Nowadays, more and more Bulgarians live and work abroad – in other EU states or outside Europe. In case you fall into this category and your labor contract has been terminated (or is about to be terminated), you should be aware of the legal possibilities to receive unemployment compensation if you have returned (or intend to return) to Bulgaria after your employment is terminated.
Does it matter whether I worked in an EU country or in a non-EU country?
Yes, whether your last job was in an EU country or in a non-EU country is important for determining your legal possibilities for receiving an unemployment compensation.
If you worked in an EU member state, the unemployment compensation regime that will apply to you will be determined by several European regulations.
IMPORTANT! The regime for working in an EU member state is equivalent to the regime for working in countries that are part of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Swiss Confederation.
If you have worked outside the EU, the situation is slightly more specific. In such a case, you will first need to check whether there is a treaty for legal assistance in the sphere of social security between the Republic of Bulgaria and the relevant third country. If such a treaty exists, it should contain provisions on the different possibilities of receiving unemployment compensations.
IMPORTANT! If there is no such a treaty between the Republic of Bulgaria and the third country concerned, it is likely that (depending on the specifics of the relevant domestic legislation) you will be able to receive unemployment compensation only in the country where your last employment was.
What possibilities do I have for receiving unemployment compensation if I have worked in an EU country and return to Bulgaria after my labor contract is terminated?
If you have worked in an EU member state, your employment is terminated and you return to Bulgaria, two alternative options for receiving unemployment compensation may apply to you.
First, you can receive unemployment compensation from the social security authority of the EU member state where your last employment was.
Secondly, you can receive unemployment compensation from the Bulgarian social security body (NSSI) if you meet certain requirements/conditions.
What do I have to do to receive unemployment compensation in Bulgaria from the social security authority of the EU country where I worked?
EU regulations allow a person who has worked in a member state and, after termination of their labor contract, has moved to another member state to receive unemployment compensation from the social security body of the country where they worked, after meeting certain conditions and prerequisites.
For example, if you were working in Germany and your contract was terminated, you would first have to register as a jobseeker in the employment services in Germany. You must then make yourself available to the German employment services for at least four weeks.
Once the four-week period is up, you must register as unemployed person in the Bulgarian Employment Agency. This registration must take place at the latest within 7 days after you are no longer available to the employment services in Germany.
The maximum period during which you can receive unemployment compensation from the German’s social security authority while you are in Bulgaria is 3 months from the date on which you stopped being available to the employment services in Germany. In certain cases, this period can be extended to a maximum of 6 months.
IMPORTANT! In this case, you must also take into account the specific features of the domestic social security legislation of the member state concerned (in the example above, the German legislation). In order to receive unemployment compensation under this scheme, you must meet the conditions and requirements laid down in the legislation of the country in which you were employed.
What do I have to do to receive unemployment compensation in Bulgaria from the local National Social Security Institute (NSSI) after working in another EU country?
In order to be eligible to receive unemployment compensation in Bulgaria from the local National Social Security Institute after you have worked in another EU member state, you will need to prove that, although you have formally worked in another country, your actual residence and the center of your vital interests during this period were actually in Bulgaria. Actual residence, for the purposes of the European regulations, is determined on the basis of a complex of different criteria, including where your spouse lived while you were working abroad, where your children lived and studied while you were working abroad, where your other relatives (grandparents, brothers, sisters) lived while you were working abroad, whether you own a home in the country where you worked, respectively whether you own a home in Bulgaria, where your predominant social contacts are, where you intend to settle to live in the future, etc.
The above-mentioned circumstances are declared in a special declaration, and you may be held criminally liable for declaring false information. If, on the basis of the above criteria, the National Social Security Institute accepts that, although you have worked in another EU member state, your residence and the center of your vital interests have in fact been in Bulgaria, then you will be granted Bulgarian unemployment compensation paid by our social insurance body in accordance with the Bulgarian law.
IMPORTANT! In order to receive unemployment compensation from the National Social Security Institute in Bulgaria after you have worked in another EU member state, in addition to the basic steps mentioned above, you must also meet the following requirements: you must have at least 12 months of social security experience in the last 18 months before your labor contract was terminated; you must have registered in the Bulgarian Employment Agency within 7 days of the termination of your employment; you must not have acquired a right to a pension; you must not be currently employed in Bulgaria or another country.
In case you need assistance in connection with obtaining unemployment compensation in Bulgaria after you have worked abroad, including if you have been refused by our National Social Security Institute to receive such compensation, you can consult with atty. Dilyan Kolev.