There is a Directive according to which citizens from third countries who have received humanitarian or refugee status in our country /or on the territory of the EU/ can be employed without any other permits. Only with this status document received from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, these persons can start work under equal conditions with Bulgarian citizens. Last year’s statistics give us eloquent data – only 176 thousand Ukrainian citizens received temporary protection in our country. Until the end of February 2024. of them, only 63 thousand remained permanently on the territory of our country, since with their temporary protection document they can live in any EU member state.
Is Bulgaria attractive to our people?, forced to leave their homes and who bring valuable skills, talents and experience to the foreign communities where they have found salvation? In search of an answer in our country was recently discovered the first of its kind in our country a platform for mediation between refugees, jobseekers and employers. The information there is provided in English, French, Ukrainian, Russian, Arabic, etc. rarer languages, and the assistance is provided by the Foundation for Access to Rights – PHARin partnership with The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
The platform has been operating for almost two months and for this period they are registered 429 people wishing to find a job in Bulgaria. However, the number of proposals for them is not large so far. Only 18 new employers have announced their vacancies – 32 in number. However, there are nearly 10 signed contracts, and for each the process is long and with various administrative obstacles.
The main fields for which personnel are sought among migrants are: construction, hospitality, catering and various types of production. There are recruitment ads for humanitarian work, for security, for fast food restaurants. It turns out that among migrants it is also difficult to find workers for low-skilled work. Of those registered on the platform, the share of candidates with higher education is the largest – they are 54%. 31% have secondary or professional education. “Those who stated that they are looking for a job with a lower educational level are 9%, but these are people who studied in their homeland, did not manage to graduate and had to move to our country” – explains Maria Netsova from the Foundation for Access to Rights and coordinator of the platform:
“Countries of origin of those looking for work through us are mainly from Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan – she explained in an interview with Radio Bulgaria. – 30% are from Ukraine, 22% from Syria, 17% from Afghanistan, or a total of these countries are 70% of all requests received so far on the platform.From other countries there are citizens of Iran, Gaza, Egypt, Pakistan, Russia, India, Nepal, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, etc. 81% of job seekers are aged 18 to 50, i.e. of working age, with half of them being between 18 and 29 years old. Many of them are students who wish to continue their education in Bulgaria in order to find a job after graduation. Few of them are economic migrants, most have declared that they have the status of permanent residents in Bulgaria or that they are asylum seekersa. With us, they have declared their intention to settle in Bulgaria and want to find a job. Many of them say that it doesn’t even matter in which city they will live, and that they would do anything – their only desire is to help them find a job and settle in the country. Recently, even in one of the applications it was explicitly written: “I love Bulgaria and I want to stay in this country!”.
It is noteworthy that a large number of migrants arriving here speak several languages – English, Turkish, besides other rarer languages. This would help them find employment in more economic activities more easily. “For now, however, there is an imbalance between job seekers and employers’ offers,” says Maria Netsova:
“The main ones matters of interest to employers are, what are the ways of hiring migrants, do these people speak Bulgarian, what professional experience do they have. Otherwise, at least those who contacted us want to hire foreigners and try to indicate cooperation. But the process for concluding a contract is long, it is necessary to obtain documents, medical certificates, as well as a medical certificate for admission to restaurants. Non-governmental organizations that play the role of mediators help a lot in this regard. In addition to the language barrier, a big problem is the lack of permanent housing and the issuance of an identity card and the opening of a bank account, which is also an obstacle for employers. We also come across people who are Bessarabian Bulgarians or from mixed marriages, who can speak our language, but cannot read and write in Bulgarian. Courses are currently being organized aimed only at persons with temporary protection who have been granted international protection and those seeking protection. There are no Bulgarian language courses for people who came from our diasporas abroad – such training should be thought about and organized so that they can start work more easily,” recommends Maria Netsova.
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Photos: Pixabay, Facebook /FAR Rights Access Foundation
Tags: Refugees small important part job seekers Bulgaria Society
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