Romania Visa for Indians – All the best!

This post is both – a How-To, and a Story-of-Whimsy. To make for easy reading, I’ll start by getting the How-To out of the way first. As you read on, you’ll also realise why the post is titled ‘Romania Visa for Indians – All the best!’

As an Indian, if you have an invitation from a Romanian Company/Organisation for purposes other than business, you need to apply for a C/ZA Visa (‘Cultural, Scientific, and Humanitarian Activities’ Visa).

Romanian Visa Application Process for Indians

1

Fill the Visa Application Form online at https://evisa.mae.ro/home

2

When you are filling the online Application Form, you’ll need to have the following available to you for uploading at various stages when you are filling the form:

a

A PDF/JPG scan of the 3 relevant pages of your passport (the pages that have your personal information and the page with passport authority’s seal) 

b

A JPG of your recent 3×4 cm Passport Size photograph shot against a light/white background (file size <2 MB) 

c

A PDF/JPG of the invitation letter from a Romanian Company/Organisation 

d

A PDF/JPG of your return air ticket 

e

A PDF/JPG of your Travel Insurance (must be valid for at least ONE DAY after the date of your return flight) 

f

A scan of a valid US/UK Visa (if your passport has it). Please Note if you already have a valid Multiple Entry Schengen Visa, you do not need a Romanian Visa to visit Romania. 

g

Your 3-month bank statement that shows available funds @€50 per day of stay in Romania. For example, if you plan on staying in Romania for a period of 10 days, your bank account must show €50 x 10 days.= €500 in your account. To know about the relevant conversion rate, head over to the Romanian Embassy. It determines the value of Euro on the 1st of every month. 
Caveat: This bank statement must not be older than two calendar days from the date of the physical application submission.

3

Before you press ‘Submit’, you must press ‘Print’ to save a PDF of your Application Form (You’ll need it for physically submitting it to the Romanian Embassy). After you have saved the PDF, press ‘Submit’.

4

Upon online submission, you’ll get an email on the email address you provided in the online application. This email will provide you with a link to download your application form as well as all the supporting documents you submitted.

5

Get printouts of all the above-listed documents as well as 2 passport size photographs (3×4 cm) against a light/white background.

6

Go across to the Romanian Embassy for physical submission of the form. Currently, the form submission may be made between 10 am and 12 noon on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. The submission timing for Wednesday is between 1.30 pm and 3.30 pm.

7

Once at Romanian Embassy, ensure that your Bank Statement is NOT OLDER than 2 days prior to the submission date, it has sufficient funds as per 2g above, and it is signed and sealed by the bank.

8

Additionally, ensure that your Travel Insurance is also signed and sealed by your Insurance Company, and it is valid in accordance with 2e above.

9

While the submission timing is between 10 am and 12 noon on most days (except Wednesday – see 6 above), if you reach any later than 9 am, you may not be able to get inside the Embassy for submitting your application as people queue up long before the submission time. Even if you reach at 9 am, there is no guarantee you’d be able to make the submission the same day. All the same, being early would help you secure a place in the list that gets made every morning to allot a sequence number for submission.

10

You may have to make 2-3 trips to the Embassy and be there for the entire duration from 9 am to 12 noon so you may get yourself penciled in for the next day’s list. You’ll realise that working your way up the list will be an adrenaline-pumping experience. Embassy takes in just about 6-7 people every day for submission of the physical form. More about it in my Story of Whimsy later.

11

After you’ve successfully managed to submit the form, the Embassy may take anything up to 14 days to decide your application.

The Story of Whimsy

This story is about my real-life experience of applying for Romania Visa.

I applied, got selected, and was invited by Travel Massive Bucharest for their 2018 Fall edition of Experience Bucharest/Romania initiative. Here, it may be relevant to point out that Experience Bucharest/Romania is a non-profit, volunteer-funded initiative by travel enthusiasts from Romania. Under this initiative, they invite travel photographers, writers, and bloggers from across the globe to Romania to promote tourism. So, in effect, it is a non-governmental initiative.

The VFS Global Fiasco

Before applying for Romania Visa, I had called up VFS Global helpline (+91-22-67866038) to check about the application process. They said I’d have to physically go across to VFS Global office in Delhi to apply. I asked the helpline agent whether I could submit the application in VFS Global Gurgaon Office. The agent insisted the application must only be submitted in VFS Global Delhi. I visited the VFS Global website, ascertained the documents I’d need for my application, checked the Visa and VFS Service Fee, and started preparing for my application.

