Bulgaria - The social impact of seasonal migration

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"Dutch" quarter in Ardino, where there is a seasonal migrant in every house, practically
all of them irregular. Until 2001, before the lifting of visa-restrictions for travel in the
Schengen area, Turks received visas with more difficulties than the Bulgarians, this is
why many Ardino residents had voluntarily changed their names to Bulgarian ones. But
even the new Bulgarian names were useless in the Netherlands, where the people from
Ardino were registered in the Dutch companies under Dutch names. They were hired
through private labour offices kept by Turks and Kurds who maintained all connections
with the Dutch employers willing to hire irregular workers. The Hague is the heaven for
irregular workers from South-eastern Bulgaria - from Ardino, Kurdzhali, Haskovo and
Smolian. Inhabitants of Ardino, who had once learnt English and German, had found
out that the most useful language in The Hague was Turkish. Migrants over 35 years of
age can rarely be hired; work is mainly agricultural, in the greenhouses (interview No.
16 and No. 34) Upon return to Bulgaria, they carry money and use them to build houses
and buy furniture and cars. "Let Allah help all Bulgarians to find work abroad", says a
woman from Ardino recently deported from The Netherlands.
Around 400 seasonal migrants from Vulkosel village - Gotse Delchev region,
South-western Bulgaria, inhabited by 3 000 Bulgarian Muslims (Pomaks) - work in the
Portuguese town of Tovira, in the construction industry and agriculture (Sega 2003).
Pushed by unemployment, male residents of Vulkosel started migrating in groups in
2002. They have marked their compact presence and have publicly announced their
foreign status by putting a street sign with the name of their home village next to the
name of the town of Tovira. Similar stories can be told about Liliache village, Vratsa
region, North-eastern Bulgaria, inhabited by Bulgarians and Vlachs, whose nearly 1/2 of
the population of working age had found jobs in Spain. Such are the Turkish villages of
Tatul, Gorna Chobanka, Raven, Nanovitsa in Momchilgrad municipality, the villages of
Drangovo, Gorski izvor, Gorno kupinovo, Podkova in Kirkovo municipality, the town of
Kameno in Bourgas region, etc.
Family and other informal links
Both surveys on potential migration and qualitative surveys show that family and
informal networks are the main mediator for going abroad, while the mediating firms are
perceived as not particularly credible.
Table 19. Where do you get information from on the legal opportunities to leave for
another country?
1992 1996 2001
Friends/relatives 35% 36% 49.8%
Television 11% 18% 37.3%
Newspapers 6% 14% 33.1%
The radio 1% 9% 26.6%
People, whose job is to advise on these issues 9% 7% 13.2%
Foreign embassies 6% 9% 11.3%
Rumours 9% 7% 11.2%
Official information from the Bulgarian Government 3% 5% 10.1%
Official information from foreign governments 9% 4% 7.5%
Other (please specify) 1% 2% 1.3%
Do not care/no response 7% 34% 26.4%