Bulgaria Golden Visa

Bulgaria doesn’t officially call any residence route a “Golden Visa.” What people usually mean is a set of investor-based long-stay and residence options under the Law on Foreigners and related investment rules, aimed at non-EU and non-EEA nationals who put qualifying money into Bulgarian assets.

That matters because this isn’t the same thing as a tourist visa. Bulgaria’s short-stay Schengen visa is for brief visits, generally capped at 90 days in any 180-day period, while investor routes are meant for people looking at longer residence. The government’s visa framework still separates short-stay Schengen visas from national long-stay visa D.

Visa D is the starting point for most long-term stays. It’s the national visa foreigners need when they intend to live in Bulgaria for extended periods and it’s also the usual gateway to applying for a residence permit through the Migration Directorate of the Ministry of Interior.

Investor routes are the part that gets marketed as Bulgaria’s Golden Visa, but the official public sources don’t present a clean, named program with a neat checklist. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs lists visa types A, C and D, not a separate investor visa category. That means some of the program details people talk about online, like exact investment thresholds, fast-track options or fund types, can’t be confirmed directly from government sources here.

Bulgaria joined the Schengen area on March 31, 2024 and official sources say its residence permits and long-stay visas remain valid. So if you’re looking at Bulgaria for residence by investment, you’re really dealing with national immigration rules, not a standalone branded visa scheme. That makes the process a bit less tidy than the marketing suggests.

• Who it’s for: non-EU and non-EEA nationals.
• What it leads to: long-term or permanent residence, depending on the route used.
• What it’s not: a short-stay Schengen tourist visa.
• What’s unclear: the official portal doesn’t publish a confirmed, separate Golden Visa program with fixed public thresholds.

Bulgaria doesn’t officially call any route a “Golden Visa.” What people usually mean is a long-stay visa D or a residence permit tied to investment, under the Law on Foreigners and related investment rules. The key point is simple: these routes are for third-country nationals, not EU or EEA citizens and they’re meant for people planning to stay long term, not just visit for 90 days.

The official Foreign Ministry guidance for visa D is pretty general. It says applicants need a valid travel document, a clear purpose for staying in Bulgaria and compliance with visa and migration rules. It also confirms that the passport should have been issued within the last 10 years, should still be valid for at least 3 months after the planned departure and should have enough blank pages.

What the official pages don’t spell out is the part most readers actually want: a dedicated investor visa category with a named minimum investment, nationality restrictions or a clean list of asset types that qualify. Those details aren’t published in a consolidated “Golden Visa” program on the government side, so you can’t verify a fixed entry threshold from primary sources alone.

There’s also no official age minimum for an investor route. The visa D process does mention separate procedures for minors and judicially disabled persons, which tells you those cases are handled differently, but it doesn’t give a specific age rule for investors.

Disqualifying factors aren’t laid out in a neat investor checklist either. Still, the usual reasons for refusal apply, including security concerns, a criminal record, weak proof of purpose or not showing enough means to support yourself. The ministry also says visas can be refused and refusals can be appealed, so a bad decision isn’t automatically the end of the road.

• Who this route is for: non-EU, non-EEA nationals planning a long stay in Bulgaria
• Core visa D basics: valid passport, lawful purpose of stay and compliance with Bulgarian visa rules
• What’s not confirmed publicly: a named Golden Visa scheme, fixed investment thresholds, nationality limits and detailed investor conditions
• Common refusal risks: security issues, criminal history, weak supporting evidence or insufficient funds

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Bulgaria doesn’t publish a separate, official “golden visa” checklist on its public visa overview page. What it does publish are the standard document rules for long-stay visa D applications and those are the baseline most investor routes still have to sit on top of.

Your travel document has to be in good shape. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it must be valid for at least 3 months beyond your planned departure, have at least 2 blank pages and have been issued within the last 10 years.

