How to Obtain EU Blue card for Bulgaria?
Important - what is a EU Blue card
EU Blue card is work and residence permit for high qualified employees and specialists. The EU Blue card grants non-European citizens to live and work in an EU country.
The EU Blue card procedure is conducted by the employer. That is why when hiring a non-European citizen, it is important to implement the criteria for the EU Blue card in the recruitment process. This means that the candidate for certain high qualified position has to have a high education degree with at least three years of education and/or enough work experience in order to be qualified as specialist. The other important requirement which the employer must be aware of is the salary - for EU Blue card positions the salary must be at least 1.5 times the average salary for the position in the country.
The procedure to obtain EU Blue card
The procedure consists of three phases:
Phase I: An application is filed by the employer at the respective Migration department for allowance for the certain employee to be granted access to the labor market in the country. This access is granted with a decision of the Migration authorities and issuance of the work permit.
Phase II: Based on the work permit the employee applies for a visa D in his home country and once the visa is obtained, the employee enters the country with the visa.
Phase III: The employee applies for issuance of the EU blue card at the respective Migration department. Once the card is obtained the employee informs the employer and his labor contract becomes active. The employer registers the labor relationship at the respective tax department.
The minimum term of the EU Blue card is 1 year, but it can be granted for period of up to 5 years.
In case labor contract is terminated the EU Blue card is not terminated automatically. The Employee has three months to find another job or to register at the labor bureau.
In case an EU Blue card holder is to start new job at new employer, the previous labor contract has to be terminated, the authorities have to be notified and the new employer has to apply an application for the change can be allowed by the authorities.
