Region: Getting to Work

A few days after Bulgaria’s Parliament amended the Foreigners Act to attract skilled people from outside the European Union by creating a special “Blue Card” long-term residence system, the EU announced plans to make it easier for companies to transfer non-EU employees within the bloc.

Bulgaria’s approval of a Blue Card system follows a decision by the European Council in May 2009 that required all 27 EU states to put such a system in place within two years. The EU Blue Card system establishes more attractive conditions for third-country workers to take up highly qualified employment in EU member states, by creating a fast-track procedure for issuing a special residence and work permit. The Blue Card is intended to facilitate access to the labour market to their holders and will entitle them to a series of socio-economic rights and favourable conditions for family reunification and movement across the EU.

Read more at The Sofia Echo.