Share your source countries, trades and screening methods so we can explain the next steps.
Targovishte Province is one of the smaller provinces of north-eastern Bulgaria, made up of five municipalities: Targovishte, Popovo, Omurtag, Antonovo and Opaka. Targovishte is the administrative centre and main industrial base, with Popovo on the plain to the northwest and Omurtag and Antonovo in the hillier country to the south. AtoZ Serwis Plus would offer agencies abroad a defined channel to submit pre-screened non-EU candidates to businesses in Targovishte Province, starting only after a business has documented its need.
Roles would be divided. Your agency would find and pre-screen candidates in the source country. AtoZ Serwis Plus would verify the Bulgarian employer and its request, brief you on the position, and help coordinate shortlists and interviews. The Bulgarian employer would choose the candidate to hire and initiate the permit procedure.
AtoZ Serwis Plus is not a Bulgarian employment intermediary, is not a temporary work agency registered with the Employment Agency, and runs no office in Bulgaria. In Targovishte Province, the local company is always signing the employment contract, which may act alone or through a Bulgarian agency with the proper registration. No vacancy, job request or employer relationship is implied here; work begins only after a genuine request has passed checks. The national rules for the whole country are summarised in the Bulgaria recruiter overview.
An earlier regional development strategy, whose summary the Targovishte Regional Administration published, identified glassmaking as a long-standing industry in the province, with linked activities forming a cluster. The same document named food processing as part of a food cluster, described favourable soils and climate for farming, and noted small family holdings alongside larger operators. An older municipal development plan for Targovishte Municipality, published on the government consultation portal, described glass production, meat processing, deep freezing of fruit and vegetables, wine production linked to local vineyards and garment manufacturing in that municipality. These are long-standing features rather than a current picture, so partners should confirm present activity with each employer.
The municipal plan also listed vegetables, strawberries, orchards, maize, and sugar beet as maizecrops suited to the alluvial soils of Targovishte Municipality, and mentioned irrigation systems there. For partners, the realistic profiles are:
A sector named in a strategy is not a request. Each proposal needs one employer, one written position and a permit route that fits. For up-to-date employment and wage data by province, partners should use the National Statistical Institute rather than secondary sources.
Screening for the province should follow the shop floor. A glass plant can run hot, continuous processes where attention, stamina and respect for safety rules matter more than paperwork. A freezing plant works at low temperatures. A garment workshop may measure output by the piece. The partner and AtoZ Serwis Plus would agree on a short checklist for each request before approaching anyone.
First screening would collect just two items: an up-to-date CV and proof of the core skill, for example, footage of the person on a line, a trade card or a contactable former supervisor. Identity papers come much later, once the company, or its registered Bulgarian agency, has put in writing exactly what the permit dossier needs.
Questions that fit Targovishte Province:
Candidates should understand early that the province has no large city. Targovishte is a regional centre, and the nearest large cities, such as Varna and Ruse, lie outside the province.
No candidate would be proposed until the parties had checked the employer and the request. In practice that means:
Location inside the province changes everything. A company may be registered in the town of Targovishte but run a site in Popovo, Omurtag, Antonovo, or Opaka, and housing and travel differ greatly between them. If the registered seat lies outside the province, the request should say whether the workplace is inside Targovishte Province or only near it.
Any request that fails these checks would stop there. Data handling, the checks each side would carry out, and what happens if an employer withdraws should be set out in a written contract between the parties, agreed before work starts. Any commercial terms would also be agreed in writing, and candidates are never charged.
A glassworks or farm in the province canhiren EU, EE.A.,A or Swissnationals without a permitl. Those staying beyond three months obtain a residence certificate from the interior ministry’s registration service, a step outlined by the Point of Single Contact.
Everyone else needs authorisation before the authorisation.n Three countries, Moldova, Armenia, and Georgia, have signed labour migration treaties with Bulgaria; the Moldovan treaty is in force, and selection under it passes between the public employment services. An Uzbekistan text exists only as a draft. Candidates from other countries enter under the general rules, while people of Bulgarian origin have easier access and partial exemption from the labour market test.
