Can Romanian Citizens Qualify For The EB-1C Visa?

If you’re a manager or executive in Romania, would that title alone qualify you for a U.S. green card through the EB-1C visa? Not on its own, but if your day-to-day duties support it, the EB-1C visa for Romanian citizens is built for exactly that profile: executives and managers already working at a multinational company, transferring into a similar role at a U.S. affiliate without labor certification or an annual lottery. It also lets a spouse and children apply for permanent residence at the same time. The rest of this article covers who qualifies, what tends to trip up Romanian applicants, and how to build a stronger case.

How Does the EB-1C Visa Work for Romanian Citizens?

The EB-1C visa for Romanian citizens is a green card category for executives and managers transferring to a U.S. parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate of their Romanian employer. USCIS evaluates your role and the corporate relationship between the two companies rather than testing the U.S. labor market, which is why it moves faster than EB-2 or EB-3 in most cases.

What’s Different About an EB-1C Case Built From Romania?

The legal standard is the same everywhere, but a Romanian employer’s paperwork often needs extra steps before USCIS will accept it:

• Certified translations. Employment contracts, trade registry extracts, and board resolutions in Romanian need certified English translations before they go into the petition.
• Trade registry documents. Romanian companies prove ownership and structure through Oficiul Național al Registrului Comerțului (ONRC) filings rather than U.S.-style stock certificates, and these must be mapped to what USCIS expects in a corporate relationship exhibit.
• Common sectors. IT and software services, automotive components, energy, and manufacturing account for a large share of Romania-to-U.S. executive transfers, and each tends to structure management differently, which affects how the role gets documented.
• Consular processing in Bucharest. If you’re applying from Romania rather than adjusting status inside the U.S., you’ll go through the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, which has its own document checklist and interview scheduling timeline.

Quick Eligibility Snapshot

Before gathering documents, confirm you can check these boxes:

• Worked abroad in a managerial or executive capacity for at least one continuous year in the past three years
• Transferring to a similar managerial or executive role in the U.S.
• Employer has a documented parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate relationship with the Romanian company

If any of these feels uncertain, get a read on your situation before you invest time in paperwork. Request a free evaluation and we’ll tell you where you stand.

A Romanian Executive’s Path to an EB-1C Green Card

Here’s a scenario that reflects a pattern we see often among Romanian applicants.

A project director at a Bucharest-based renewable energy company was asked to lead a new solar project office in Texas. His role and title weren’t in question. The complication was corporate: his employer had recently been acquired by a European holding company, which changed the ownership chain between the Romanian entity and its U.S. affiliate right before filing. Without addressing that shift directly, USCIS would have had no way to confirm the qualifying relationship still existed.

The petition succeeded once the employer clearly documented the acquisition: updated ONRC filings showing the new ownership structure, a corporate timeline explaining when control changed hands, and confirmation that the U.S. affiliate remained part of the same corporate group throughout. The lesson for other Romanian applicants: a recent merger, acquisition, or reorganization doesn’t disqualify you, but it does need to be explained and documented, not left for USCIS to piece together.

Would L-1A or EB2-NIW Fit Better Than EB-1C?

A few alternatives are worth ruling out before committing to EB1-C:

• L-1A visa. A temporary intracompany transfer visa, often used first before converting to EB1-C once the U.S. office is established.
• H-1B visa. Runs on an annual lottery and suits specialty occupations more than executive transfers.
• EB-2 NIW. Works for professionals with advanced degrees or exceptional ability, but it’s typically a slower fit for managers and executives specifically.

If you’re already running a managerial or executive function at a Romanian company with a U.S. affiliate, EB1-C usually remains the more direct route. Want to compare other employment-based options side by side? Browse our visa guide library for a breakdown of each.

How Robinson Immigration Law Helps Romanian Citizens

We work with Romanian executives and their employers on the parts of an EB-1C case that most often cause delays: getting ONRC trade registry records translated and formatted the way USCIS expects, documenting corporate changes like mergers or acquisitions that affect the qualifying relationship, and coordinating consular processing through the U.S. Embassy in Bucharest when adjustment of status isn’t an option.

We also review your case for the inconsistencies that most often trigger a Request for Evidence, such as mismatched titles, outdated org charts, or unclear reporting lines, before they become a problem.

FAQs About EB-1C For Romanian Citizens

Conclusion

The EB-1C visa for Romanian citizens remains one of the fastest green card routes available to multinational executives, but approval depends on how well your paperwork matches your actual role and your company’s current structure, not just your job title. If you’re leading a team in Romania and eyeing a transfer to a U.S. office, it’s worth getting that reviewed before you file.