Hiring in Bulgaria step by step: your first employee (2026)

Before you write a job advert, settle who will employ the person. There are two practical options for a first hire in Bulgaria: form your own company, usually an EOOD, and employ through it, or use an employer of record, where we sign the labour contract as employer and run payroll while you manage the work.

The choice decides who does steps 4 to 7 below. The rights of the employee do not change, because the Labour Code applies to the job whoever signs. If you are hiring one or two people and are not yet trading in Bulgaria, forming a company first usually delays the start without changing much else; our comparison of EOR vs EOOD in Bulgaria sets out the trade-off, while a separate guide breaks the EOR role in Bulgaria down task by task.

Think about where the person will work, too. The contract has to name the place of work, and the parties may agree several places (possible since 2024), which suits a hire who splits time between home and a coworking desk in Sofia, Plovdiv or Varna.

Do not skip this step by engaging the person on a civil contract (граждански договор) while you decide. The Labour Code allows labour to be provided only through employment (Art. 1(2)), and an inspector’s order under Art. 405a can backdate the employment to the day the person began.

Set a gross monthly salary in euro, because that is how Bulgarian pay is quoted and how the contract must state it from 2026. No one may be paid below €620.20 a month (€3.74 an hour), the 2026 national minimum wage, but for skilled roles the market is the real reference.

For context, Bulgarian employees earned €1,444 gross a month on average between April and June 2026, according to the National Statistical Institute; in information and telecommunications, the best-paid sector, the figure was €3,079. Pay a mid-level Sofia developer €40,000 and the monthly gross is €3,333.33, just above that sector figure.

Two things sit on top of the number you agree. First, klas: the length-of-service bonus (клас прослужено време) that the law adds to basic salary once a person has recognised experience. Years spent in the same or a similar job with previous employers count towards it. Decide early whether your offer is a basic salary plus klas or a total that already contains it, and say so in writing; our guide to the klas bonus in Bulgaria shows how it is worked out. Second, the employer’s 18.92% contributions, charged only up to a monthly ceiling that stood at €2,111.64 for January to July 2026 and moved to €2,300 in August.

For the €40,000 developer, that puts the yearly cost to the employer at approximately €44,972.46 for 2026, leaving aside benefits and the EOR fee.

If the role will involve extra hours, budget for them separately. The Labour Code allows at most 150 overtime hours in a year. Art. 262 sets the minimum uplift by type of day: half as much again on a working day, three-quarters more on a rest day, and double on a public holiday.

Confirm the candidate’s citizenship and residence status before you make a final offer, because a non-EU national needs permission to work and the start date depends on it. For highly qualified roles the usual route is the EU Blue Card (Синя карта на ЕС), which combines residence and work rights. The Ministry of Interior’s Migration Directorate decides on it once the Employment Agency has given an opinion. No labour market test is involved, and the employment contract has to run for at least 6 months. A card can be valid for up to 5 years.

Other non-EU workers generally need a single permit (единно разрешение), which follows a different procedure. In either case the application is made by the employer, so it belongs to whoever you chose in step 1. Build the permit time into the offer letter rather than promising a date you cannot control.

Whatever the nationality, keep a copy of the identity document used for the contract and the register entry, and note any permit expiry date where you will see it.

Put the employment in a written contract (трудов договор) signed by both sides before work begins, as Labour Code Art. 62(1) requires. Art. 66 lists the minimum content, which a Bulgarian template will already follow:

• the parties, the place of work and the job title
• the start date and whether the contract is open-ended or fixed-term
• basic salary and any supplements, the pay period and the paid leave
• working time, normally 8 hours a day and up to 40 hours over a five-day week
• notice: 30 days by default on an open-ended contract, extendable by agreement to no more than 3 months

Probation (срок за изпитване) is capped at 6 months, and at 1 month on a contract of under a year. Whoever the clause favours may walk away without notice while it runs, under Art. 71. Fixed terms are for temporary, seasonal or short-term work, are capped at 3 years, and a contract that breaks those limits is treated as open-ended (Art. 68).

If the person will work from home, record that in the contract. Under the Labour Code’s remote work rules equipment, software and its upkeep, and the internet connection the job relies on are the employer’s cost, and health and safety stays the employer’s responsibility. Two clauses deserve care for tech roles: copyright in software written under the employment belongs to the employer unless agreed otherwise (Copyright Act Art. 14), while a clause barring the person from joining a competitor once they leave will not hold up in Bulgaria. Confidentiality duties, by contrast, can outlast the job. Our article on the labour contract in Bulgaria covers these terms in more depth.

The employer has 3 days from signature to put the contract into the employment register (регистър на заетостта) that the National Revenue Agency (NRA, НАП) maintains, and the entry has to exist before the employee’s first day. Many guides still call this the Art. 62(3) notification; since 1 June 2025 the Labour Code describes it as a register entry, but the deadline is the same.

The new employee must then be handed the signed contract plus the entry as certified by the NRA. Art. 63 says nobody may be admitted to work before that happens. This is where an eager start date can collide with paperwork that is still moving.

Breaking these rules is expensive. Art. 414 fines the employer per breach, with a separate fine for the manager responsible, and any social security owed for the person is added. Later changes to the contract, such as a raise or a new job title, also go into the register within 3 days; once the contract ends, the NRA has to be told within 7 days. We explain how this fits between offer and first payslip in our article on the EOR timeline in Bulgaria.

Keep a short file for each hire: the signed contract, the certified entry, the date the employee received both, and the job description. Those are the papers an inspector from the General Labour Inspectorate can ask for on a visit.

Once your hire has started, a few rules shape the first months. Nobody gets fewer than 20 working days a year of paid annual leave (платен годишен отпуск). On a person’s first ever job, it can be taken after 4 months of service; someone with previous employment can use it as it accrues. Employees with irregular working hours (ненормиран работен ден) get at least 5 extra days.

Sickness is split between you and the state. Days one and two of a sick note cost the employer 70% of the person’s average daily gross earnings; after that the National Social Security Institute (NSSI, НОИ) takes over at 80% of average daily insurable income, as long as the employee has 6 months of insurance behind them.

Plan around public holidays. In the rest of 2026 that means Christmas Eve on 24 December, Christmas on 25 and 26 December, and Monday 28 December as a day off because 26 December falls on a Saturday. Employees also have a right to disconnect: outside working hours they need not answer messages the employer starts (Art. 154b), subject to anything different in the contract or a collective agreement.

Two longer-range points are worth knowing from the start. A written request to work remotely or change hours can come from any parent of a child under 12 (Art. 167b). And maternity leave of 410 days per child is paid by the NSSI, not by the employer. Any annual leave left unused is paid out if the employment ends (Art. 224).

Pay salary on the date the contract sets, then settle the month with the NRA: contributions and withheld tax for, say, March fall due on 25 April. The employee’s contributions are 13.78% of pay up to the ceiling. Tax is simpler still: 10% of whatever is left once those contributions come off, with no tax-free slice for a regular employee.

For the €3,333.33 salary, take-home pay came to €2,738.11 in each month up to July 2026; from August to November it is €2,714.75, because the ceiling went up. At year-end, an employee whose sole employer on 31 December is you has their tax squared up by that employer before 31 January, which normally spares them a return.

With an EOR, all of this runs on our payroll and you approve the monthly invoice. Our service overview lists what is included, and Employer of Record Bulgaria can price a first hire from your role and salary. If you want the payroll mechanics in more detail, read how the Bulgarian payroll process runs month to month.

Bonuses go through the same calculation as salary. If regular pay that month already tops €2,300, the bonus attracts 10% tax and nothing more in contributions.