Bulgaria - The social impact of seasonal migration

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manner. A special emphasis deserves to be put on new emigrants, whose motives for emigration are quite different from those of the old diaspora. Secondly, there is still ethnically specific out-migration, as the already existing large ethnic Turkish diaspora helps a lot the seasonal migration of ethnic Turks currently living in Bulgaria. Thirdly, the in-migration of foreign citizens is a relatively new phenomenon and needs to be investigated and treated with special attention. II. One of the most important conclusions of the study is that there is no precise unified methodology for observing emigration trends. There is an urgent need of elaborating such a methodology and establishing of a stable, publicly accepted information database on the processes of emigration that would be able to take account of the period of staying abroad. There are no data about seasonal migration, let alone the irregular one. Keeping track of the number of irregular emigrants is a very difficult task that requires more efforts and coordination among different institutions, both Bulgarian and foreign ones. A possible partial solution might be the regular gathering of information from the Bulgarian municipalities about the size and destination of seasonal migration. Data from the national censuses conducted in 1992 and 2001 showed that between these two censuses approximately 196 000 people emigrated from Bulgaria, while the number of persons who have returned or settled to Bulgaria was a total of 19 000. Net migration from Bulgaria is negative, amounting to roughly 177 000 people who had left the country in 1992-2001, or an average of 22 000 people leaving Bulgaria yearly. Other data show a significantly larger number of emigrants. It is difficult to make precise conclusions about the possible scope of emigration almost entirely on the basis of research of potential migrants. Yet one is able to detect a tendency showing that temporary seasonal migration dominates upon the permanent one. The preferred destinations are Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany and The Netherlands and the main motive is related to finding a job or one that is better paid. The Bulgarian seasonal emigrants work mostly in agriculture, construction building, domestic care, housekeeping, hotels and restaurants, and the textile industry. The profile of migrants as well the destination of migration is geographically determined and depends on already created networks. So in some Bulgarian municipalities female emigration prevails, while in others migrants are predominantly male. Migration is also ethnically specific, meaning that in some municipalities the emigrants come entirely from the Turkish ethnic group in Bulgaria, whereas in others they are ethnic Bulgarians. In still other municipalities, Roma emigration prevails. The fact that migration from Bulgaria has a regionally as well as ethnically specific profile suggests that regulating and managing migration would require regionally and ethnically differentiated policy measures. The prognostic evaluation of expected actual emigration, done by the experts of the National Statistical Institute on the basis of preliminary data from the 2001 census, shows that in the next five years there is no danger of an emigration wave from Bulgaria which would destabilise the labour markets in the EU member-states. The number and profile of immigrants to Bulgaria are better known to the official authorities than the communities of Bulgarian emigrants abroad. Concerning immigration, Bulgaria remains primarily a transit country despite the visible signs of its 5
6 greater attractiveness as a final destination country manifested in the last years, and especially after the start of the EU accession negotiations in 1999. The National Police data clearly show that there is a tendency of increasing the number of foreign citizens staying legally in Bulgaria with permanent and long-term residence permits. Structurally, there are no major changes in the countries of origin of the permanent and long-term residents in Bulgaria in the last couple of years. One of the most significant tendencies is the decreasing number of citizens from CIS countries and the increasing number of Russian citizens, although the total number of CIS and Russian citizens remains stable. The traffic of foreigners to and through Bulgaria becomes more complex and better organised. Changes in legislation in 2001-2, improvement of the administrative capacity of the specialised border police institutions and the tightened and more effective control on the Bulgarian borders led to restructuring of the channels for illegal immigration to the EU countries. The chief migration flows are from Asia and Africa, namely from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Nigeria, Sudan, Ethiopia and Algeria. Lifting visa restrictions for short-term entry of Bulgarian citizens into the Schengen space in April 2001 resulted in more than 4-fold decrease in the number of borderregime violations committed by Bulgarian citizens. In 1994, a new category of immigrants was introduced into Bulgarian legislation - refugees and people with humanitarian status of different duration, and the first statuses based on the Decree for Granting and Regulating the Refugee Status were given in 1995. From 1993 until 1 January 2003, a total of 11 253 persons (7 601 men, 1 748 women and 1 904 children) applied for refugee status. They came from 72 states, but most of all from Afghanistan, Iraq, Armenia, Yugoslavia and Iran. Of all the applicants, 1 356 persons (including 327 children) were granted refugee status according to the Geneva Convention of 1951. 