We assess the proposed employment arrangement and coordinate the employer and employee evidence for the applicable work and residence procedure.
An employer approached ARG because the preparation of a Bulgarian single work and residence permit needed to be handled properly from the outset. ARG organised the work into clear stages covering eligibility, documents, filing, follow-up and the next status. The completed work left the client with a better organised file and a process that was easier to manage.
This service matters because the permit combines the right to reside in Bulgaria with permission to work for a specific employer, workplace, position and period. It is not a general work authorisation, and the applicant’s immigration status, the role and the employer’s workforce position must fit the same legal route.
ARG can help when you need to
The route is for a qualifying non-EU/EEA/Swiss employee. Check the current residence basis or the D-visa sequence; an existing resident must normally file at least two months before expiry.
The ordinary third-country workforce cap is 20%, or 35% for qualifying SMEs, using the statutory twelve-month calculation. Specific exemptions require their own evidence.
Prepare the signed fixed-term contract, job duties, recruitment justification and relevant qualifications. Pay and conditions must be no less favourable than those for comparable Bulgarian workers.
Plan the criminal-record, qualification, housing and insurance evidence. Track seven-day correction requests, the twenty-day visa-action step and the fourteen-day appearance after D-visa entry.
A single work and residence permit combines permission to live in Bulgaria with permission for the approved employment. It is intended for a qualifying third-country national: someone who does not use EU/EEA or Swiss free-movement rights. Under Article 7(2) of the Labour Migration and Labour Mobility Act, authorised employment is tied to the specified employer, workplace, position and period. The Bulgarian name is “единно разрешение за пребиваване и работа”. “Single” describes the combined application and resulting document; it does not mean unrestricted access to every Bulgarian job or to employment throughout the EU.
If you only need to remain in Bulgaria for a purpose that does not include local employment, a residence permit without work rights may be enough. If you intend to be hired by a Bulgarian employer, that separate residence status is usually not enough on its own, because the single permit is designed to combine the immigration and labour permissions in one route. In practical terms, this service is the right fit when the real commercial objective is to bring a foreign employee into a Bulgarian employment relationship and keep that employee compliant while working here.
A useful way to think about it is this. Ordinary residence answers the question of whether the person may stay. The single permit answers both whether the person may stay and whether they may work in that particular job. That is why the permit is valuable for employer immigration support. It avoids treating residence and work as disconnected steps when the law requires them to be aligned.
The permit is not a general right to work in Bulgaria. It is a tied authorisation for one employer and one job.
ARG starts with the actual proposed employment: the hiring entity, position, duties, work location, remuneration and contract term. We compare these with the candidate’s education, experience and current immigration status, then examine the employer’s workforce records and recruitment justification. A company’s commercial need for a worker does not remove the statutory conditions. Identifying an unsuitable status, incomplete qualification record or headcount issue before signing a relocation timetable lets the employer resolve the underlying problem before the filing deadline becomes urgent.
This distinction matters especially where the client is comparing it with a normal residence permit, a work visa Bulgaria process, or another immigration route. A work visa may be part of the wider entry and stay planning, but it is not the same thing as the employment authorisation itself. The single permit is the residence and work solution for a third-country national who is already on a qualifying residence path and whose employment falls within the labour-market access framework.
Put simply, if the question is, "Can this person live in Bulgaria and work legally for this employer in this role", this service is the one that answers it. If the question is only about legal stay without local work rights, then a different residence basis may be more appropriate and the single permit may be unnecessary.
Article 24и(1)–(4) of the Foreigners Act connects the single permit with labour-market eligibility and a D visa or qualifying residence permission. A candidate abroad normally follows an employer-led assessment, then the D-visa and arrival stages. A person already holding Bulgarian extended residence may apply from Bulgaria without having to be abroad for the initial or subsequent application. The in-country application must be filed at least two months before the authorised stay expires. Tourist presence or an application receipt should not be assumed to create the same eligibility as an existing residence permit.
The employer must satisfy Article 7(1): the relevant third-country workforce must remain within the applicable headcount limit; pay and working conditions must be no less favourable than those for Bulgarian workers in the same category; and the candidate must possess the specialised knowledge, skills and experience needed for the position. The ordinary cap is 20%, rising to 35% for qualifying small and medium-sized enterprises. Certain Article 15(2) categories have an exemption from that cap. The role and employer must therefore be assessed together; a qualified candidate cannot alone remedy an employer-side eligibility problem.
The law also recognises that the applicant must already be in a lawful immigration position that can support the request. In practical terms, that is why the service is often used together with employer immigration support. The employer is not only offering a job. The employer is also helping to establish that the foreign national may lawfully enter this labour route in Bulgaria.
A short-stay visa does not, by itself, authorise ordinary employment. Some existing residence grounds have particular restrictions, while other statuses give labour-market access without this single-permit application. A holder of Bulgarian permanent or EU long-term residence, for example, should not automatically be processed as a first-time sponsored hire. Obtain the candidate’s actual residence document and legal basis, including any protection or family status, before selecting the procedure. A residence card from another EU country is not automatically a Bulgarian employment authorisation.
The single permit is also distinct from a Blue Card, seasonal-worker permit, intra-corporate transfer and freelance authorisation. Article 16 separates these categories. An employee assigned temporarily from an overseas group company may need a transfer or posting analysis rather than a new local-hire application. A highly qualified local hire may satisfy the Blue Card’s qualification, salary and minimum-contract tests, which differ from the general route and do not use its headcount cap. A consultant invoicing clients independently should not be described as an employee merely to fit the single-permit form.
Before proceeding, provide the passport, existing visa or residence card, its expiry date, the proposed signed contract and job description, and evidence of qualifications. The employer should identify who can supply the twelve-month workforce information and recruitment records. If the candidate is abroad, tell us where they lawfully reside and which Bulgarian mission will handle the D visa. If they already live in Bulgaria, flag the two-month filing deadline immediately. These facts determine whether there is enough time for this route and which documents must be obtained first.
That is where this service has its commercial value. It tests the applicant’s status, the job design, and the employer’s ability to use the route before the employer commits to a filing that cannot succeed.
Tell us where you live, how your business works and what you want to change. We will help you identify the questions to resolve and the next steps to consider.
Article 7(1)(1) requires the employer to test its third-country employment against the statutory average headcount over the preceding twelve months. The general limit is 20%; the 35% limit applies to enterprises qualifying under the cited Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Act provision. Use the current statutory calculation and the required employee categories, supported by payroll records. A company should not infer eligibility from its headcount on the application day or from the informal description “small business”. Group relationships and the statutory enterprise classification also need to be considered when relying on the higher limit.
That means this service is not only about the candidate. It is also about whether the employer can lawfully use the route for this hire at all. If the workforce composition is outside the permitted ratio, the application is exposed before the merits of the candidate’s profile are even considered. In practical terms, ARG would first test the employer data and the role description, because a good candidate cannot cure a company-level eligibility problem.
Reconstruct the workforce month by month and identify each relevant employee’s nationality, residence basis and employment dates. The application requires employer declarations about foreign workers and average workforce categories, so the figures must reconcile with the records used to prepare them. Explain status changes and departures rather than counting every non-Bulgarian passport identically. If several foreign hires are planned, assess the applications together: a calculation prepared for the first candidate may not support the next. ARG coordinates this review with the person maintaining the employer’s employment and payroll records.
For a client, the decision point is simple. If the company is close to the threshold, the filing should be planned only after the headcount position is checked carefully and the employment role is aligned with the law. If the business is above the cap, or if the role appears to be one that could be filled without a foreign specialist, the employer should resolve those issues before submitting. In a borderline case, the safest commercial approach is to verify the workforce figures and the role rationale first, then build the application around those facts.
The cap is not the only employer document. Article 24и(5)(4) requires a labour-market justification explaining why the foreign worker is needed, copies of recruitment advertisements and the reasons for not selecting an otherwise eligible candidate who meets the advertised requirements. Preserve the advertisements, dates, actual selection criteria and recruitment outcome. The job description must match the role offered and the skills relied on in the application. An artificial qualification requirement added after recruitment can undermine the consistency of the employer’s explanation.
Article 15(2) disapplies the cap for defined categories, including employment under relevant international agreements, specified visiting educators, qualifying performers and qualifying professional athletes or coaches. Each exception has its own conditions and supporting institutional confirmation. Calling someone a guest specialist does not place an ordinary hire within the visiting-teacher exception. Where an exemption is relevant, establish the actual category and obtain the required confirmation before relying on it in the workforce calculation.
A practical check for this stage is straightforward.
That sequence is where employer immigration support adds value. It reduces the risk of filing an attractive-looking application that fails on the company’s own labour-market profile.
The application goes to the Migration Directorate or the relevant regional Migration unit under Article 24и(4). The employer or its authorised representative may file; an applicant with extended Bulgarian residence may also file personally, with the employer signing the application. Migration coordinates the residence and security checks and obtains the Employment Agency’s labour-market opinion. The Agency’s positive opinion is an intermediate requirement, not a substitute for the final residence permission and document. Agree who monitors the correspondence email and who can provide employer documents when a short correction period begins.
What this means in practice is that timing depends on administrative sequencing, not just on how quickly the employer gathers papers. If the file is incomplete or the factual basis is weak, the procedure slows before the Employment Agency can even give its opinion. The real job of this service is therefore to prepare a file that can move through the institutional chain without avoidable questions.
The document list is set out in Article 24и(5)–(7). It includes passport details, an initial criminal-record certificate, employer justification and workforce declarations, qualification and experience evidence, the signed fixed-term employment contract and any integral job description, required regulated-profession evidence and the applicable medical insurance. Accommodation evidence is required at the stage prescribed for an existing resident or an applicant entering through the D-visa route. Foreign qualification records require the prescribed legalisation and certified Bulgarian translation. For a regulated profession, permission to practise is a separate requirement: a residence approval cannot replace it.
The 2025 rules also address recognition of foreign higher education. Outside the regulated-profession branch, Article 24и(5)(13) requires the relevant National Centre for Information and Documentation recognition certificate at the stated visa and post-entry stages, or its number and date where registered in the academic-recognition register. NACID is the Bulgarian centre responsible for that recognition process. Identify this requirement early when relying on a foreign university qualification; legalising the diploma and obtaining academic recognition are different steps. The candidate’s name and qualification details must match across the diploma, translation, recognition record and contract.
The employment contract should identify the position’s Bulgarian occupational-classification code and reflect the authorised start of employment. Article 24и(5)(9) requires the signed fixed-term contract to take effect from receipt of the foreign worker’s residence document. A provisional start date in an offer letter should therefore be coordinated with the immigration process. If the candidate is not yet insured under Bulgarian health-insurance law, arrange the medical cover required at the relevant stage rather than assuming future payroll registration covers the period before the permit is issued.
Incomplete documents produce short response windows. Article 24и(9)–(13) provides seven days to remedy specified defects or supply additional documents; failure can terminate the procedure. The Employment Agency normally has fifteen days after receiving the file to give its opinion, with suspension for the specified document problems. That internal period is not the end-to-end relocation timetable. Keep the original notice, record when it was received and respond to each requested item with identifiable supporting documents. An employer’s internal approval process must not consume the response period.
A short client-side preparation list helps here.
For a candidate requiring a D visa, the foreigner must take steps to apply within twenty days after the message to the employer under Article 24и(14)–(15). Following entry with that visa, the employer or authorised representative must appear with the employee at Migration within fourteen days and provide the visa-page copy and required medical insurance. Missing that post-entry step can terminate the procedure. Arrange the appointment, insurance and employer representative before travel, and retain evidence of the entry date. A flight booking alone does not complete any of these statutory steps.
Article 24и(2) provides a three-year single permit, or the employment-contract term if shorter. Older descriptions of a universal one-year limit do not reflect this provision. The administrative procedure is subject to the two-month period in Article 24и(18), extendable by two months for factual or legal complexity; the post-entry decision stage has its own three-day rule after the required documents are supplied. These periods do not include every practical step needed to obtain a foreign document, secure a consular appointment or produce the physical card.
Align the contract term, passport validity, application stage and intended employment start before fixing the relocation schedule. For an existing Bulgarian extended resident, the two-month advance-filing rule is especially important: an otherwise suitable job offer received shortly before the current card expires does not remove that deadline. Do not assume that merely submitting an application authorises work under new conditions or settles the right to remain after the old permission expires. Establish the applicable status and documentation for the period while the decision is pending.
Article 24и(19) requires the employer to notify Migration within three days of a change affecting admission criteria during the application or termination of the employment relationship. Its current wording also links termination of employment with termination of residence rights under this route. The printed expiry date on the card should therefore not be treated as permission to continue residing and working regardless of the job. Before resignation, dismissal or a move to another employer, review the effect on residence and the procedure needed for the next employment or another independent residence basis.
This is the part of the service that many clients overlook. Getting the permit is only the start. If the role changes, the employer changes, or the job relationship ends, the company has to react quickly. A foreign employee cannot be managed as if the permit were a general work authorisation. It remains linked to the employer, workplace, position and period approved in the permit, as set out in Article 7(2) of ЗТМТМ.
Assign one responsible person to maintain the permit and contract calendar, correspondence log and employee-status record. Ask HR to escalate proposed changes to employer, duties, workplace or employment term before they take effect. If the employee moves home, the Foreigners Act’s address-change requirements also need attention. Keep proof of notifications and filed applications with the employment records. This gives the employer and employee a usable record of the conditions under which work was authorised and helps avoid relying on an outdated card after the underlying circumstances have changed.
For a client deciding whether to use this service, the useful next question is not only whether the application can be filed. It is whether the company can maintain the permit lawfully after issuance. If the answer is yes, the single work and residence permit is a workable employment structure. If the answer is uncertain, the file should be designed with the renewal and notification strategy in mind from the outset.
Compare the related procedures in this category, including their requirements and the stage at which you need them.
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