Bulgaria's 2026 minimum wage and the equal conditions rule for third country workers

From 1 January 2026 the minimum monthly wage in Bulgaria is BGN 1213, or EUR 620.20, and the minimum hourly rate is BGN 7.31, or EUR 3.74. Both figures are set by Council of Ministers Decree No 243 of 13 November 2025. For a worker from a third country, though, the minimum is rarely the figure that applies, because the Labour Migration and Labour Mobility Act asks for something else.

What was set, and who it covers

The Ministry of Labour and Social Policy records the increase as 12.6 percent against the previous BGN 1077 and states that it reaches close to 600,000 people in work. The new figure applies from 1 January 2026 to every employment relationship under the Labour Code, whatever the nationality of the worker. There is no separate, lower floor for third country nationals.

The hourly rate and the monthly figure are two separate numbers set in the same act. On part time contracts and where working time is calculated cumulatively, an inspection starts from the hourly rate, not from the monthly figure.

The equal conditions rule under the labour migration act

The Employment Agency examines applications for labour market access under the Labour Migration and Labour Mobility Act. When filing, the employer declares that the working conditions and pay offered to the third country worker are no less favourable than those applying to Bulgarian nationals doing the same work. That is a separate obligation, and it sits above the minimum wage.

In practice: if welders on the shop floor are paid BGN 2400 in basic wage, a welder from Nepal on the same position cannot be hired at BGN 1213 because that is the legal floor. The comparison is with actual pay for the same work in the same undertaking, not with the national threshold. The same holds for working time, rest periods, supplements for night work and for length of service, and the payment schedule.

The figure written into the employment contract and into the filing with the Employment Agency should be the figure actually paid. A gap between what was declared and what reaches the payslip is the easiest finding in an inspection, because the payroll and the contract sit in the same file. The penalty range and the scope of inspections are set out in labour inspectorate penalties for foreign workers.

What has to be recalculated before 1 January 2026

The wage increase is not an isolated number. It moves several other figures in the employer's costing at once.

• Minimum social security thresholds by economic activity and qualification group change with the state social insurance budget, and contributions are due on the higher of the two figures.
• The supplement for length of service and professional experience is calculated on the new basic wage, which pushes total cost above the headline increase.
• Positions that sat at BGN 1077 move to BGN 1213, compressing the gap against the grade immediately above and often forcing a correction there too, to keep the pay structure intact.
• The pay justification attached to the Employment Agency filing has to carry the new figure if the application is submitted after 1 January 2026.

That last point is where time is lost. An application filed in late December with last year's levels, for a role starting in February, leaves the employer paying one figure and having declared another. If you are preparing a labour market test file, line the levels up with the labour market test evidence, and the procedural clocks are in the single permit procedure for employers.

The 2026 costing runs on both numbers together: BGN 1213 as the statutory floor, and actual pay for the same position as the operative threshold under the labour migration act. The second is almost always the higher one. To compare your levels before the filings go in, see the employers page.