Created on 11.12.2024

What is work experience?

Work experience is the accumulated period of time during which you have worked on a labour contract, as well as the time you have worked as a civil servant. For example, you need work experience to be entitled to take paid leave, to hold a certain position, to receive an additional monthly salary as a percentage on top of your main salary, etc.

What is insurance experience?

Insurance experience is the length of time during which your social and health insurance contributions were paid while you were working. It is important to have a certain length of insurance experience, e.g. in order to retire, to be able to get sick leave, for maternity paid leave, etc. 

Recognition of WORK experience acquired within the European Union (EU)

If you are:

  • a Bulgarian citizen;
  • a citizen of another EU Member State;
  • a person with refugee status (5 years) in Bulgaria;
  • a stateless person with the right to reside in Bulgaria; 
  • a third-country national who is legally residing in Bulgaria, including persons with humanitarian status (3 years), and are subject to compulsory social security insuarance 

AND

  • you have worked in another EU Member State, 

You can transfer your work experience gained there to Bulgaria. 

As this is the EU, Bulgarian law stipulates that such work experience is automatically recognised. All you need to do is to certify the start and termination of the labour  contract on which you have acquired this work experience with the documents of start and termination. 

YYou certify this at your employer in Bulgaria. You submit an application to your employer stating that you have acquired work experience in an EU Member State and you want it to be recognised. You attach to the application the relevant documents relating to the start  and termination of the work abroad and/or other documents under the law of the country where you worked showing that you have acquired this work experience. 

Recognition of INSURANCE experience within the EU

Within the EU there is a prohibition on double social security insurance. This means that you cannot be insured in two EU Member States at the same time, but only in one. If you have worked in France, for example, but then move to work in Bulgaria, the moment you start working on a labour contract in Bulgaria you will pay social security contributions only here.

If you are:

  • a Bulgarian citizen;
  • a national of another EU Member State;
  • a person with refugee status (5 years) in Bulgaria;
  • a stateless person with the right to reside in Bulgaria; 
  • a third-country national who is legally residing in Bulgaria, including persons with humanitarian status (3 years,  and are subject to compulsory social security insurance.

AND

  • you have worked in another EU country, 

You can transfer your national insurance contributions to Bulgaria and have them recognised. To do this, you need to follow these steps: 

Step 1: Obtaining form E104/S041

If you want to have the insurance period you have completed in another EU Member State recognised in Bulgaria, you will need a certification document from your local insurance authority from where you want to transfer the insurance experience. This document is called form E104/S041 and it proves that you have been insured in another EU country. 

This form is required by the Bulgarian authorities. For this purpose, when you are already in Bulgaria, you must submit it to the Central Office of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) or to the relevant District Health Insurance Fund (DHIF) according to the address recorded in your Bulgarian identity documents (your permanent address):

Step 2: Submit the E104 form to the NRA

You must submit the received E104/S041 form to a territorial directorate of the National Revenue Agency (NRA) according to the address recorded in your Bulgarian identity documents (ID card, residence permit), i.e. your permanent address.

On the basis of the data provided in the document, the months throughout which in the Bulgarian system it appears that you have unpaid health insurance contributions in Bulgaria will be covered and your health insurance status will be adjusted.

Work and insurance experience acquired in other countries

To have your work and insurance experience  gained in non-EU third countries recognised in Bulgaria, Bulgaria must have a bilateral agreement with the country concerned. In these bilateral treaties, Bulgaria and the other country must have agreed that work and insurance experience acquired in the territory of either country automatically counts towards the granting of certain benefits for which the worker needs to have completed a certain period of experience (e.g. maternity leave, general sickness, retirement). 

Bulgaria has bilateral treaties with: 

  • Ukraine;
  • Russia;
  • Serbia;
  • Moldova;
  • Canada;
  • Azerbaijan;
  • Tunisia;
  • Montenegro;
  • Korea;
  • Israel;
  • North Macedonia;
  • Albania.

All bilateral treaties can be found here in Bulgarian. You should check for each of these countries whether the available treaty provides for recognition of insurance and work experience.

Bilateral agreement with Ukraine

Right to maternity and sick leave

For example, if you have accumulated work experience in Ukraine but are now working in Bulgaria, your work experience from Ukraine will count for the purposes of sick leave, maternity leave, general invalidity pension, retirement pension and survivor's pension, provided these periods do not coincide in time (i.e. you should not have been insured in both countries for the same period).

Right to a pension 

Regarding pension entitlement, the competent institution in Bulgaria calculates and pays the amount of the pension only for the insurance (work) period acquired in Bulgaria.

If the total duration of the insurance (work) experience acquired under the legislation of Bulgaria or Ukraine, respectively, is less than 12 months and if no entitlement to a pension arises on this basis under the relevant legislation, this experience is taken into account by the competent institution of the country where you are at the time and where you have applied for a pension.

If the period of insurance (work) experience acquired under the legislation of each of the contracting parties (Bulgaria and Ukraine) is less than 12 months and no entitlement to a pension arises in either of them, the entire period of insurance (work) experience is taken into account by the competent institution of the country  under the legislation of which the longer period of insurance (work) experience giving right to a pension was acquired. 

If you are entitled to a pension under the legislation of both Bulgaria and Ukraine, the entire period of experience shall be taken into account and the pension will  be granted and paid by the competent institution of the country in which you have the longer period of insurance. 

If, on the other hand, you receive a pension of one type in Ukraine or Bulgaria respectively and, in the meantime, you become entitled to a pension of another type under the legislation of only one of the countries (Bulgaria or Ukraine), you should be able to receive both types of pension at the same time. 

Right to unemployment benefit

In Bulgaria, in order to receive unemployment benefit, you must have at least 12 months of employment experience during the last 18 months, and the length of time you have been insured determines the amount and how long you can receive the benefit. In such cases, if necessary, the insurance (work) periods acquired under Ukrainian law may also be taken into account, in case the periods of insurance (work) periods do not coincide in time.