Types of Bulgarian residence permit and how they differ

Visas and residence · Last reviewed: 2026-10-10

Three statuses, three different logics

The sturdiest way to grasp the distinction is to ask what each status rests on. Continued residence rests on something external: when the job, the course or the family ground ends, the permit is not renewed. EU long-term residence rests on your past residence itself, and thanks to EU law the status carries cross-border value. Permanent residence rests on a personal connection, and it does not lapse with time but only on grounds listed in the law.

Where the procedure runs

Applications are filed with the regional units of the Migration Directorate. On a favourable decision the applicant receives a residence card and is assigned a personal number for foreigners (ЛНЧ). That number is the key to everything afterwards: bank accounts, tax registration, health insurance and school enrolment all run through it. Renewing the status and renewing the card are separate procedures — even under an open-ended status the card itself is reissued periodically.

EU citizens sit outside this system

Citizens of the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, along with their family members, fall under a separate regime. The document issued to them is not a permit but a certificate recording the right of free movement, and the conditions are noticeably lighter than those for third-country nationals. A single household can therefore sit under two different regimes at once depending on the nationality of its members — a situation encountered often in practice.

How a status is lost

• •The ground supporting the permit falls away and no new ground is established.
• •Continuous absence from the country for longer than the law allows.
• •No address registration, or an address declared where the person does not actually live.
• •False declarations or forged documents used in the procedure.

The grounds for fixed-term residence (the list in the service description)

The Interior Ministry's service description “Authorising long-term residence of foreigners” (regime 238, for non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss nationals) rests on Articles 24, 24b, 24v, 24e, 24i, 24k, 33a, 33k, 33p and 33r of the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act and lists the grounds one by one. The main ones are:

• •Business activity: the activity must have created at least 10 full-time jobs for Bulgarian citizens, maintained for the period of residence; the requirement applies to each partner and each manager separately.
• •Representative of a foreign trading company: a representation registered with the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; at most three representatives per company can be authorised.
• •Real-estate investment: at least 600,000 in the old unit (at the fixed rate ≈ €306,775.13); the sum must be fully paid into a licensed credit institution, and if a loan was used, the unpaid part must not exceed 25%.
• •Investment in the capital of a company in a disadvantaged region: at least 250,000 in the old unit (at the fixed rate ≈ €127,822.97), at least 50% of the capital, new fixed assets of the same value and at least 5 jobs certified by the Ministry of Economy.
• •Education and research: full-time higher-education students, exchange-programme pupils, trainees and researchers with a research-project contract.
• •Family: family members of a foreigner holding a residence permit, family members of a Bulgarian citizen and financially supported parents; the documents must be recognised or admitted for enforcement under Bulgarian law.
• •Pension, treatment and special protection: people entitled to a pension with sufficient means, people receiving long-term treatment with funds for it, accredited foreign media correspondents and people with special protection status under the anti-trafficking law.

According to the same description, the service period is up to 120 days; the application is examined within 14 to 60 days of filing, and where extra documents are needed this can be extended by up to two further months. The document is valid for up to 5 years depending on the ground, and the decision can be appealed within 14 days through the administrative and court route.

Permanent residence and the card: two separate services

The service “Authorising permanent residence of foreigners” (regime 1077) rests on Article 25(1) of the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act. The decision period is 2 months; where the case is legally and factually complex or more documents are needed, it can be extended by a further 2 months. The description lists these grounds:

• •Art. 25(1)(1): foreigners of Bulgarian origin (birth certificate or a document from the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad).
• •Art. 25(1)(2): five years after a civil marriage to a permanently resident foreigner, together with 5 years of lawful, uninterrupted residence.
• •Art. 25(1)(3): unmarried minor children of a Bulgarian citizen or of a permanently resident foreigner.
• •Art. 25(1)(4): parents of a Bulgarian citizen who provide the support the law requires and have resided lawfully and continuously for 3 years.
• •Art. 25(1)(5): people who have lived lawfully and without interruption in the country during the last 5 years before applying; the limit on absences is written separately in the description, so check the number in the text of the law and with the Migration Directorate.

On the Bulgarian-origin line the fee is written as 10 in the old unit (at the fixed rate ≈ €5.11) for the requested service and 50 in the old unit (at the fixed rate ≈ €25.56) on issue. The application is filed 2 months before the current permit expires.

After the status decision, the card is a separate service (service 320; Art. 59 of the Bulgarian Identity Documents Act). It is issued to non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss foreigners who obtained a right of continued, permanent or long-term residence. The period is 1 month; the application is filed in person at the counter of the Migration Directorate or at the migration units of the regional MVR directorates. The state fee is 40 in the old unit (at the fixed rate ≈ €20.45) for the ordinary service (up to 30 days) and 80 in the old unit (at the fixed rate ≈ €40.90) for the fast one (up to 10 days); the 3-day express service costs 200 in the old unit (at the fixed rate ≈ €102.26) and is available only for permanent or long-term permits when the application is filed with the Migration Directorate. The decision can be appealed within 14 days.

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