Bulgarian Businesses and Employers Want to Relax the Rules for Hiring Foreigners

Jobs for foreigners in Bulgaria

Bulgarian Employers send a letter with proposals to the Council of Ministers and Parliament. Although is ranked 11th as the best place to work for foreigners, Bulgaria is also at the forefront of the countries with the greatest difficulties in filling vacant positions.

Among the proposed by the Association of the organizations of the Bulgarian employers (AOBR) changes in the regulations for labor immigration are inclusion of the Construction sector in the List of economic activities with seasonal character for facilitating access of third-country construction personnel to the labor market for up to 90 days. And also facilitating the recruitment of third-country nationals for the position of “International driver”.

The Letter to the Government from Bulgarian Employers

The changes were described in a letter to Deputy Prime Minister Mariana Nikolova, who is chairman of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation, distributed by the press center of the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Among other employers’ proposals is to increase the number of foreigners hired by employment to 35 percent (50 percent for small and medium-sized enterprises, respectively). So far, there have been restrictions on third-country nationals working for a local employer not to pass 20 percent (35 percent for small and medium-sized enterprises, respectively).

The Proposals of the Bulgarian Employers

There is no such restriction in EU Law, respectively in the legislation of the other Member States, the letter from employers states.

The purpose of the proposals is to substantially change the regulatory environment to facilitate the recruitment of third-country Bulgarian labor markets by facilitating and speeding up the process of obtaining a right of residence and employment, employers said in their letter.

According to them, the changes made to the Labor Migration and Labor Mobility Act have partly alleviated the import of foreign labor (mainly in seasonal employment). But the Bulgarian import regime remains the most restrictive compared to other EU countries and even compared with most Eastern European countries.

Filling the Vacancies in Bulgaria

Bulgaria is at the forefront of the countries with the greatest difficulties in filling vacancies. 62 percent of the managers had difficulty finding suitable staff, the letter to the deputy prime minister said.

Qualify technical staff, machine operators, engineers, IT specialists, accountants, sales managers, drivers, workers in the tourism industry (hotel and restaurant business), unskilled labor, sales people are required.