EMN collects, analyses and publishes factual information on migration and asylum issues.
Bulgaria
The BG EMN NCP comprises four members - two representatives from the Migration Directorate within the Ministry of Interior (MoI), one representative of the State Agency for Refugees (SAR) and one representative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP). The Migration Directorate, is the national coordinator and responsible for the activities done by the BG NCP. The Migration Directorate is a specialised structure within MoI, responsible for the coordination of migration processes and of migration policy development, for the regulation and control of the migration of third-country nationals residing in Bulgaria, for providing administrative services to the EU and the EEA citizens and for attending foreigners subject to expulsion or compulsory taking to the national border. Migration Units are set up within the Regional directorates of MoI. The National Council on Migration Policy, established under the National Strategy in the field of migration, asylum and integration (2011-2020), chaired by the Minister of Interior in view of improving inter-ministerial co-operation and coordination between the structures engaged in the migration processes, functions as a linking unit between the respective ministries, the local authorities and the non-government sector engaged in the management of migration processes.
The State Agency for Refugees with the Council of Ministers is a legal entity financed from the state budget, seated in Sofia and having territorial units across the country. Its responsibilities include decision-taking on refugee and asylum cases, cooperation with other EU Member States in accordance with the Dublin Convention and with other competent Bulgarian institutions regarding refusals to grant asylum to asylum seekers. SAR is headed by a chairperson who is a body of the executive entrusted with special competence. The chairperson provides guidance, coordination and control on the implementation of the state policy for granting asylum and humanitarian status to foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria. The regional units of SAR include the transit, the registration-and-acceptance, and the integration centres. The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy is responsible for formulating and implementing the policy for receiving third-country nationals on the labour market, for the signing of bilateral employment agreements and social security agreements with third countries, for assisting Bulgarian nationals in other Member States and nationals of other Member States in Bulgaria in exercising their employment and social security rights of EU citizens, for coordinating the Bulgarian policy for the integration of third-country nationals.
An organogram of the organisation of asylum and migration policies in the Member State is available below: