On December 31 2006, citizens of European Union member countries and Switzerland were still labelled foreigners in Bulgaria. On January 1 2007, they became something else: confreres.

A ripple of Government decisions near the end of last year changed, or reformed, a number of regulations concerning foreigners in Bulgaria and what they can do here.

Modifications of the Foreigners Act mean that citizens of the European Economic Community (EEC) and Switzerland are now (in theory) treated as equals to their Bulgarian counterparts, while in this country, at least. For those who still qualify as “foreigners”, those wanting to carry out research in Bulgaria will have facilitated visa procedures. In addition, foreigners who have received residency for another EU country have the right to acquire a residence permit for Bulgaria for a period exceeding three months.

As of December 8, confreres were allowed to purchase and own property in the country. Previously, foreigners were permitted to purchase a flat or other property that does not touch the earth, because of the prohibition of owning land. Now, the “citizens of EU member states”, as the Government calls them, can benefit from the opening of Bulgaria’s property market. The same regulations apply to citizens of countries that are members of the EEC and of Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland. In addition, confreres are able to inherit land, something not possible before the changes in the Bulgarian constitution.

Current regulations for the acquisition of a second home remain valid for citizens of EU member countries residing permanently in Bulgaria, and current regulations for the purchase of property by international organisations remain unchanged.

One of the most common reasons foreigners come to Bulgaria is, apart from a significant other, a job. Previously, Bulgaria had very strict quotas for the number of Bulgarians (nine) for every foreigner at a given company. So, if you were not employed and sent here to work by a company in another country, you’d be tough out of luck to be actually hired.

The Government has started to see the discommodity this causes, particularly in professions where specialised skills are needed that are not common or possible in Bulgaria. In mid-November, the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) proposed a green card system to Deputy Prime Minister Emel Etem and to Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova, to facilitate employment of foreigners in occupations in which there was a labour shortage. The BIA listed four proposed categories of workers, with EU citizens having the highest priority, then people of Bulgarian descent who are citizens of none of the above-mentioned countries and have the required professional skills and qualifications, and finally, citizens of every other country, including the US, Canada, Russian Federation, Australia, China, South Africa and South Korea.

If accepted, it would mean an end to the applicable restrictions in the Foreigners Act (which currently only allows foreigners to apply when absolutely no Bulgarians are in the least bit qualified) and an end to the 90 per cent Bulgarian quota at a given company.

According to Labour and Social Policy Ministry figures released in June 2006, there are about 52 000 foreigners employed in Bulgaria, on the basis of permanent residence; by mid-2006 more than 1000 foreigners had been granted work permits.

As of mid-October, 850 foreigners had been banned from entering Bulgaria and 63 were expelled from the country. Most of those entering illegally did so with hopes to enter other EU countries.

After the massive foreign interest in property investment and construction in Sofia, non-Bulgarians are starting to move their interests to other areas of the country. They will soon be aided by current and correct cadastral maps, which provide an inventory of the area of a property, identify the owners, and present the information to the tax authorities, enabling them to calculate property tax. As such, the cadastre makes redundant the current method of formally declaring a property purchase, something that foreigners appreciate even more. A project completion date is not yet set.

In late August, Bulgaria's FIBank announced that it was starting to offer mortgages to foreigners. It was the third bank in the country to do so, and hoped that the mortgages will encourage foreign investment in real estate.

The loans, which have a period of up to 20 years, have a floating interest rate of 6.9 per cent for the whole period. The interest goes to 8.4 per cent with down payment between 20 and 30 per cent.

rriving in Bulgaria from abroad became easier, as the number of airlines flying to Sofia, Varna and Bourgas increased over the year. In particular, the number of low-cost carriers grew and their destinations expanded.

And once in, it became easier to stay short term. As of September 1 2006, due to changes in regulations and draft legislation approved by the Cabinet, nationals of Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Panama, the United Kingdom and the United States are permitted to enter Bulgaria without visas and stay for up to 90 days within six months. The visa-free entry and stay rules apply to nationals of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Salvador with valid diplomatic or service passports.

For Turkish citizens, the Cabinet agreed to a general rule of issuing single or multiple transit visas for stays of 90 days within six months, a tripling of the allowable period from a previous 30 days.

At the end of July, the rules for admission of EU citizens were changed, providing for visa-free admission for EU citizens of up to three months, on condition that a visitor has a valid passport from an EU country or an EU country identity document.

EU citizens wanting to stay longer have to apply for permission. Conditions for getting permission include clearance from the Bulgarian police, having sufficient money to support themselves, and where relevant, showing that they are enrolled at a legitimate educational institution.

In mid-November, it was decided that Serbian citizens would be able to travel without visas in all European Union member states in 2008, a year after the formation of the new cabinet of Serbia. The Council of the EU approved a new mandate on November 13 for talks with the EU on the facilitation of the visa regime with Serbia, and certain categories of Serbian citizens (students, young scientists, journalists and government representatives) are now able to feel the first results. Bulgaria also implemented compulsory visas for Serbian citizens, which are issued free of charge and valid for a longer period than before.

On another note, Macedonians continued to experience discrimination in Bulgaria, with about 20 000 Macedonians said to be suffering from this. Bulgarian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dimitar Tsanchev said that no ethnic minorities lived in Bulgaria and the country was under no international pressure to admit the existence of such.

And, if you’re a foreigner and, for some reason, bored, as of May 2006, you have permission to look into the Interior Ministry archives, which contain information on six old departments of the Interior Ministry, which existed during the years of communist regime from 1944 to 1990. The 3500 files, structured in six sections at present, reveal information for the period from 1944 to 1978. All you need do is apply to the General Department of Archives at the Council of Ministers of Republic of Bulgaria.

And to end, Michael Shields. The lawyer for the now-20-year-old UK citizen and Liverpool football fan, sentenced to 15 years in jail for the attempted murder of a Bulgarian bartender on July 26 2005, submitted an appeal in March. In April, the Supreme Court of Cassation in Bulgaria decreased Shields’s sentence to 10 years, to be spent in Bulgarian gaol. Also, Shields was to pay the victim 200 000 leva instead of 120 000 leva for the health damage suffered. On November 23, he was transferred to a UK prison to serve the rest of his term. The transfer became possible after the Shields’ family paid the compensation and the interest that had accumulated.