Hiring non-EU staff got easier in Bulgaria: Why isn't it working though?

One year after the legislative changes that eased the procedure for the hiring of personnel from non-EU countries, the situation in this part of the Bulgarian labour market does not seem very different from before. At least quantitatively. The thing is, the easing of the Blue Cards (as the work permits are known) has coincided with a slowdown in the IT industry, which is their main user.

According to data from the Migration Directorate of the Bulgarian Ministry of the Interior, in 2023, a total of 955 third-country nationals received the EU Blue Card, which grants the right of residence and work. The information was communicated by the country’s Ministry of Labour and Social Policy in response to an inquiry by MP Martin Dimitrov (PP-DB). It comes a year after the changes to the Labour Migration and Labour Mobility Act adopted at the end of January 2023, which greatly facilitates the import of highly qualified personnel from third countries.

Bulgarian entrepreneurs have been lobbying for the simplification of the procedures for years with the idea of unblocking the inflow of specialists from non-EU countries. During the discussions surrounding the vote on the long-awaited amendments last year, there were speculations that the legislative changes could shoot up the number of Blue Cards issued to several thousand a year.

Despite the key legislative changes, 2022 and 2023 actually look quite similar in terms of Blue Card issuance though. For comparison, in 2022, there were 922 new permits registered, not counting the renewed ones (167), according to the archives of the Bulgarian National Statistical Institute. In fact, that was the first year with a significant jump in Blue Card permits. Before that, their numbers grew slowly from just 61 in 2015, to just over 100 in the following three years, to 200-300 in 2019-2021.

The 2022 boom can be linked to the rise of the IT sector, which is one of the main users of the Blue Card instrument. Given the widespread rapid digitalization, in the software niche alone, for example, 8,310 people were employed in that year, while in the outsourced services sector – the number was 15,000.

In 2023, however, the boom was replaced by a slowdown in growth due to the general slowdown in the international economy. Given that technology companies in Bulgaria mainly work with clients abroad, any outside shocks reflect directly on them. That is why the weaker-than-expected effect of the Blue Card legislative changes can be attributed to this lull in the IT market.

The EU Blue Card tool is particularly important for the IT sector, which suffers from a systemic shortage of staff. One of the opportunities not used to their full potential for providing highly qualified employees is precisely the hiring of citizens from non-EU countries.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine, for example, caused many professionals to flee to the West. IT specialists from these two countries, together with those from Belarus, are recognized as potential employees in Bulgarian companies. The Bulgarian IT sector has repeatedly commented that the cumbersome procedure for issuing Blue Cards locally, however, made these people bypass the country.

Before the change in procedures, it took about half a year to issue the document. Even after the easing of some bureaucratic burdens, it continues to happen more slowly than in other EU countries – if it takes a few weeks in Poland, in Bulgaria we are still talking about a few months, industry representatives commented during the BASCOM presentation barometer (that’s the name of the annual report on the state of the software industry, which the Bulgarian Association of Software Companies (BASCOM) traditionally publishes at the end of each year).

The sector is pushing for further improvements in the procedure. For example, one such would be the option for employers and employees to apply electronically for a Blue Card. There is already a project to make this happen.

Blue Cards issued in Bulgaria in 2023

The largest number of permits were issued to citizens of the Russian Federation – 486, followed by Belarus – 79, Turkey – 79, Ukraine – 52, Cuba – 44, India – 36, Egypt – 28, Serbia – 15, Tunisia – 14, Philippines – 11 etc.

According to information from the Employment Agency, the majority of highly qualified specialists are employed in the ICT sector, followed by those in the trade sector, car and motorcycle repair, construction and manufacturing.

Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov