The regime for residence of EU member states citizens and their families on the territory of Republic of Bulgaria is defined with the Law for entering, residence and leaving the territory of Republic of Bulgaria by citizens of the EU and the members of their families.
An EU citizen is permitted to reside in Bulgaria with an ID card or passport for maximum of three months. If a member of the family is a non-EU citizen then he/she is allowed to reside three months with his/her passport in Bulgaria from the date of entering the country.
An EU citizen can reside in Bulgaria either permanently or temporary, for which he receives a certificate issued by the General Directorate “Security Police”. The certificate for temporary residence is being issued for the term of five years in the cases when the EU citizen is an employee or he/she is self-employed in Republic of Bulgaria.
The law for foreigners in Republic of Bulgaria defines the conditions and the order, according to which the foreigners can enter, reside and leave the country. The foreigners in Republic of Bulgaria have all the rights and obligations derived from the Bulgarian laws and the ratified international contracts to which Bulgaria is a side. The foreigners who reside in Bulgaria carry civil, administrative and legal liability just like the Bulgarian citizens, unless there is a special law or international contract which determines something else.
Foreigners’ residence can be either short-term or long-term.
The short-term residence is for up to 90 days and it can be continued for reasons of a humanitarian character.
The long-term residence can be continuous (up to 1 year) or permanent (with no time limitations).
The Regulation which defines the conditions and the order for issuing, refusal, and withdrawal of work permits for foreigners is in accordance with the Law for Foreigners in Republic of Bulgaria which does not allow changes of the grounds for entering and residing on the territory of Republic of Bulgaria. In that sense the principle for no replacement of the grounds for entering and residing, the foreigners are expected to first obtain a work permit which will be the ground for requesting a residence permit.
Up until obtaining the residence permit, the foreigner should not be residing on the territory of Republic of Bulgaria.
The issued work permit is based on the application for obtaining a visa type D for long-term residence which gives the right for a frequent entering the territory of Republic of Bulgaria for the time of its validity – up until 6 months. The long-term residence permit is being issued for the time of the obtained by the Labour Agency work permit.
The foreigners who have obtained a permanent residence permit have the right to work in Bulgaria according to the law defined for the Bulgarian citizens.