Not every nationality fits every Targovishte request, and AtoZ Serwis Plus doesn'tpretend otherwise: the company’s requirements, the legal route, and realistic travel connections narrow the list of source countries for each job.
Bulgaria is fully part of the Schengen area. Visa-free entry or a short-stay visa allows up to 90 days in any180-day period0-day period for visits, not for ordinary employment. A seasonal job of up to 90 days in a listed sector is the exception: it requires the employer to register with the Employment Agency before the first day and needs no residence permit. The Bulgarian single permit authorises work only for the authorising employer and position in Bulgaria, and it carries no right to work in Romania, Greece, Turkey, or any other country.
Non-EU staff for a Targovishte plant would normally arrive on a combined residence and work authorisation known as a work permit. The Labour Migration and Labour Mobility Act and the Residence of Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act regulate market access. The labour ministry; the Employment Agency handles access decisions, and the interior minimministry’sctorate issues residence cards. Step by step:
Each employer may employ single permit workers from outside the EU only up to a set share of its average staff, and small and medium-sized companies have a larger share. Proposals to lift the limit have not been adopted. Seasonal work is possible only in sectors on a ministerial list: for up to 90 days, the empemployer’s declarationads to registration with the Employment Agency before work starts; for 90 days to nine months in 12 months, a seasonal worker permit is required. Intra-corporate transfers, short registered postings and the EU Blue Card for highly qualified people are separate routes.
Partners should not quote a timetable to candidates. Decisions rest with the authorities and the quality of the employer’s employees.
Under the Labour Code, full-time work means 40 hours in a five-day week, usually eight hours a day. Night work is subject to tighter limits and better pay. Overtime is banned by default and allowed only for listed reasons, within limits, and with a pay supplement. Every employee gets at least 20 working days of paid leave a year.
The national minimum wage, set by a Council of Ministers decree after consultation, applies in every municipality in the province. Wages are paid in euros at least once a month and may be transferred to the worker's bank account. Deductions must have a legal basis or the workworker’s written agreement and must stay within statutory limits.
Points to raise with Targovishte Province employers:
The National Social Security Institute manages pension and sickness insurance, while the revenue agency collects the contributions. These records identify non-EU staff by an LNCh, the foreigner’s personal number. Whether state health insurance applies depends on the type of residence, so the Targovishte company should explain how medical care will be arranged from the first week.
An earlier regional development strategy described many roads in the province as being in poor condition, and partners should ask employers about the route to each site. The municipal plan places the town of Targovishte roughly 121 km from Varna and 99 km from Ruse. Bus links between villages and towns can be limited, so workers without employer transport may struggle to reach early or late shifts.
Before candidates hear about a job, partners should confirm with the employer:
The written terms of any housing or seasonal workers in employer housing;,must be agreed to and provided by the employer by law. Candidates should not be told housing costs nothing unless the employer confirms this in writing. A residence permit application also requires proof of accommodation, and each non-EU worker declares their address on an address card sent to the Ministry of Interior.
The earlier regional strategy also pointed to high outward migration of young people and a shortage of vocational training matched to local industry. For partners, this suggests that employers may value candidates prepared to settle for a longer contract, and that retention planning matters as much as recruitment.
Collect personal information gradually. The opening round needs nothing beyond a CV and something that demonstrates the trade. The company, or its registered agency, collects passport copies, diplomas, police records, and health papers only after it sends its own written consent.
Rules come from the GDPR and from Bulgarian data protection legislation, the Personal Data Protection Act, with the Commission for Personal Data Protection as regulator. Any transfer of applicant files from inside the EU to a partner outside it must rely on a GDPR transfer mechanism, typically standard contractual clauses that both sides sign.
Good practice for partners:
For a glass line operator or a sewing machinist, a clear video of the work and a short reference letter may be more useful to a Targovishte employer than a large bundle of translated certificates. Limit translation to what the written list asks for.
Video calls would follow once the Targovishte company has shortlisted candidates. The employer runs the interview and makes the decision. AtoZ Serwis Plus would help arrange times and interpretation, while the partner prepares candidates so they know the town, the shift system and the housing before the call.
