New amendments to the Foreigners Act: what awaits representatives?

Planned changes

Until recently, opening a representative office was the simplest way to obtain a long-term residence permit in Bulgaria, but the situation has changed and there are now many refusals on this ground. The requirements for trade representative offices and for the representatives themselves are constantly being tightened. In particular, the draft in question envisages amendments that will directly affect this ground for obtaining a long-term residence permit.

In the view of the drafters, granting residence permits to representatives of foreign companies does not promote investment or support trade turnover. This ground opens up possibilities for circumventing the law, and therefore clarifications must be introduced into Art. 24, para. 1, item 6, limiting the number of representatives.

Why did suspicions arise that this provision of the law is being abused? It may be assumed that a role was played by the fact that representative offices of small companies with modest share capital were hiring huge numbers of representatives (up to twenty), and that places were traded almost openly on social media.

The wording is expected to be changed as follows:

“6. are representatives of a foreign trading company with a trade representative office registered with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Republic of Bulgaria, following verification of documents certifying the absence of tax violations by the foreign company during the two years preceding the registration of the representative office, as well as documents concerning its planned activity; no more than three representatives of each foreign trade representative office may obtain a long-term residence permit; the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry shall promptly notify the Migration Directorate of any change in the circumstances of the representative office’s registration.”

Thus, if the amendments are adopted, a long-term residence permit will be available only to representatives of companies that duly paid their taxes during the two years preceding the registration of the representative office, without allowing even the slightest arrears. This fact, like the planning of the representative office’s activity, will have to be confirmed by documents.

Even if a company has an impeccable reputation, only three of its representatives will be able to obtain a long-term residence permit in Bulgaria. Unofficially, a limit on the number of representatives has been discussed for a long time, although exact figures were never stated. The migration service viewed representative offices with more than four or five representatives with particular suspicion, though various factors were taken into account, for example the size of the company, its capital and turnover, and the activity of the representative office. Now, if the amendments are adopted, only three representatives will be able to apply for a long-term residence permit, regardless of the company’s particular circumstances. On what principle the candidates who receive a residence permit will be chosen is still unclear; most likely everything will depend on the time of application to the Migration Directorate.

What can be done?

We remind you that the law enters into force immediately upon its publication in the “Държавен вестник”. At the same time, the final amendments may differ from those published in advance.

It is not yet clear whether the new requirements will apply to existing representative offices or only to the registration of new ones. In any case, all representatives who fall into the risk group and may find themselves “outside the law” after the amendments are adopted should already be thinking about how to remedy the situation. Practice shows that several months pass between a law being put out for public consultation and its entry into force. During this time it is possible, for example, to change to a more suitable representative office or to change the ground for residence.

Other changes and clarifications

This is not the only change to the law. Some amendments will affect students, researchers, seasonal workers and unaccompanied foreign children, and will also bring clarity to the provisions concerning the processing of documents.

Read our other articles in the series “Careful, the doors are closing!”:

Part 1: Attention, representatives! “The doors are closing!”

Part 2: Careful, the doors are closing: part two

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