours a week of conversation classes and earn a bit of cash in hand.

All the best

Hi. Not sure if you have traveled to Romania yet. You do not need a return ticket to enter Romania. You can just buy one way ticket, is enough. They won't ask you anything at the airport. Have a god journey. Mihaela

Hi Mihaela i did travel to Romania on my one way ticket with no problems at all, i travelled a month ago now, since then i have been back to England for a week to tie up some paperwork and see my family.

Today though we returned to Bucharest, this is now home, and i am pleased to be back. I will be staying for good now, so its time for some Romanian language learning. My wife to be is not willing to help me as much as i had hoped with that, she seems to think i must learn by myself, and she will speak Romanian more often to me, which is not a bad thing i suppose, i wont understand why i am in trouble then

Hi. I am glad that you like it there. Your wife to be is right. You learn as you hear, speak the language.That's how I learned English here in the UK. Conversation is the best way to learn the language, also reading kids story, you know like the bed story here in the UK. You are lucky to have better summers in Romania then the one in the UK. I miss summers in Romania.Is it that not funny, that we Romanians wants to leave Romania and British or other nationalities wants to live in Romania? Enjoy as much as possible and easy learning of the language. Perhaps reading the school manuals will help you too or buy easy crosswords for kids maybe All the best and why not we keep in touch. Mihaela

Also, just an idea and I think it will be fun for you as well, try to go to a nursery or elementary school just few days a week to listen to the kids. Now they do learn English from a very young age but you could learn Romanian with them and you could teach them English. Romanians are open to new, especial to learning a better English, I am sure you will be confirmed this fact by your girlfriend(wife to be) as you call her.

Ana (wife to be) is infact a School teacher, Kindergarden, she has been helping me learn, as has her nephew Robert, but i think Ana is getting clued up with the fact i am a little lazy, they are now speaking Romanian around me, and i need to learn more so i know what they are saying about me

That said i am trying to teach Robert a bit more English, and i do have a childrens book called 'Primul meu dictionar englez-roman' Its basic, but its a good start i think.

That's cool. What about going shopping? Ask Ana to give you a list of shopping with phrase, like a conversation guide. Lazy is not good.... You have to learn Romanian before your wedding day you must know what they are going to tell you at the Civil Registration Office...:)Did you find a job yet? Sorry, I just read your previous questions and I just remember to ask you, I hope you do not mind? Take care. Speak to you soon.

I am not actively looking for a job just yet, I cant work anyway, officially i am not a resident yet, in the process of going through all that, so for the time being i am a man of leisure, but not for long i hope, its boring. Got lots of things to do in the garden at home, but that wont take me long, i hope to get one or two little jobs i can do self employed at some point, i am a landscape gardener by trade, so something along those lines will be ideal for me when i have learnt enough Romanian to get me by.

I dont mind you asking me questions, Mihaela, i wont post anything too personal on this public thread, but i have no problem with chatting away, its good to have people in a similar situation to mine, thats why i joined up on this site.

Hi. I am glad you are answering to me. I wont ask personal questions my self either. However, I know you are not a resident yet but have you tried the UK Embassy in Romania, Bucharest for any kind of job? They could be supportive to you as a British National, they are helpful here in the UK to us, foreign people I do not see why I question will bother them. Just an idea... I did received help in your country from anybody I have asked for help you see....I should perhaps emailing to you rather the writing on this forum, shall I? Considering you are 2 hours ahead as time from UK, how did you adapted to this in Romania? Speak to you next time. All the best