Bulgaria

“Migration in Bulgaria: A Country Profile 2008” is part of a series of migration profiles produced by IOM Budapest within the “Black Sea Consultative Process on Migration Management” project, funded from IOM’s 1035 Facility. Migration from Bulgaria was mainly ethnically driven in the aftermath of the collapse of the socialist regime and concerned Bulgarian Turks. Between 1992 and 2001 approximately 196,000 Bulgarians emigrated, on economic grounds, while 19,000 returned to Bulgaria. The lifting of the Schengen visa requirements in 2002 and the recent EU accession did not trigger a substantial wave of migration from and to Bulgaria. Except for Spain, host of about 100,000 Bulgarians, the level of emigration is not very significant.