I downloaded the form and diligently filled it (as was mentioned on the VFS Global website). After having armed myself with the necessary paperwork (air ticket, invitation letter, travel insurance, bank statement, etc.), I went across to VFS GlobalDelhi Office. Upon enquiring there, I was told they do not accept applications for Romania Visa. When I mentioned that their website clearly states that the applicant needs to visit a VFS Global Store to apply, besides mentioning the documentation and fee etc., they wanted to see the website page that provided this information. I showed them the details on http://services.vfsglobal.com/india/Romania-index.html.This page has now been removed from their site, though you may see the screengrab of the page above.

They dilly-ed and they dally-ed. But after wasting 45 minutes, they finally refused to accept the application. So, I headed off to Romanian Embassy.

4 Days at the Romanian Embassy

Day 1 (Tuesday, 16th October 2018):

I reached the Embassy at 12.45 pm. It was a Tuesday. Once there, I was told the submission had closed for the day. I was asked to come next afternoon as the submission timings for Wednesdays are in the afternoon.

Day 2 (Wednesday, 17th October 2018):

Though the submissions were to begin at 1.30 pm, I was there at 12.30 pm. Upon checking, I was told there were 19 people ahead of me. After penciling in my name, I proceeded to wait. Once the Embassy gates opened for submissions, I realised a slew of travel agents preceded me in the submissions queue, each agent armed with 5-15 forms.

These knowledgeable folks told me my turn will not come. So, I asked whether I could get my name into the list for the next day and leave. It amused me when I was told that to get my name on next day’s list, I’ll have to wait till 3.30 pm. That is when the people who have already gone inside the Embassy will return. Those who were in but hadn’t managed submission that day would be the first ones on the next day’s list. Left with no option, I waited till 3.30 pm and got my name penciled in at #12 in the next day’s list. During this long wait, I also realised I needed to fill the online form as a printout of a non-online format will not be accepted by the agency! I had not come across this bit of information during all my research.

While we were waiting outside, all the travel agents were constantly remembering the good old times before the current Visa Officer by the name Mihai Secere came in. During those days, the earlier Visa Officer would collect all the forms from all the people in the queue and would scrutinise them later during the day. If any form had a document missing, the Visa Officer used to call the travel agents and would seek the necessary document. Submissions used to be easy those days as everyone’s form would be accepted on the spot!

Day 3 (Thursday, 18th October 2018):

I knew the futility of my visit to the Embassy the next day. Still, I had no choice but to go and wait from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm just to get my name entered on the list. But thankfully, I got inside the Embassy and waited inside in a room akin to a hospital waiting room. I even had the printout of my duly-filled online Application Form.

As expected, I could not submit the form that day. I stepped out and again got my name penciled in. I was finally #1 on the following day’s list.

During my long wait in the waiting room, the travel agent fraternity waiting there shared more nuggets of information – each more surprising than the other.

They mentioned that a Romanian Visa will not be granted if you don’t have either a valid US or UK Visa on your passport.

I was also told about the senselessness of the ‘bank-statement-not-older-than-2-days’ rule. They told me about a person who had bought a Rs.40,000 Kathmandu-Delhi-Kathmandu air ticket just to submit his Romania Visa Application (Nepal residents also have to submit their applications at Romanian Embassy in Delhi as Romania doesn’t have an embassy in Nepal).

He carried his bank statement. But by the time his turn for submission came (after a few days of futile wait outside the Embassy), the bank statement had become older than 2 days. Expectedly, the Visa Officer, Mihai Secere, refused to accept the Application.

Day 4 (Friday, 19th October 2018):

This is the day I was ushered in. It was Dussehra, but the Romanian Embassy holidays list did not include Dussehra. I waited in the same waiting room and finally got my turn to submit the form to the Visa Officer.

The Visa Officer (Mihai Secere) took about 20 minutes to minutely go over my form and annexures. He extensively questioned me about my reason to visit Romania. He also suspiciously glared at me a number of times doubting my bona fide, my application form entries, the supporting documents, my valid 10-year US visa, the numerous other visas in my passport, the Visa Gratis issued by Cyprus Embassy, and more.

This struck me as quite odd, given that I travel extensively, and therefore have applied for my fair share of visas. Also, I travel to make destinations desirable and visa officers have never raised objections with any of these documents before. In fact, they have been happy to have me promoting their countries to the Indian audience.

