PERCEPTIONS Country Report – Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, border control, immigration, international protection and migrant integration are the responsibility of various state authorities: the Border Police Chief Directorate of the Ministry of the Interior, specialized in working in the border zone, the State Agency for Refugees, specialized in international protection, and the inter-institutional National Council, leading the state’s effort on Migration, Borders, Asylum and Integration. From 1993, when Bulgaria ratified the UN Refugee Convention and the attendant Protocol, until 2012 the country faced a relatively low refugee inflow with an annual average of 1000 asylum applications. Significant change in this trend took place with the increase in the inflow of persons seeking international protection mainly due to the wave of displaced persons fleeing from the conflict in Syria and Iraq. The extreme changes in both the volume and the demographic structure of asylum-related migration has put Bulgaria into a new policy situation requiring urgent development and restructuring of the systems
of reception and integration in the country.

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