Social and health insurance for third country workers in Bulgaria

A ruling of the National Revenue Agency (NRA) states that a foreign national employed under a Bulgarian employment contract is subject to compulsory insurance from the day the work activity begins, on the same terms as a Bulgarian employee. The work permit neither postpones nor reduces the duty. The contract itself is notified to the NRA under Article 62(5) of the Labour Code within 3 days of signature.

Which risks are covered, and from when

The NRA lists the covered risks in full. A foreign national on an employment contract is insured for general sickness and maternity, for invalidity due to general illness, for old age and death, for occupational accident and occupational disease, and for unemployment. That is the same set a local employee carries. The starting point is the day the work activity begins, not the day the residence permit is issued, not the day of entry, and not the first payroll run.

This has a practical consequence that first time hires from Nepal, India or the Philippines often miss. The worker lands, sits through the safety induction and starts on a Monday, while payroll is still waiting for the foreigner identity card number before creating the record. The insurance obligation already exists on that Monday. If the record is late, the monthly declarations and the contributions are late with it, and the Article 62(5) notification runs on its own 3 day clock from signature, which does not wait for administrative convenience.

The second point is the base. Contributions are calculated on the insurable income for the job in question, with a floor set for 2026 by economic activity and qualification group. The agreed gross salary may sit above that floor, but never below it, and for third country positions the minimum insurable income is also the figure an inspection checks first.

Health insurance follows the type of residence

For health insurance the NRA ties the duty to the type of stay authorised. Long term residence is the deciding element: with it, the foreign national falls under compulsory health insurance with the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF), and the contributions are owed by the employer in the ordinary way, in the same split as for Bulgarian employees. The NRA states expressly that holders of a seasonal worker permit, covering stays from 90 days to 9 months, are equally subject to compulsory health insurance.

The practical effect is that the worker's health insurance status changes during the procedure rather than at the moment of hire. While the person is still on a type D visa with no foreigner identity card issued, the NHIF registration cannot be completed, even though the work has started and contributions are already due. The order of the steps in the personnel file is what keeps that from turning into an arrears problem.

What the gap looks like in an inspection

The usual failure is not a refusal to insure. It is a lag of several weeks. The worker starts on site, the contract is signed, but the Article 62 notification only reaches the NRA once the foreigner identity card arrives. At that point the delay is visible in two registers at once: the register of employment contracts and the monthly declarations. When the General Labour Inspectorate visits, the mismatch between the start date in the personnel file and the date of the notification is the first thing reconciled, and the penalties that follow are set out in inspections of foreign worker employment.

For that reason the insurance schedule is planned alongside the permit, not after it. The single permit procedure decides when the person may lawfully start, and on the shorter horizon the same logic governs seasonal registration up to 90 days, where health cover is equally compulsory.

Insuring a third country worker in Bulgaria is not a separate regime. It is the ordinary regime with two added dependencies: the authorised residence, which opens the health registration, and the start date, which does not wait for paperwork. An employer who writes both dates into the same file on the day of signature rarely has anything to explain later. The full sequence for hiring from third countries sits on the employers page.