Tests should reflect the actual job:
Professional drivers face extra steps. HGV and coach drivers must hold Code 95, the professional competence certificate, whose exams the Automobile Administration agency runs. The Traffic Police exchange rules allow swapping only licences from qualifying countries; the tachograph card under the driver card ordinance requires a driving licence issued in an EU or EEA state or Switzerland; and international EU haulage requires a driver attestation issued to the carrier. Hypothetical example: a food processor in the town of Targovishte asks for line workers for its freezing hall; the partner would ask candidates about long periods in low temperatures and confirm that thermal clothing is provided before anyone is shortlisted.
When the permit has been granted and the visa issued, each worker should travel with:
Before the first shift, the company logs the contract with the revenue agency online and hands over proof of the certified entry; once the worker starts, it also sends labour inspectors a notice for every non-EU hire. The employer sends address details to the interior ministry, whose migration services issue the residence card.
No international airport serves the province, so the employer and partner would plan the onward road or rail journey from the arrival airport. A welcome day with help setting up a bank account, a phone card, and the route to work can make the first weeks smoother and reduce early departures.
Foreign workers in the province have the same labour rights as Bulgarian colleagues, including equal treatment and freedom from discrimination. Registered Bulgarian intermediaries may not bill jobseekers for anything, and AtoZ Serwis Plus will not take part in any arrangement where candidates pay; partners should turn down any scheme in which a worker pays for a job.
The General Labour Inspectorate has a directorate in Targovishte, listed among its regional directorates. Workers can complain through the online form, by email, by post or in person, as described on the Inspectorate English page.
Partners should report at once:
Anti-trafficking work is steered by the National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, and a toll-free national line takes calls day and night. The emergency number is 112. No visa, permit or job can ever be promised to a candidate, and no partner should suggest otherwise.
The following official pages let partners check rules and local bodies for themselves:
Addresses and opening hours change, so partners should confirm them on the official site before sending them to candidates.
If your agency recruits glass line operators, agency maintenance technicians, food processing staff, sewing machinists, farm workers or drivers, and screens them properly in the source country, we would welcome your details. Please tell us your source countries, the trades you cover and how you verify skills.
The first step is the recruiter registration form. We will then explain how we would review a request from a Targovishte Province employer, what a first shortlist would include, and how the emplemployer’smit process would fit your timetable. If your agency has experience with workAgency in north-eastern Bulgaria, mention it.
The Bulgaria recruiter page gives the national context and links to other provinces. When you are ready, apply as a partner.
Tell us which trades and countries your agency covers. We will set out how a request from a Targovishte Province employer would be verified before any shortlist is prepared.
An earlier regional development strategy named glassmaking as a long-standing industry forming a cluster, with food processing and farming also important. An older plan for Targovishte Municipality added meat processing, fruit and vegetable freezing, wine and garments. Partners should confirm current activity, and each needs one employer and a written request.
There are five: Targovishte, Popovo, Omurtag, Antonovo and Opaka. Targovishte is the administrative centre. A job request should always state the workplace municipality, because housing and travel differ widely across the five.
Glass plants can run hot, continuous processes, and the employer should describe its rota. Partners should ask about experience near furnaces or forming lines, comfort with rotating shifts and respect for safety rules. A short video or a checkable reference can show this better than certificates.
Continuous production depends on maintenance fitters and electricians so that these roles may arise. Whether an employer in Targovishte Province needs them depends on its own written request. Partners can prepare by identifying candidates with checkable electrical or mechanical qualifications.
An older municipal development plan mentions meat processing and deep freezing of fruit and vegetables in Targovishte Municipality; partners should confirm current activity with the employer. Line workers, sorters, meat cutters and cold store staff may be relevant, with cold working conditions and strict hygiene rules.
An older plan for Targovishte Municipality linked wine production to local vineyards and wine tourism; partners should confirm current activity. Vineyard and bottling work can peak around harvest, so partners should ask whether the request is seasonal and which permit route applies.
