Author
Most asylum applicants are accommodated in Regional Centres for Accommodation and Procedures for Asylum applicants, managed by IGI-DAI. The management of reception is decentralised to the level of counties.
IGI-DAI confirmed that no new accommodation centres for applicants seeking international protection were established in 2025. Currently, IGI operates six Regional Centres for Asylum Procedures and Accommodation, located in Ti
mișoara, Șomcuta Mare (Maramureș County), Rădăuți (Suceava County), Galați, Giurgiu, and Bucharest. These facilities provide accommodation, upon request, to persons who have applied for a form of international protection in Romania and who lack the material means to support themselves, until their right to remain on the territory of Romania ceases.[1]
The centres have a total accommodation capacity of 1,100 places, with the possibility of extending capacity by an additional 262 places. In addition, 166 places are available in specially arranged closed spaces. Placement in these closed spaces is carried out only in the situations and within the limits explicitly provided by law (Article 19 of the Asylum Act No. 122/2006).[2]
The capacity of the different Regional Centres operating across the country (see Freedom of Movement) is as follows:
| Capacity and occupancy of the reception system: 2025 | |||
| Centre | Capacity | Closed spaces | Extended capacity by |
| Timișoara | 250 | 15 | 10 |
| Şomcuta Mare | 100 | 15 | 100 |
| Rădăuţi | 130 | 10 | 20 |
| Galaţi | 200 | 30 | 10 |
| Bucharest | 320 | 96 | 52 |
| Giurgiu | 100 | 70 | |
| Total | 1,100 | 166 | 262 |
Source: IGI-DAI, 02 March 2026.
For information about regular transfers of asylum applicants between centres, see Freedom of movement.
There has not been a situation to date whereby asylum applicants were left without accommodation due to a shortage of places in the reception centres.
Initially, under the AMIF program, IGI also aimed to expand the accommodation capacity by 500 places across three centres: Timișoara and Rădăuţi with 100 places each, and Galați with 300 places. However, the planned construction works în Timișoara and Rădăuți were suspended due to a lawsuit filed by the contractor, who contested the contractual value of the construction works. This legal dispute delayed the implementation of the project in those two locations.
As a result of the increase of asylum applications made in Romania, IGI, in accordance with the Emergency Ordinance no. 38 of 10 May 2018, took over a public building, administered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in order to convert it into an accommodation centre for asylum applicants. The building is located in Crevedia, Dâmbovița County and is intended to have a capacity of 500 places. However, no update regarding the status or progress of the centre was made publicly available in 2025, and it remains unclear whether the facility has become operational. Following a reassessment of the IGI’s accommodation capacity for asylum seekers, it was deemed necessary to expand accommodation capacity by reevaluating the locations where the 500 new accommodation places will be developed as follows: 350 – CRPCSA Timișoara; 150 – CRPCSA Rădăuți, funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), a fund managed by the Ministry of Investments and European Projects (MIPE).[3]
Asylum applicants may also request to stay in private accommodation at their own cost. In this case, they have to present to IGI-DAI a lease agreement registered with the tax authorities or a commodity contract concluded in authentic form. IGI-DAI stated that for 2025 they do not have statistics on the distribution of the total number of residents by gender or on the total number of applicants for international protection living in private housing at the end of the year. Additionally, IGI does not provide private housing for applicants for international protection. [4]
Unaccompanied minors are generally accommodated in centres managed by the General Directorate for Social Assistance and Child Protection (DGASPC). However, unaccompanied minors aged over 16 may remain in the reception centres operated by IGI. Within the IGI-managed centres, unaccompanied minors are accommodated in rooms separated from adults and organised by gender. As of 31 December 2025, two unaccompanied minors were accommodated in the Regional Centres operated by IGI. The centres also provide facilities suitable for accommodating vulnerable persons.[5]
According to CNRR,[6] in 2023, reception conditions and capacity remained stable. However, IGI reported that in 2024, accommodation capacity was expanded through several infrastructure improvements. In October 2023, the IGI regional centre for procedures and accommodation for asylum applicants in Bucharest was reopened after almost 2 years of rehabilitation. It has a capacity of 320 places. According to JRS Romania staff in 2024, the Bucharest reception centre on Vasile Stolnicu Street was fully operational and functioned normally.[7] During these works, asylum applicants were temporarily accommodated to the General Inspectorate for Immigration premises where the asylum related procedures are carried out (interviews, applications registration etc.). In 2025, reception centres had the same capacity as in 2024.[8]
