Bulgaria Immigration Rules and Authority Research

Governed authority release

Ministry of Interior Migration Directorate; MFA and consular posts; MLSP and Employment Agency for work access; Ministry of Justice for citizenship; State Agency for Refugees for protection

Active release 1; only the approved active release is public

Published: July 16, 2026
Next review: August 15, 2026
Filing-channel state: Route Authority Actor Account Date Source Health And Personal Stage Specific
Monitoring state: Manual Source Review

Filing boundary

Research-only coverage. Bulgaria applies the Schengen acquis: internal air and sea checks were lifted from 31 March 2024 and internal land checks from 1 January 2025. This does not remove external-border admission, visa, residence, work, registration, or identity requirements. Pre-31 March 2024 Bulgarian national short-stay visas had narrower territorial effects and must not be treated as current uniform Schengen visas without document-specific review. Current EU Visa Code timing must control where an MFA page still states a three-month application window. Route allocation is actor-specific: MFA and consular posts handle visas; Ministry of Interior migration units handle residence and foreign-national documents; MLSP and the Employment Agency supply work-access functions and opinions; Ministry of Justice handles citizenship; the State Agency for Refugees handles protection. State Gazette 52 and 109 of 2025 amended the Foreigners Act, implementing rules, commencement dates, and forms. Some enacted residence-document provisions depend on technical and organisational conditions; an enacted text is not proof that a portal function is live. English authority translations may be stale: the MVR EU free-movement translation stops at State Gazette 21 of 2021 and the authority-hosted English asylum and labour texts must be reconciled with current Bulgarian instruments. Visa presentation through an authorised agent does not replace the applicant signature or mandatory Type D interview. Combined work and residence routes may allow the employer or authorised person to start a filing but later require the foreign national to appear with that actor. EU residence, citizenship, protection, identity, biometrics, interview, signature, oath, original-document inspection, payment, and collection stages remain personal where the current route says so. Portal, eID, QES, employer, lawyer, or representative accounts belong to the lawful account holder; credentials must not be shared or replayed. Internal electronic exchanges between authorities are not public APIs. The MVR and MFA e-services portals do not establish universal immigration filing, status, payment, or decision endpoints. Temporary protection currently runs to 4 March 2027 under EU and Bulgarian measures; the earlier card or re-registration deadline must be kept distinct. The Commission proposal to extend protection to March 2028 is not enacted. The 2026 draft International Protection Act published for EU Pact implementation is not enacted law and must not replace the current Asylum and Refugees Act without a State Gazette enactment. Bulgaria acceded to the 1954 and 1961 statelessness conventions on 22 March 2012; current UN depositary status and reservations must be checked separately from domestic procedure. Fees changed with Bulgaria's euro transition and must be read from the current route, currency, payee, method, and effective date; no conversion or amount may be inferred from an older lev source. Broader-law currentness is source-specific. The Constitutional Court's English Constitution includes the 2023 amendments and 2024 court modification, while Parliament's English text stopping at 2015 is excluded. Ministry of Justice consolidations and Registry Agency copies must be reconciled with the State Gazette; the Ministry of Finance English Foreign Exchange Act copy is dated 2019, the Customs EORI guide is version 1.2 dated 15 March 2023, the CPDP English data-protection text stops at State Gazette 70/2024, and the NSSI agreements page states currentness through 1 January 2026. Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026 at EUR 1 = BGN 1.95583, so legacy-lev fees, capital amounts, forms and guidance require current euro verification. Registry, cadastral, tax, customs, social-security, AML, banking, procurement, employment-intermediary and professional-register roles remain separate. Property Register title functions and Cadastre Agency map or identifier functions must not be conflated. A public professional, bank, payment or intermediary register proves only recorded status and does not grant immigration authority, client-fund handling, portal delegation or data-reuse rights. EU Regulations 2020/1784 and 2020/1783 govern the current intra-EU service and evidence regime; HCCH pages warn that details may be incomplete and still link superseded EU regulations. Apostille authority depends on document type and is split among the Ministry of Justice, NACID, regional administrations and MFA. Court, registry and e-Justice portals may require party status, court authorisation, QES, national identifiers or other actor-owned access; online forms are drafting aids, not proof of filing or issuance. No source monitoring is configured. This research-only release activates no pathway, eligibility decision, form-preparation pack, source monitoring, fee engine, representative filing, portal action, payment, transmission, legal advice, or government submission.

Representative participation

Authority and route control who may act. MFA guidance permits many visa applications to be presented personally or through an authorised agent, but the applicant signs and a Type D personal interview is mandatory. Residence and work routes divide filing between the employer, an authorised person, and the foreign national; some later stages require the employer or authorised person and the foreign national to appear together. Current EU-citizen and family services commonly require personal filing, subject only to the exact statutory exception. Citizenship applications are filed personally at the Ministry or mission and include an interview; minors act through the statutory representative. Protection procedures remain applicant-centred. A lawyer, power of attorney, portal account, qualified electronic signature, employer role, or internal inter-agency exchange does not create wider authority. Verify the current route instrument, service record, account owner, originals, signature, interview, biometrics, fee, payment, receipt, collection, and appeal stage before each act.

Official authority links

Bulgaria CAIS EPP public procurement application portalhttps://app.eop.bg/today

No destination preparation pathway is available for Bulgaria.

Filing boundary

Representative participation

Official authority links

No source-specific document rules are published for records from Bulgaria.