24% of them are aged up to 17, and 76% are of 18-59 years of age. Humanitarian protection was granted to 2 668, people, of whom 595 children and 245 women. III. The main factors for emigration are economic - the relatively high level of unemployment in Bulgaria and the low standard of living. In the last two years, the official statistic has registered a relative economic growth, as well as decreasing unemployment. If this trend continues in the future, it will probably stabilise migration, too. Potential and real migrants are oriented more to seasonal migration. Signing bilateral agreements will regulate this process and will prevent irregular migration in large numbers. The practice has shown that after the term of employment contracts abroad expires, the Bulgarian workers return to the territory of Bulgaria. There is a process of strengthening the control over and the struggle against trafficking in human beings which is another factor that will reduce in the future the illegal channels of emigration. Another important factor for emigration is the already created networks of relatives and friends, the diasporas, which will provoke and maintain a relatively stable flow of
Page 1 and 2: Migration Trends in Selected Applic
Page 3 and 4: This country report on Migration Tr
Page 5 and 6: IV factors is extremely high. The g
Page 7 and 8: VI foreigners has already reached 2
Page 9 and 10: VIII in literature and statistics.
Page 11 and 12: 2 Contents: Preface . . . . . . . .
Page 13: 4 Executive Summary The report foll
Page 17 and 18: 8 Measures undertaken by the Bulgar
Page 19 and 20: 10 1. Historical Overview - Migrati
Page 21 and 22: 12 a) The emigration of Bulgarian T
Page 23 and 24: 14 since the late 1950s their numbe
Page 25 and 26: 16 2. Overall migration scales in t
Page 27 and 28: 18 The NSI declares that its expert
Page 29 and 30: 20 World Bulgaria mentions also tha
Page 31 and 32: 22 2.1.2. Out- Mobility - direction
Page 33 and 34: 24 Data from IOM surveys on the pro
Page 35 and 36: 26 Although not representative for
Page 37 and 38: 28 who stated they would wait for a
Page 39 and 40: 30 Data from a survey done in May 2
Page 41 and 42: 32 granted by the Bureau of the UNH
Page 43 and 44: 34 There are a few Afghan immigrant
Page 45 and 46: 36 Afghanistan, Iraq, Armenia, Yugo
Page 47 and 48: 38 An identical percentage of labou
Page 49 and 50: 40 migration with around one-fifth
Page 51 and 52: 42 "Dutch" quarter in Ardino, where
Page 53 and 54: 44 irregular Bulgarian migrants in
Page 55 and 56: 46 In 1998-2002, the Danish Embassy
Page 57 and 58: 48 4. Impact of migration movements
Page 59 and 60: 50 because seasonal migrants from M
Page 61 and 62: 52 Another impact of the increased
Page 63 and 64: 54 show that we, the Bulgarians, ar
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56 hurt by racist remarks of doctor
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58 5. Migration policy, legislation
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60 Human Rights and Fundamental Fre
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62 • The statute also reflects th
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64 - prohibition to enter the Repub
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66 EU member-state and a third coun
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68 implementing the government’s
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70 - The foreign national has speci
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72 - The applicant has submitted do
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74 At the same time, attempts are m
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76 6. Integration policies and prac
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78 6.2. Integration of immigrants a
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80 families, but here they are not
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82 agencies, newspaper articles and
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84 (Weltanschauung) that leads to t
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86 Bibliography Agency for Socioeco
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88 Appendix 1 Tables Table A1. LEVE
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90 Appendix 2 Map
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Appendix 4 Graphs Graph 1: Number o
Page 104 and 105:
Graph 6: Applicants for refugee sta
Page 106:
Sharing Experience… Accession to
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Bulgaria - The social impact of seasonal migration

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