Workers from outside the EU are using Central and Eastern Europe as a staging post for Western Europe, with officials in Bulgaria and Romania (both new members of the European Schengen free travel zone) complaining that as many as 40% of the workers do not see out the term of their contracts before moving on to Western Europe.
The problem of workers leaving Bulgaria for richer placements elsewhere became especially apparent during the summer tourist season, according to a report by the Bulgarian website Novinite.
Employers at hotels and restaurants in Sunny Beach and other Bulgarian resorts on the Black Sea were unable to retain workers they had engaged on agency contracts, often having jumped through several bureaucratic hoops to register them. Officials quoted by Novinite put the percentage of those moving on as high as 40%
In one case reported by Novinite, a hotelier at the Sunny Beach resort raised the alarm that three of 14 workers he had employed from Nepal and Sri Lanka had disappeared overnight leaving documents and passports behind but taking personal belongings.
Foreign workers who have a work permit in one European country are free to travel to other countries in the Schengen area, which Bulgaria and Romania joined at the end of 2023.
However, official worker status granted in one member state does not automatically allow people to take up positions in another EU country.
The Schengen entry deal has allowed air travelers to fly to and from Romania and Bulgaria within the Schengen area without checks since March 31 this year. Sea travel to the visa free area was also allowed before that date. The countries are still waiting for the lifting of land border checks.
While the new ease of travel is a boon for Romanian businesses, many companies reliant on migrant workers blame Schengen entry for the foreign worker population moving on.
“They want to earn more money than they can get in Romania. According to our estimates, since Romania’s entry into Schengen, approximately 35-40% of foreign workers have already left the country,” Yosef Gavriel Peisakh, general manager at Work from Asia told Romanian Business publication, Bursa.ru.
Employers at hotels and restaurants in Sunny Beach and other Bulgarian resorts on the Black Sea were unable to retain workers they had engaged on agency contracts, often having jumped through several bureaucratic hoops to register them. Officials quoted by Novinite put the percentage of those moving on as high as 40%
In one case reported by Novinite, a hotelier at the Sunny Beach resort raised the alarm that three of 14 workers he had employed from Nepal and Sri Lanka had disappeared overnight leaving documents and passports behind but taking personal belongings.
Foreign workers who have a work permit in one European country are free to travel to other countries in the Schengen area, which Bulgaria and Romania joined at the end of 2023.
However, official worker status granted in one member state does not automatically allow people to take up positions in another EU country.
The Schengen entry deal has allowed air travelers to fly to and from Romania and Bulgaria within the Schengen area without checks since March 31 this year. Sea travel to the visa free area was also allowed before that date. The countries are still waiting for the lifting of land border checks.
While the new ease of travel is a boon for Romanian businesses, many companies reliant on migrant workers blame Schengen entry for the foreign worker population moving on.
“They want to earn more money than they can get in Romania. According to our estimates, since Romania’s entry into Schengen, approximately 35-40% of foreign workers have already left the country,” Yosef Gavriel Peisakh, general manager at Work from Asia told Romanian Business publication, Bursa.ru.
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