6, 389 foreign seasonal workers from third countries have been registered in Bulgaria over the first 6 months of the year.

Over the same period of 2017 their number was just 2,847. They are citizens of a total of 36 non-EU countries, the greatest number being from Ukraine – more than 5,000, followed by Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Russia. There are some from more exotic countries, such as Vietnam or Thailand. The sectors employing the greatest number of citizens from third countries are restaurant and hotel keeping, and agriculture. The growth in numbers is due to the alleviations introduced in Bulgarian legislation at the request of employers, who have been raising the alarm about labour shortages.