Eurofound's EU PolicyWatch collates information on the responses of government and social partners to the COVID-19 crisis, the war in Ukraine, rising inflation, as well as gathering examples of company practices aimed at mitigating the social and economic impacts.
Factsheet for measure BG-2022-12/2159 – Updated – measures in Bulgaria
Country | Bulgaria , applies nationwide |
Time period | Temporary, 15 March 2022 – 04 March 2024 |
Context | War in Ukraine |
Type | Legislations or other statutory regulations |
Category |
Measures to prevent social hardship
– Protection of vulnerable groups (beyond employment support) |
Author | Tsetomila Sabcheva and Luboslav Kostov (Citub) |
Measure added | 12 January 2022 (updated 13 June 2023) |
People displaced from Ukraine can apply for registration of temporary protection, providing rights for settlement, education, employment or social assistance.
Temporary protection shall be granted in the event of a mass influx of foreigners who are forced to leave their country of origin because of armed conflict, civil war, foreign aggression, human rights violations or large-scale violence into the territory of the country concerned or into a particular region thereof and who are unable for these reasons to return there.
Temporary protection is granted by the Council of Ministers by decision of the Council of the European Union. Its duration shall be determined by the decision of the Council of the European Union.
Since 15 March 2022 the Bulgarian government started to rollout a new system for registration for temporary protection of people displaced from Ukraine. The government has opened regional locations to facilitate registration process. The prioritisation of the rollout is based on the number of displaced people from Ukraine who are currently accommodated in different places across the country, as well as on the statistics for the “hot spots” at border-crossing points and railway stations.
The Bulgarian government established a new nation-wide system for temporary protection status registration which ensures the right to:
The temporary protection registration guarantee that citizens of Ukraine in Bulgaria have the ability to:
The Social Assistance Directorate at their address may grant them monthly financial assistance, as well as a one-off grant of BGN 375 to meet occasional needs.
They also can benefit from medical care similar to that received by Bulgarian citizens, free public and intercity transport on presentation of a Ukrainian identity document, and free kindergarten.
The Bulgarian State also granted the citizens of Ukraine the ability to not vignette and toll fees on the territory of Bulgaria for cars with Ukrainian registration. They also enacted a simplified procedure for opening bank accounts and obtaining credit and debit cards from Bulgarian banks.
The citizens of Ukraine who enter the territory of Bulgaria without registering for temporary protection are entitled to stay visa-free in the country for up to 90 days. They can apply for temporary protection status at any time until 24 February 2023.
The following updates to this measure have been made after it came into effect.
11 February 2023 |
The renewal of registration of persons who arrived from Ukraine and received temporary protection on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria has started, the validity of which is extended until 04 March 2024 (from initial date of 24 February 2023). |
11 February 2023 |
The re-registration of persons who arrived from Ukraine and received temporary protection on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria has started, the validity of which is extended until 04 March 2024. The new registration cards will be issued from 13 February 2023 to 31 March 2023. The old registration cards will be valid until 31 March 2023. The Government also adopted a Decision amending Decision No. 642 of 4 August 2016 on the approval of specimen registration cards to be issued by the State Agency for Refugees under the Council of Ministers, which sets a deadline for the re-registration of persons displaced from Ukraine granted temporary protection, in connection with the extension of the temporary protection period on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria until 4 March 2024. |
Of the 218,000 Ukrainian refugees who have crossed through Bulgaria, 97,000 have remained in the country. Between 85% and 90% of them are registered with temporary protection according to Petya Karayaneva, Protection Adviser, UNHCR - Bulgaria (29 April 2022.)
According to the Bulgaria for Ukraine portal (1 February 2023), there are currently 49,491 Ukrainian refugees in Bulgaria, 10,320 of them are accommodated under the assistance programme. A total of 151,346 have received temporary protection status.
As of 17 January 2023, there are 150,404 Ukrainian citizens with temporary protection in Bulgaria, of which 50,123 are in the country. According to the chairman of the refugee agency, nearly 45% of these 50 thousand Ukrainian refugees are children and nearly 10% are elderly.
Workers | Businesses | Citizens |
---|---|---|
Does not apply to workers | Does not apply to businesses |
Migrants or refugees
|
Actors | Funding |
---|---|
National government
Local / regional government EU (Council, EC, EP) |
National funds
|
Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:
Trade unions | Employers' organisations | |
---|---|---|
Role | No involvement | No involvement |
Form | Not applicable | Not applicable |
Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:
The social partners' involvement are not involved in designing and implementing this registration initiative. The government together with the European Commission initiated and organised the nationwide registration system.
CITUB published the Resolution on Ukraine, approved at the meeting of the Executive Committee of the ECP on 16 and 17 March. There are no clear views expressed about the registration for temporary protection.
Citation
Eurofound (2022), New system for registration of temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees, measure BG-2022-12/2159 (measures in Bulgaria), EU PolicyWatch, Dublin, https://static.eurofound.europa.eu/covid19db/cases/BG-2022-12_2159.html
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