The Performance of Bulgarian Illegal Immigrants in the Greek Labour Market

This article presents the results of a survey of 100 illegal Bulgarian immigrants living in the Athens area of Greece. The results indicate that Bulgarian illegal immigrants tend to take lower level jobs in the Greek labour market, some of which, however, are jobs for which Greeks compete. Entry into Greece is made legally via visas obtained in Bulgaria. Immigrants tend to be treated well and make friends with locals. Their wage levels are considerably below those of comparable Greeks and they are not insured. Illegal immigrants seem to be tolerated by the authorities, as well as by locals. They tend to send considerable remittances to their home country, but are not particularly reliant on fellow immigrant networks for their labour market movements.