Population figures
Total country population
6,618,615
Forcibly displaced population
Refugees (under UNHCR's mandate):
94,545
Asylum-seekers:
4,166
IDPs (of concern to UNHCR):
0
Other people in need of international protection:
0
Other
Statelessness persons
161
Host community
0
Others of concern to UNHCR
0
Country context
Bulgaria, located in southeastern Europe, has become a significant host country for refugees and displaced persons due to its geographic position and socio-political dynamics. The country is primarily hosting refugees from Ukraine, and during 2024, Bulgaria has granted or renewed temporary protection to some 75,000 refugees. More than two-thirds are women and children. Bulgaria has extend a national humanitarian programme for refugees from Ukraine. that includes government-sponsored accommodation in state facilities and hotels, most of which are in the Burgas and Varna regions.
Bulgaria ratified the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol on 22 April 1992. For the past 18 years, Bulgaria has been making steady progress in its efforts to fully develop its capacity and assume its role as a host country for refugees. An asylum application can be made either before the specialised asylum administration, the State Agency for Refugees, or before any other state authority, which will be obligated to refer it immediately to the Agency. Thus, asylum can be requested on the territory, at the borders before the Border Police staff, or in detention centres before the Migration Directorate staff of the Ministry of Interior.
...Persons with recognized refugee status have all the rights and obligations of Bulgarian citizens with the exception of: the right to participate in general and municipal elections, in national and regional referenda, as well as to participate in the establishment of political parties and be a member of such parties; the right to hold positions for which Bulgarian citizenship is required by law; the right to serve in the army; other restrictions explicitly laid down by law. The State Agency for Refugees the authority competent for granting or not the two existing types of international protection in the country; namely the refugee status or the subsidiary protection (“humanitarian status”). The international protection granting act of the asylum authority to apply for an identity document that is automatically issued. This arrangement applies also to temporary protection beneficiaries. In 2023, the country initiated draft amendments of the national asylum law, which among other envisaged to introduce the right of temporary protection holders to be able to apply prior its expiration for international protection and granted a subsidiary protection as a minimum in an expedited determination procedure. However, the constitutional crisis in Bulgaria made it impossible to adopt of any major executive decisions, institutional reforms or legal amendments.
On 10 March 2022, Bulgaria adopted Decision No.144, granting temporary protection to displaced persons from Ukraine. The decision was given explicitly a retroactive effect to cover all persons displaced from Ukraine from 24 February 2022 onward. The temporary protection was extended twice, respectively, on 1 February 2023 with Decision №954 until 4 March 2024 and on 25 January 2024 with Decision №545 until 4 March 2025 and with Decision №79 until 4 March 2026.
Bulgaria is a party to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. However, significant gaps remain in key areas such as the identification of statelessness, access to regularization mechanisms and the rights of stateless persons.
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