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Foreigners in Bulgaria

The information in this section has been presented to “Friends Real Estate” by various official sources, including the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Parliament, the Supreme Court, etc. Our goal is to emphasize on the most important texts of the Bulgarian laws, which could prove of a great use for our clients.

     1. Visiting Bulgaria

To travel to Bulgaria for a holiday or a take a look at some hot property projects for example you don?t necessarily have to have any particular visa type. It basically depends on the country of origin and the validity of your passport. Again, depending on your home country you can remain for either 30 (the UK or Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland) or 90 (Austria, Germany, France, Belgium, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Latvia, Chile) days in a six month period. You must have a passport valid for the duration of your intended stay. If you come from any other country you should apply to the Bulgarian consulate or embassy in your country or nearest to your country.

     2. Staying in Bulgaria

If you want to stay on in Bulgaria for a longer period, past your visitor visa duration, then you should apply for a long stay visa known as visa type D from the Bulgarian embassy in your home country. The cost of this varies, for instance, 25 USD for US citizens and 44 GBP for UK citizens. You should complete the application form, which you can obtain either from the web site of the embassy or by post after asking it from the embassy.

The websites of the Bulgarian embassy in UK is:
http://www.bulgarianembassy.org.uk/

For the application are required two photographs, a state of purpose, proof that you can support yourself financially and that you have accommodation when you arrive in Bulgaria. Whit type D visa you are allowed to travel to Bulgaria and remain for up to six months. Once you arrive you should not leave Bulgaria for three months or you cannot reenter the country with the same visa. This is the first step for anyone thinking of immigrating to Bulgaria or getting temporary residence or permanent residence status.

     3. Residence Permits

With your type D visa you can apply to the Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs for residency. You can either apply for temporary residence for up to one year or permanent residence.

     4. Temporary residence

For the temporary residence you have to have proof that you can financially support yourself, you must be making regular contributions to the social security system and have both a place to live and complete and private medical insurance.

You may then be given permission to remain in Bulgaria for up to one year if you have both a work permit and a guaranteed full time contract. This permission can be granted if you are about to start studying in the country or are married either to a citizen of the country or another foreigner who has permanent residence already. If you are the parents of a person with permanent residence and you are independently financially secure you may be granted temporary residence permit. If you are a retired person and financially secure, you can be granted a one year residency permit.

     5. Permanent residency

You may be granted permanent residency in Bulgaria and remain in Bulgaria indefinitely if you are married to a Bulgarian and have already lived in the country for two years. Another possibility is if you have been applying year in year out for your one year residency and this has been going on now for five years. After that you can apply to remain full time. Permanent residency can be obtained by a person who is originally of Bulgarian descent or a child of a Bulgarian or foreign citizen who already has permanent residence. If you have the permanent residency permit you are allowed an indefinite stay in Bulgaria.

     6. Work Permits

If you want to work in Bulgaria you must have a work permit in addition to your type D visa or residence permit. This permit cannot be granted if you are in Bulgaria. You have to get the work permit before you getting in Bulgaria. The permit can be issued by the Bulgarian embassy in your originating country.

For details about the legal aspects of working in Bulgaria see the section Important Laws and the Law for the foreigners in Bulgaria.

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