🇲🇩 Moldova

Choose a city, then explore residence options, documents and housing below.

Beyond 90 days: a residence basis

IGM processes residence for work, study, family and other statutory grounds.

• Short entry, including visa-free entry, does not automatically grant long-term residence. For residence beyond 90 days, choose an applicable IGM route and document it.
• For the employment route, IGM’s current guidance requires filing at least 15 days before authorized stay expires. Other grounds may have different deadlines; visa eligibility is checked separately by nationality.

IGM processes residence for work, study, family and other statutory grounds.

Residence: permanent domicile or 183 days

SFS explains that either of these criteria can establish residence.

• An individual is resident with a permanent domicile in Moldova or presence for at least 183 days in the tax year. An immigration document does not replace this tax test.
• For remote income, separately establish source, activity category and treaty applicability. The IT-park regime cannot automatically be treated as a personal concession for every remote worker.

Registered lease and winter bill

IGM accepts a property-register extract or a legally registered lease.

• Before paying, confirm that the owner will register the lease and provide evidence for IGM. Keep the housing-use document for your residence application.
• Practical check for Chișinău and Bălți: individual or district heating, the coldest month’s bill and boiler operation during power cuts. Plan backup internet and essential medical-device power for the actual building.

The warning summary above shows retrieval dates and regional scope. It is FCDO advice for British nationals, not a crime ranking.

Transnistria needs a separate regional assessment

Checked 13 September 2026; FCDO’s overall page was updated on 10 December 2025.

• FCDO advises against travel to Transnistria, which is outside Moldovan government control. Chișinău and Bălți are outside that region; do not automatically apply the regional warning to the whole country.
• The source reports closed crossings between Ukraine and Transnistria and military activity in neighbouring Ukraine. Its energy-crisis account concerns events in 2024–2025: verify current outages with the local supplier rather than treating this text as confirmation.

Work: contract, record certificate and address

The employer and residence basis determine the package; a tourist booking does not cover the entire process.

• IGM lists an application, passport, employment contract stating salary, criminal-record certificate, housing-right evidence and a 3×4 photo. Check the certificate’s translation and authentication requirements.
• If you legally lived in another country for at least two years, IGM requests that country’s criminal-record certificate plus evidence of legal residence there. Family members need their own basis and relationship documents.

Two cities, two different scenarios. These are starting points, not a finished neighborhood ranking.

Chișinău

Compare the centre, Botanica and Rîșcani by school journey and the building’s heating. The photo shows the Nativity Cathedral in central Chișinău.

Bălți

For life in the north, identify a local school and doctor and how often you need the capital. Check winter bills and backup connectivity; Chișinău costs cannot simply be applied to Bălți.

Reviewed: 2026-09-13

• IGM · provisional residence
• IGM · work residence documents
• IGM · residence documents and housing
• SFS · individual tax residence and income guidance
• FCDO · Moldova, updated 10 December 2025
• FCDO · Moldova regional risks

Dates and limitations appear with each dataset. This guide is not a substitute for individual legal and tax review.