After over four months of confusion and uncertainty, clarification of the Law on Foreigners, which requires businesses to employ 10 Bulgarians for every foreign employee, is expected to come in three week's time.

The Sofia Directorate of Interior Affairs has said that it will publish the clarifications of the new law in The State Gazette at the beginning of October.

The law came into effect in April and lawyers have been working on ways to help an increasing amount of foreigners through the difficulties they now face.

There are currently several ways to get around the law. David Clark, managing director of Intrade, is offering to appoint clients as trade representatives of registered British companies. As trade representatives, clients will not be obliged to employ 10 Bulgarian staff or to submit tax returns each year.

Documentation, including bank statements with a minimum of 3,000 leva, will be required and the whole process takes three to four weeks. "Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do to speed up the bureaucracy," said Clark. Temporary residence permits will be issued for six months or a year. Companies do not have to be actively trading and a notarized letter proving that the individual is still a trade representative of the company will be necessary to renew the permit, explained Clark.

The service does not come cheap. Clark charges $425 to provide status as a fully legal trade representative. For an extra $875, the company can be registered in the client's own name. Clark said there's been a lot of interest but he has only processed two applications so far.

Latchuzar Popov, a lawyer with Popov and Co., agreed that this process was entirely legal as long as the companies were registered with the Chamber of Commerce. He added that a lot of foreign business people have been registering themselves as trade representatives.

According to Popov, there's another way for foreigners to qualify for temporary residence without employment restrictions. They can register themselves as the founders or managers of charitable foundations or NGOs.

Popov's first application to register a client as the manager of a foundation is being processed. "Everything is moving very slowly," he said.

However, Laura Thomas, a lawyer with LM Legal Services, was adamant that registering as the founder of an NGO or foundation would not qualify foreigners for temporary residence. "This idea comes from a 1997 amendment to the foreigners law and is no longer effective," she said. Thomas also suggested that pursuing the trade representative option was expensive and inefficient, as it would only secure temporary residence for one person.

She is still arranging permits for foreigners who have investments in Bulgaria. The unofficial minimum investment is 3,500 leva. Section 12 of the foreign investments law states that investments can include moveable property and Thomas has been able to apply this to assets such as computers and cars. She has successfully arranged a number of temporary residence permits in this way.

Needless to say, the expatriate business community has eagerly anticipated the impending clarification. "This will be the turning point," said Popov, who is waiting to hear which professions will be exempt from the law. "There has been very little information available and we are waiting for the freelance professions to be confirmed."