Bulgaria should introduce quotas for foreign workers, the Bulgarian Industrial Association (BIA) has proposed.

In a November 16 letter to Deputy Prime Minister Emel Etem and to Labour and Social Policy Minister Emilia Maslarova, the BIA said that Bulgaria should introduce a “green-card” system for foreigners in occupations for which there was a labour shortage.

The association said that every year, the Labour Minister would approve employment quotas for occupations in Bulgaria.

It said that these quotas would be set on the basis of applications submitted by employers. The BIA listed four proposed categories of workers. Priority should be given to European Union citizens. Second would be citizens from countries party to the European Economic Area agreement. Coming third, according to the BIA, should be people of Bulgarian descent who are citizens of none of the above-mentioned countries and have the required professional skills and qualifications. Fourth come citizens of every other country, including the US, Canada, Russia Federation, Australia, China, South Africa, and South Korea.

Should the BIA’s proposals be accepted, the restrictions in force in terms of the Foreigners Act would be dropped, meaning that jobs would be open to foreigners even if there were Bulgarian applicants. The other existing restriction - the 10 per cent limit for companies to employ foreign personnel, meaning that only one foreigner may be employed for every 10 Bulgarian employees - would also be lifted.

According to BIA chairperson Bozhidar Danev, businesses, trade unions and the Government should set up a working group to prepare the necessary legislative changes. The qualified labour shortage was most noticeable in Bulgaria’s processing industry, construction, IT sector and tourism, Danev said in the letter.

The implementation of large investment projects would further aggravate the situation, as would Bulgaria’s low birth rate, inefficient education and brain drain of specialists, Danev said.

The Sofia Echo asked the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria (AmCham) to comment on the BIA proposals, but AmCham declined to comment at this stage. 

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, while by mid-2006 more than 1000 foreigners had been granted work permits.