The General Inspectorate for Immigrations (IGI) released a few statistics regarding the situation of immigrants in Romania, given the launch of the 2013 Immigrants Integration Barometer, done in partnership with the Romanian Association for Health Promotion and the Soros Foundation Romania, within the project Research and Documentation Center in the Immigrant Integration Field (CDCDI).

“In 2012, the General Inspectorate for Immigration ensured the management of stay in Romania of 102.000 foreign citizens, out of which 55.823 from non-EU countries. Most of them are from Moldavia, Turkey and China, and 46.936 citizens are from EU states or the Swiss Confederation, Italy, Germany and France being the 3 top states”, stated Ermina Matei, spokeswoman for the General Inspectorate for Immigrants (IGI), present at the event.

According to the representative of the institution, last year the asylum procedure was facilitated for 2982 persons, out of whom 216 received a form of protection in Romania. "We concluded that most foreigners who have residence in Romania, be it temporary or permanent, live in the developed areas of our country. Big university centers in Bucharest, Iaşi, Cluj and Constanţa are preferred. At the end of 2012, 9000 foreign citizens were studying, which shows that our country is an important educational center", stated Ermina Matei.

As for the reasons which determine foreign citizens to choose Romania and to settle here in Romania, they said: family reunion, education, employment and permanent residence in our country.

The Immigrants Integration Barometer – 2013 edition, launched during the conference regarding the end of the first implementation stage of the project Research and Documentation Centre in the Immigrant Integration field, has confirmed that a workplace is an important factor in the way foreigners are perceived by the general population, but at the same time draws the attention that the access of foreign citizens to the labor market is difficult. Even family reunion, another reason for foreign citizens to settle in Romania, raises procedural issues because of the long waiting period of different institutions (especially the structures of the Ministry of External Affairs).

The Immigrant Integration Barometer set out to make a blueprint of the integration process of citizens outside the EU by focusing on the following fields: work, medical and social assistance, education, citizenship. The integrated research report of the 2013 Immigrants Integration Barometer can be read and downloaded from www.cdcdi.ro, in the Publications section.