Arabs in Bulgaria
Arabs in Bulgaria are the people from Arab countries, particularly Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian Territories, Iraq, and Jordan and also small groups from Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and Sudan, who emigrated from their native nations and currently reside in Bulgaria. Most Arab Bulgarians are of Lebanese or Syrian origin, because they were the first Arabs to arrive in Bulgaria. The first Arabs came to Bulgaria in the late 1960s and early 1970s as students in Bulgarian universities. In the over forty-year history of this community, 11,400 Arabs have migrated to Bulgaria. According to other data from two teams of anthropologists and sociologists, the number of Arabs in Bulgaria who are legal residents and officially have work permits was 17,000 in 2004.
In addition, Bulgaria has people from Arab countries, who have the status of refugees or illegal immigrants trying to immigrate to Western Europe.
