Bulgaria - The social impact of seasonal migration

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agencies, newspaper articles and interviews – 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 clear
tendency showing that temporary seasonal migration dominates over 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
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 in the Schengen space
in April 2001 resulted in more than 4-fold decrease in the number of border-regime
violations committed by Bulgarian citizens.