Parliament has approved amendments to the Labour Migration and Labour Mobility Act, thus extending access opportunities to the Bulgarian labour market for citizens of third countries.

Access to the labour market for workers who are citizens of third countries is permitted provided over the previous 12 months, the total number of citizens from third countries working for the local employer does not exceed, for big enterprises, 20 percent of the average number of Bulgarian citizens who have entered into an employment relationship, citizens of other EU countries, of countries of the Agreement on the European Economic Area or citizens of Switzerland, and for SMEs – 35 percent. At the same time the requirement for employers to conduct a preliminary labour market study before hiring third country workers is waived.