Immigration in Romania and Romanian in-Migration in Times of Covid-19. A Panel Data Analysis

Immigration in Romania is a scarcely studied topic, mainly because the impact of this phenomenon is low. Romania is primarily known due to its history of emigration. This paper is a preliminary analysis of the way both temporary and permanent Romanian immigration changed at the NUTS 3 level during the 2015 migration crisis and due to COVID-19 pandemics. Internal migration was also included as the analysis was based on a component of the MASST model on in-migration, but with respect to NUTS3 level migration. The results obtained were statistically significant for the temporary migration and permanent migration. The refugees’ crisis had a direct influence on permanent migrants, while the COVID-19 pandemic left its mark on temporary migration, leading to an increase in the number of temporary migrants.