During the last three decades the developing world began to benefit from their initial high migration rates, through the remittances sent home by the nationals living and working abroad.The article resumes the main definitions given to the concept, reviewing few factors influencing the motivation to remit, the main tranfer channnels and the effects of such a decision at both micro and macroeconomic level. Then we study these elements in the case of Romanian economy, in search of an effective contribution of remittances to the improvement of current account deficit and household standard of living.