Entry conditions/Visa

Visa Requirements

You are planning to come to Bulgaria as a PhD student, researcher, or highly-skilled worker at a company and are willing to learn more about the visa regime and entering the country?

EU Citizen

If you are a citizen of a member state of the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland, you may enter the territory of Bulgaria with a valid identity card or a valid passport and you are entitled to stay on it for a period of up to three months.Currently Bulgaria is not part of the Shengen area and issues national visas only. Their holders are not entitled to enter the Schengen area.

We are in the process of updating some content on this section in the light of the UK's departure from the EU. If the section contains content that does not yet reflect this development, it is unintentional and will be addressed.

Non-EU Citizen

If you are a non-EU/EEA citizen you need a long-stay visa (type D visa) in order to enter the territory of Bulgaria . This document entitles you to multiple entries into the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria within its validity term and is cancelled on issuing a permit for stay by the authorities for administrative control of foreigners.

Visa Application

The application for issuing your long-stay visa is submitted only in the diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Bulgaria at your permanent place of residence or the missions accredited in the state of your permanent residence. If you are staying legally in a third country, different from the country of your permanent residence, you may, as an exception, apply for a long-term visa in this third country after explaining the reasons for that and if your return to the state of your permanent residence is guaranteed.

Long-term Visa

In order to obtain a long-term visa you should have a document certifying your grounds for residing in Bulgaria. If you are admitted as a PhD student to a higher education institution you should present to the respective consular mission the document certifying your admission. If you are a researcher who is going to do research work at a Bulgarian university, or you are going to work as a highly-skilled professional at a company, you need to have obtained a work permit by the Bulgarian National Employment Agency.

Visa Documents

Visa application form
A regular foreign travel document
Copies of the pages of the foreign travel document with your personal information and the visas laid and/or copied of the permits for stay you possess
A recent passport-size color photograph

Additional Requirements

On the web-site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs you may find information about the consular services rendered by the diplomatic missions of Bulgaria abroad, as well as about the services rendered by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Bulgarian and foreign citizens in Bulgaria. There you may find information whether you need a visa for your travel out of Bulgaria, as well as about the visa regime between Bulgaria and the other countries and whether foreign citizens visiting Bulgaria need a visa.