If you are planning to travel or live in Bulgaria, you can contact the Bulgarian Embassy in UK for useful information on their website or check Bulgarian travel guides for general information about Bulgaria and Sofia:

Sofia City Guide, Travel Bulgaria, Sofia Echo Guide

Travel Advice/security issues

You can keep up-to-date with the latest travel advice for all countries, including Bulgaria, through the FCO travel advice or call 0845 850 2829.

It is also advisable to register with the British Embassy in Sofia regardless of whether you are a tourist or would like to reside in Bulgaria.

Residence permits

The latest information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bulgaria is that:

• EU nationals can enter without a visa and stay in Bulgaria on their ID card or passport for a period up to 3 months, without any further formalities.
• EU nationals can reside in Bulgaria for a long term (up to 5 years), or indefinitely. EU nationals can prove their long term or indefinite residence with a Certificate issued by the National Police (Migration) Directorate.

Certificate for a long term residence is issued to EU nationals who:

• are employed or self-employed in Bulgaria,
• or have health insurance and sufficient funds to cover their own expenses and these of their family members, without using the social-benefits system,
• or have enrolled a course of education, including a professional education, and have health insurance and sufficient funds to cover the expenses on their stay in the country.

In order to obtain a Residence Certificate, EU nationals have to:

• lodge an application with the National Police Directorate at the Ministry of Interior, within three months from the date of entry into the Republic of Bulgaria. 
• submit ID card or passport, additional documents to prove the circumstances and reasons for their long-term residency and a document for states fee payment.

The certificate is issued the same day as the application is lodged and includes the full name and registration date of the applicant.

In case of missing/ incomplete documents, the applicant is given a 7-day period to provide the required information. If they fail to do so the National Police Directorate at the Ministry of Interior can refuse the application, providing the reasons. The refusal is appealable under the Administrative Procedural Code. The appeal could be taken to a higher Administrative Department or to the Competent Court.

Long term residency permission is given to the EU nationals’ family members on the basis of:

• ID card or passport and document to prove that they are family members or in actual partnership with the EU national.

EU nationals can reside indefinitely in Bulgaria.  For this purpose, the National Police Directorate at the Ministry of Interior can issue a certificate.

A right to reside for an indefinite period could be obtained after the EU national has continuously been in Bulgaria for 5 years and meets one of the following requirements:

• has been working during the past year up to the suspension of their employment   contract, or activity as a self-employed person;
• has reached the age of retirement, or there is a reason for an earlier retirement, and has continuously been in Bulgaria for more than 3 years
• is an employee or a self-employed person, not employed due to a permanent limited capacity to work and has continuously been in Bulgaria for more than 2 years
• is an employee or self-employed person who’s limited capacity to work is due to an employment accident or occupational disease
• is an employee or self-employed person who has been continuously staying and working in Bulgaria for 3 years and works as such in another EU-member country while keeping their place of residence in Bulgaria and return to Bulgaria at least once a week.

To claim this right the period of employment in another EU-member country is considered as employment in Bulgaria and the periods of registered unemployment and employment suspension due to illness or accidents are included as equal.

When the employee or the self-employed person has the right to reside for an indefinite period, all family members who live in Bulgaria, regardless their nationality, have the same right to reside for an indefinite period.