An older municipal plan described garment manufacturing as a major employer in Targovishte Municipality, which partners should confirm with any workshop. Any need depends on a specific workshop and its written request, and sewing candidates should be ready to show stitch quality and speed on the employer’s machines.
An older municipal plan listed vegetables, strawberries, orchards, maize and sugar beet as suited to the allmaize soils of Targovishte Municipality. Farm work may include picking, irrigation, or tractor driving, but seasonal work is allowed only in sectors on the Labour Minister’s approved list.
The municipal plan places Targovishte about 121 km from Varna and 99 km from Ruse. Both cities lie outside the province, so workers should not expect a large city nearby or a quick trip to the coast.
An earlier regional development strategy described many roads in the province as being in poor condition. Conditions may have changed, so partners should ask employers how workers will reach the site for each shift, especially in rural parts of Targovishte Province.
It may not be possible without employer transport. Bus links between smaller places in Targovishte Province can be limited. Partners should confirm whether a works bus runs for every shift, including nights, before telling candidates that village housing is workable.
An earlier regional strategy pointed to high outward migration of young people and a lack of vocational training matched to local industry. Individual Targovishte employers will explain their own reasons, and the labour market test still applies to each single permit application.
Both lie in the hillier southern part of Targovishte Province, with smaller towns and more scattered villages. Winters can be cold. Candidates offered work there should know the distance to larger towns and the transport arrangements before accepting.
The employer files it. The Migration Directorate decides after the Employment Agency gives its opinion on labour market access. The candidate and the recruitment partner provide documents only when the employer requests them in writing.
Once approved, the candidate requests a D visa from the Bulgarian consulate, travels, and collects a residence card in the province. That card names the approving company and post and covers nothing else.
No. The authorisation names one employer and is not transferable, so employers should never present a switch to candidates in Targovishte Province as routine.
Yes. Each employer may employ non-EU single permit workers only up to a share of its average workforce, with a larger share for small and medium-sized companies. Partners should ask whether the employer has room under the limit.
Normally yes. A Targovishte Province employer must usually show it advertised the job and could not fill it with a Bulgarian, EU, EEA or Swiss candidate. Applicants of Bulgarian origin escape parts of that test.
Yes, without a permit. EU, EEA and Swiss nationals working in Targovishte Province register for a residence certificate with the Migration Directorate if they stay more than three months.
Bulgaria has signed agreements with Moldova, Armenia and Georgia, and the Moldovan one is in force; selection under them runs through the public employment services. An Uzbekistan text is only a draft. Agencies elsewhere follow the general rules when proposing candidates to employers in Targovishte Province.
No. Its effect stops at the Bulgarian border and at the named company. Trips elsewhere in Schengen are fine as long as you stay within 90 days per 180, but a job in another state requires that state’s permission.
The legal norm is 40 hours spread over five days, typically eight per day. Overtime is banned by default and allowed only in listed cases, within limits, and at a premium. Night work has tighter limits and higher pay.
The Labour Code sets a floor of 20 working days of paid holiday each year. Collective agreements or contracts can give more. Partners should check that the Targovishte employer’s draft contract clearly states the leave entitlement.
It may be. Partners should ask the employer whether pay is based on time or output and what base pay applies. Whatever the system, full-time pay cannot fall below the national minimum wage, and the contract should explain how pay is calculated.
Only if a statute allows it or the worker consents, and never beyond legal limits. Does the employer provide protective clothing in freezing halls?
Partners should ask each employer directly. Cold store and freezing work in Targovishte Province requires suitable protective clothing, and the job request should state who provides it and whether the worker pays any cost.
The employer registers the contract in the revenue agency’s online register before day one, and the worker receives certified proof. The Labour Inspectorate notice for each non-EU hire follows once the worker has actually started at the Targovishte site.
The Ministry of Interior’s migration services issue residence cards and hold address records for non-EU staff in Targovishte Province. The residence permit requires proof of accommodation, and the worker's address is declared on an address card.
This foreigner’s number is used for tax, pension and employment files. It is issued with the residence document, much like the personal number used by Bulgarian citizens.