| Occupancy of the reception centres 2025[9] | ||
| Centre | Asylum applicants | Beneficiaries of International Protection |
| Timișoara | 830 | 20 |
| Şomcuta Mare | 48 | 12 |
| Rădăuţi | 71 | 21 |
| Galaţi | 113 | 80 |
| Bucharest | 223 | 124 |
| Giurgiu | 78 | 9 |
| Total | 1363 | 266 |
| Occupancy of the reception centres by 31 December 2025[10] | ||
| Centre | Asylum applicants | Beneficiaries of International Protection |
| Timișoara | 6 | 3 |
| Şomcuta Mare | 2 | 1 |
| Rădăuţi | 22 | 6 |
| Galaţi | 33 | 43 |
| Bucharest | 29 | 75 |
| Giurgiu | 13 | 3 |
| Total | 105 | 131 |
In 2025, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also provided support in several Regional Centres for Accommodation and Procedures for Asylum applicants (Rădăuți, Galați, Timișoara, Giurgiu, Bucharest and Șomcuta Mare). IOM delivered a range of services including social assistance, information and orientation activities, material support and integration counselling. The organisation also provided information sessions on voluntary return and reintegration. According to IOM’s observations, the occupancy rate of the centres where it operated remained below capacity throughout 2025, and no situations of overcrowding or significant pressure on reception capacity were reported.[11]
According to LOGS observations, reception centres monitored during 2025 were operating below their accommodation capacity. In addition, LOGS reported that it did not provide assistance to persons in detention during the reporting period. The organisation indicated that requests submitted in previous years for access to the Regional Centre for Accommodation and Procedures for Asylum applicants in Timișoara were refused by IGI, including in January 2022, when the authorities stated that assistance provided by NGOs funded by IGI was considered sufficient. [12]
During the Romanian Ombudsman visits in the reception centres in 2022, the common problems identified were: some toilets and the kitchen (area to prepare the food) were in a poor state of cleanliness and hygiene, not enough specialised medical staff (e.g. medication for people with mental was distributed for several days without medical supervision). Asylum applicants are accommodated according to gender criteria, i.e. women and men, and unaccompanied minors are accommodated separately from adults.[13] Some problems were improved throughout the years and in 2024, following visits by the Romanian Ombudsperson to the Regional Centres for Accommodation and Procedures for Asylum applicants (CRPCSA) in Timișoara and Șomcuta Mare, overall hygiene and accommodation conditions were found to be satisfactory, with gender and age-based separation properly ensured. However, a common concern identified in 2024 was the insufficient availability of specialized medical personnel, particularly for vulnerable individuals, alongside the need to improve interpretation support in psychological and medical services.[14] In 2025, following additional visits carried out by the Romanian Ombudsman to the Regional Centres for Accommodation and Procedures for Asylum applicants in Bucharest and Galați, it was noted that hygienic conditions in accommodation rooms and most common spaces were appropriate, with cleaning carried out regularly, including with the involvement of beneficiaries in the Galați centre. At the same time, the Ombudsman indicated the need to continue efforts to improve hygienic conditions in certain administrative and shared spaces. In Bucharest, the centre was found to provide access to medical and psychological services, as well as to basic facilities, including sanitary spaces, food preparation areas and recreational spaces. According to the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI), in 2025 several disinfection actions were carried out at the Bucharest centre, and steps were taken to revise informational materials provided to asylum applicants in order to ensure that information is accessible and clearly understood.[15]
[1] Information provided by IGI-DAI, 02 March 2026.
[2] ibid.
[3] IGI reply provided on 27 May 2026.
[4] Information provided by IGI-DAI, 23 January 2025.
[5] ibid., 02 March 2026.
[6] CNRR, Input by civil society organisations to the Asylum Report 2024, 2023, available here.
[7] Information provided by JRS Romania, January 2025.
[8] Information provided by IGI-DAI, 02 March 2026.
[9] ibid.
[10] ibid.
[11] Information provided by IOM, 25 February 2026.
[12] Information provided by LOGS, 16 February 2026.
[13] Romanian Ombudsman, Reports on Migrant Centres 2022, available here.
[14] Romanian Ombudsman, Reports on Migrant Centres 2024, available here.
[15] Romanian Ombudsman, Reports on Migrant Centres 2025, available here.