Immigrants from Turkey, China and the Philippines have got almost half of the labor or business travel permits in Romania in the first half of this year, according to the General Inspectorate for Immigration (IGI) Wednesday.

The immigration body has issued 1,179 labor or business travel permits to foreign nationals in the first six months of the current year, 10 percent more than in the same period of 2014.

"The permits were issued for permanent workers, highly qualified or on business travels," a statement said, adding that 193 foreign citizens were from Turkey, 175 from China, 144 from the Philippines, 86 from South Korea, 70 from Sri Lanka and 55 from Ukraine.

IGI said that it provided management services for the legal stay in the country of 107,716 foreigners in the first half of 2015; 48,000 of them were from the European Union, the European Economic Area and Switzerland, and 59,716 from third countries.

The agency added "most of the foreigners from third countries come from Moldova, Turkey and China, while most of the foreigners from the EU hail from Italy, Germany and France."

The main purposes for foreigners set up residence in Romania relate to the right to family unity, education, employment or permanent settlement.

Most Chinese came to Romania after 1990 and many of them engage in trade in the capital city of Bucharest and nearby cities.