One in five foreign workers brought in by companies flees to Western Europe soon afterwards

One in five foreign workers brought in by companies in western Arad from non-EU countries fails to gain seniority in the workplace because they flee the country illegally soon afterwards, estimate representatives of the Arad County Immigration Bureau.

The head of Arad County Immigration Bureau, chief commissioner Ciprian-Danut Blidar, told a press conference on Monday that an estimated 20 percent of the workforce imported from non-EU countries is lost because workers choose to leave for Western European countries.

According to data presented by the Immigration Service, companies in the county submitted applications to hire 3,561 non-EU workers in 2023, and 2,344 were approved. The rest were rejected because the documentation was not complete or for "risk of illegal migration".

The chief commissioner said many of the workers who abandoned their employers were subsequently caught attempting to cross the state border illegally.

Because some companies failed to notify the authorities within the legal 10-day deadline about the departure of workers, they were slapped with fines between 1,000 and 3,000 RON.

Most of the workers arriving in Arad are unskilled and come from Sri Lanka, Nepal, India, Morocco and Bangladesh.