By virtue of amendments to the Ordinance on the terms and conditions for issuance and rejection of work permits to foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria, which were promulgated in the State Gazette, issue 80, dated 16.10.2015, the legislator introduced certain amendments to the regime of high-qualified employment of foreigners. The purpose of the amendments is to ease the procedure for issuance of a work permit to foreigners for the purpose of high-qualified employment in Bulgaria.
The requirement for performing market test and for searching adequate candidates Bulgarian or EU nationals for the respective position shall be cancelled in the cases, where the foreigner shall be hired at a position included in a specific List of professions for which there is a shortage of qualified employees in Bulgaria. The List should be approved by the Minister of labour and social policy by 31.01.2016. The List may be revised annually by 31 January.
In order to receive positive resolution from the Employment Agency for high-qualified employment without performing preliminary market search, the foreigner and the local employer should comply with the following conditions:
- The foreigner should have university degree acquired after a course of education of minimum 3 years carried out by a licensed higher education institution;
- The gross salary of the foreigner specified in the labour contract should be at least three times higher than the average salary in Bulgaria based on information for the preceding 12 months, and
- The labour contract should be concluded for a period of not less than 1 year.