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[Updated information on 30.01.2024]

Online

Some of the most popular websites posting job vacancies on a daily basis are:

The Foundation for Access to Rights - FAR is a registered labour intermediary. If you are looking for a job, fill in the online form in a language that suits you and we will contact you to refer you to a suitable employer and help you with your application.

Complete if you are looking for a job

Job fairs

The National Employment Agency organizes job fairs for refugees and asylum-seekers several times per year, in which refugee and humanitarian status holders, asylum-seekers and temporary protection holders can participate

Local Labour Bureaus

If you have refugee or humanitarian status, temporary protection or you are an asylum seeker, you have the right to register at a Local Labour Bureau, which is a part of the National Employment Agency.

You can find the addresses and contact information of the Labour Bureaus here.

If you register:

  • The bureau will inform you about available/suitable positions
  • You can receive vocational training and Bulgarian language training as part of the National Program for Refugee Employment and Training, including people with temporary protection, or other available programs. 

Parents in Employment Programme

The Labour Bureau currently has a Parents in Employment programme that covers parents of children aged 0 to 12. The program provides a babysitter to take care of your child/children while you are at work or looking for work.  

Babysitters can be unemployed people who do not receive a pension, and you can choose the babysitter to be one of your relatives and friends. They must apply for this programme and be registered with the Labour Bureau . The Employment Agency will employ them and pay them a salary.

You can benefit from this programme for a maximum of 18 months or until your child/children reach the age of 5 or 12.

You can apply if you are:

  1. A parent of children from 0- to 5-years-old and
  • Your children are not enrolled in nursery/kindergarten
  • You are employed or self-employed/self-insured  BUT
  • You are currently taking care of your children and have not returned to work.

In this case, the babysitter can be employed a full 8-hour working day and will be paid:

  • 933 BGN  for 1 child
  • 1399,50 BGN for caring for 2 or more children up to 5 years of age

For the same child/children, you can participate in the program only once.

OR you are

  1. A parent  of 3 or more children or a single parent of children aged 0 to 12 and:
  • You have returned to work;
  • Your children attend nursery/preschool or school.

In this case, the babysitter will be employed on a 4-hour working day and will receive a salary of 466,50 BGN for taking care of 1 child and 933 BGN for taking care of 2 or more children in the family. 

Under these conditions, you can participate in the programme again only if you have used the services of a babysitter assigned to 8 hours for the care of a child from 0 to 5 years and now you want to be included in the programme and use the service "babysitter" up to 4 hours per day.

OR you are

  1. Unemployed, registered with the Labor Bureau and you are:
  • a parent of children aged 0 to 5 who are not enrolled in a nursery/preschool ( see above conditions for payment of babysitters in point 1); or
  • a parent of 3 or more children aged 0 to 12 attending nursery/preschool and school ( see conditions for paying childminders in point 3 above).

As unemployed, if you do not find a job through the Labor Bureau within 4 months, the program will be terminated and you will not be able to use a babysitter. However, if you find a job within 4 months, then care will continue for a maximum of 18 months. 

You can apply for the program only online at this link.

Your application will be processed within 14 working days but may take longer. 

If you already have a job, you can start working again after the babysitter is hired, or at the earliest after receiving a letter that you have been approved for the program from the Employment Agency, but not before. 

Further information about the programme can be found at this link or by asking your local Labor Bureau.

Recruitment agencies

Some recruitment agencies in Bulgaria:

Organizations that can help

Companies and organizations hiring refugees and asylum-seekers

Some non-governmental organizations regularly seek and hire asylum-seekers and beneficiaries of international protection as translators, interpreters, social mediators, caseworkers and so on. These organizations are:

Private sector companies:

Currently, the IT, customer care and marketing sectors have a high demand for qualified personnel in Bulgaria. They also offer some of the most competitive salaries in the country.

Call centers seek people who speak Dari, Kurdish, Urdu, Pashto, and especially Arabic and Farsi, and have a good working knowledge of English.

Also, many Middle Eastern shops and restaurants in Sofia are often looking for new staff.

Other options

Self-employment remains a good option since entrepreneurship offers a lot of potential for economic success. Experience shows that being a foreigner in Bulgaria and having your own unique skills, knowledge and heritage can play an important part in setting up a successful business venture such as a shop, restaurant, or other.

How to start a business in Bulgaria

For remote work, mainly in the IT sector, you will only need a computer and a stable Internet connection. You can find out more about remote positions from this Bulgarian jobs website.