Many-a-scrutiny later, the Visa Officer asked me if my invitation letter was an original. I mentioned that it was a scan I had received in an email. His next question was tell-tale. He asked if I wanted to submit the application as is. I nodded in affirmative.

I was left with a feeling that I was being interrogated in a remand centre (No, I don’t have an experience of that, but yes, I have seen many TV shows that depict the experience).

By then, I had a strong hunch he’d decided he’ll reject my application.

Day 9 (Wednesday, 24th October 2018):

Despite my application having ticked all the requisite check boxes (Travel Insurance duly stamped, Return Ticket, Hotel Booking, less than 2-day old bank statement, Invitation Letter, a valid US Visa, having made trips to around 15 other Schengen Countries in the past, etc.), Mihai Secere refused me Romania Visa. And he almost took sadistic pleasure in telling me so.

My two brief interactions with the Visa Officer Mihai Secere left me wondering if he was a white supremacist. I also wondered if Romania Embassy has deliberately chosen the current Application Form Submission process just to discourage Indian Tourists from visiting Romania. It also struck me that perhaps this process could be the reason why VFS Global doesn’t offer the Romania Visa service anymore. I was also left pondering whether the sincere efforts to promote tourism to Romania by Experience Bucharest/Romania teams are even worth it if the Mihai Seceres of the world are going to run these efforts aground purely on a whimsy.

Net-net, I did not get the Romania Visa and in the process I lost some money (ticket cancellation, travel insurance, Visa fee, etc.) and a lot of time. But that’s not an issue. The actual issue is the India-Romania relationship. Is the Indian Ministry of External Affairs even cognizant of the treatment currently meted out by the Romanian Embassy to Indian Citizens desirous of visiting Romania?

In Conclusion

I would urge Experience Bucharest/Experience Romania people to take up this issue with their own Ministry of External Affairs. And I would urge the Indian Ministry of External Affairs to look into the current unfriendly Visa Application process of Romania Embassy. If nothing else, this needs to be taken up to provide clarity to the Indian citizens whether Romania wants to welcome tourists from India or not.

Aftermath

Following my post, Romanian Media made a lot of noise about the arbitrariness of their External Affairs Ministry and their embassy staffers. The links to those stories are:

1. Profit.ro
2. Adevarul.ro
3. Flux24.ro
4. Libertatea.ro (Freedom)
5. Stiripesurse.ro
6. Radu-tudor.ro
7. Antena3.ro
8. B1.ro
9. Stiribuc.ro

Romanian Ministry of External Affairs responded to their media (specifically to libertatea.ro) as follows:

UPDATE. In a press release to  Freedom, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that “the foreign citizen concerned presented himself at the Embassy of Romania in New Delhi to apply for a short-stay visa for cultural, scientific, humanitarian, short-term medical treatment or other activities that do not contravene Romanian law (symbol C / ZA). 

The application was received by the representative of the diplomatic mission on October 19, 2018. After checking the documents submitted, the consul conducted the consular interview and sent the request for approval to the competent authorities of Romania.  

The request was refused because the applicant was unable to present one of the supporting documents provided by the law (in this case the invitation), did not answer the questions asked during the consular interview and did not know any details about Romania or the event to which he was invited “. 

My response on libertatea.ro site to the Romanian ministry’s update is as follows:

Hi! I am Ajay Sood, the person who was refused visa by the Romanian Embassy in India. And I am furnishing my response to the update provided by the Romanian Ministry of External Affairs. My response is as under:

‘I am surprised by the half-truths offered by the Ministry as a lame explanation to their arbitrary behaviour and inefficiencies. I had the invitation – though it was a scan of the invitation sent by the organisers (Travel Massive, Bucharest) inviting me for ‘Experience Bucharest/Romania. I answered every question asked by the consular officer. That he chose to disbelieve my answers just goes to show his bias (that’s why I felt perhaps he was a white supremacist). I was asked about what I’ll be doing in Bucharest as part of ‘Experience Bucharest’ and I told him I will be going around Bucharest to understand its history, heritage, and culture so I could write my experiences for my readers and excite them to visit Romania as tourists. If that was not seen as a valid answer, I am surprised what else was expected by the consular officer.’

Additionally, the Visa Refusal Letter given to me by the embassy does not mention any lack of documentation. They have just cited ART. (36), PARA. (1), LET. (g), PT. (i) – EGO194/2002 as the reason of refusal (whatever that means, as it totally gives me no clue about their reason of refusing visa).

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