The revenue agency collects what the employer withholds, and the National Social Security Institute administers the insurance. Medical cover varies by residence category, so a Targovishte company should specify its arrangements for doctor visits.
The parties would check the Commercial Register by name and UIC, review a written request naming the workplace municipality, shift system, and gross pay, and review a draft contract. Any involved Bulgarian agency would need to appear in the Employment Agency register.
No. There is no AtoZ Serwis Plus office in the town or elsewhere in Bulgaria, and the Employment Agency has not registered it as an intermediary or temporary work agency. Contracts come from the local company or its registered agency, and no open request is suggested.
No. Bulgarian law forbids a registered intermediary from collecting any payment from a jobseeker, and AtoZ Serwis Plus never charges candidates. Report any demand of that kind straight away.
Not until a Targovishte company or its registered agency asks in writing. Early screening runs on a CV and evidence of the trade alone, and nobody should ever keep an original passport.
EU data law (GDPR), plus the Bulgarian Personal Data Protection Act, enforced by the Commission for Personal Data Protection. Files leaving the EU for a non-EU partner need a lawful transfer basis, commonly signed standard contractual clauses.
By video, after the employer has shortlisted candidates. The employer asks the questions and makes the decision. Partners would brief candidates in advance on the municipality, the shift system and the housing, so the interview can focus on skills.
A filmed sample of seams on the type of machine the Targovishte employer uses, showing quality and pace. The parties would agree on the test with the employer before asking candidates to record anything.
Code 95, obtained through the Automobile Administration; an exchangeable licence or Bulgarian tests; a driving licence issued in the EU, EE, or Switzerland before a tachograph card can be issued; and a driver attestation held by the carrier for international EU work.
That depends on the licence. A licence from a qualifying country may be exchanged at the Traffic Police; otherwise,ise Bulgarian tests are needed. Partners should check the licence country and categories with the farm employer before proposing tractor drivers.
No international airport serves the province, so workers fly into an airport elsewhere in Bulgaria and continue by road or rail. The employer and partner agree on the route, transfer, and arrival time for each group.
Warm clothing and footwear, especially for the hillier south around Omurtag and Antonovo. Partners should ask the Targovishte Province employer how the housing is heated and whether the employer supplies work clothing for cold conditions.
The Labour Inspectorate directorate in Targovishte accepts complaints through an online form, by email, by post, or in person. Workers can also tell the partner, who should pass serious concerns to the Inspectorate.
Requests for money from candidates, documents held by a supervisor or landlord, contracts that change on arrival and addresses that differ from the request. The National Anti-Trafficking Commission coordinates support; dial 112 in an emergency.
A free national anti-trafficking hotline operates 24/7 with interpretation. Partners should give every worker the contact details published by the National Commission before departure, along with the emergency number 112.
No. State bodies alone decide, weighing what the company and the applicant submit. No one can promise an outcome on a visa, a permit, or the job itself, and partners should make that clear early.
No fixed time can be given. Decisions depend on the authorities and on the employer providing a complete file. Partners should update candidates only when the Targovishte employer confirms that a step has been completed.
Only in sectors on the Labour Minister’s list; for up to 90 days, the employer must register the worker with the Minister's list.
Possibly, if the post requires a degree or, in certain fields, comparable professional experience, the contract runs for at least six months, and the salary exceeds the threshold. The Blue Card has no workforce limit and no labour market test.
As long as the hiring process requires it, as the GDPR allows. Tell applicants who receive their papers to transmit them securely and erase them afterwards.
Yes. Applicants with Bulgarian roots benefit from easier access and avoid parts of the market test. The Targovishte employer would confirm the route and require evidence.
Complete the recruiter registration form with your source countries, trades, and screening approach. Our reply will explain how we would verify a Targovishte Province request and what a first shortlist would include.
Yes. If you have placed glass line operators, food processing staff or sewing machinists before, say so when you register with us. Relevant sector experience helps when preparing candidates for workplaces in Targovishte Province.
The Bulgaria recruiter page covers rules for the whole country and the other provinces. For Targovishte Province, local details, from its industries to travel and housing, sit alongside those national rules.
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