• Travel document copy: a photocopy of the first page of the passport or other regular travel document.
• Previous visas: photocopies of any earlier Bulgarian, Schengen, UK or US visas, if you have them.
• Photo: one recent color photograph that meets biometric standards.
• Medical insurance: coverage valid for EU member states for the full trip, including repatriation, urgent medical care and emergency hospital treatment, with at least 30,000 in coverage.
• Travel proof: proof of tickets, a booking or financial means.
• Vehicle document: a copy of the car’s technical passport, where relevant.

If a minor is traveling without a parent or trustee, the file gets thicker. The ministry requires an extra copy of the birth certificate and a notarized power of attorney from the parent or trustee.

There are some exemptions from proof of subsistence, accommodation, transportation and insurance. These apply to certain EU, EEA and Swiss family members, holders of service or diplomatic passports, some seamen and people already covered through their social or service status.

For the investor route, the public MFA page doesn’t spell out a special golden visa document pack. It doesn’t list investment certificates, source-of-funds proof or bank statements either, so those may be asked for later by the Migration Directorate or another investment authority, but the official public visa page doesn’t say exactly what that file should contain.

Translation, apostille and legalization rules also aren’t set out on the cited MFA page. That means the official public guidance doesn’t confirm how foreign documents should be prepared for an investor-based residence file, which is annoying but not unusual for Bulgaria’s more technical residence tracks.

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Bulgaria doesn’t publish a clean, official fee schedule for what many people call its golden visa route. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs explains the visa categories and application process, but it doesn’t list a fixed government fee for visa D applications tied to investor residence, nor does it publish a consolidated charge for the residence permit stage.

That leaves a frustrating gap. If you’re budgeting for this route, you can’t rely on one official number for the visa, another for the residence card and a third for dependents, because the public guidance doesn’t spell them out.

• Visa D fee: not listed in the official guidance for investor-based applications.
• Residence permit fee: not published in the available MFA material.
• Dependent fees: also not confirmed in the official source.
• Fee exemptions: foreign citizens under 6 years old and family members of Bulgarian and EU citizens are exempt from visa processing fees, but that doesn’t come with a published standard fee table.

There’s another catch. The official page doesn’t give you a breakdown for the extra costs people usually run into, like private health insurance, translation and legalization or legal and consultancy fees. Those are very real expenses in practice, but they’re not confirmed in the government material provided here, so they can’t be pinned down to a reliable figure.

So the honest answer is simple: for Bulgaria’s investor residence route, the official online sources available here don’t support any fixed cost estimate. If you need exact numbers, you’ll have to check directly with the relevant authorities or a licensed local adviser before you commit money to the application.

How to apply

Bulgaria doesn't have a visa officially called a “Golden Visa.” The route people mean is a residence-by-investment application under the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act and it’s aimed at non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss applicants. It leads to permanent residence by investment, then the standard naturalisation track after 5 years of permanent residence.

The first step is choosing a qualifying investment. The legal and program descriptions point to several options, including Bulgarian alternative investment funds or collective investment schemes with a minimum of €512,000, listed shares or bonds at around €1.03 million or a business investment of BGN 500,000 with at least 10 new jobs. Some routes for disadvantaged regions start at BGN 250,000 with 5 jobs. The exact structure matters, so don’t assume every property or company deal will qualify.

Once the investment is in place, you apply for a long-stay Type D visa at a Bulgarian embassy or consulate in your country of residence or citizenship. The official materials and practitioner guides don’t give one fixed government timetable, but D-visa processing is commonly described as taking about 30 working days to 2 months. The visa fee and any card issuance fees aren’t set out in a single central English tariff, so you’ll need to check the embassy and the Migration Directorate directly.

What you’ll usually need

• Passport: valid travel document.

• Police clearance: proof of no criminal record.

• Source of funds: documents showing the money used for the investment is lawful.

• Bank account: a euro account in a FATF-compliant jurisdiction.

• Investment evidence: records showing the qualifying shares, fund units or capital injection.

After the D visa is approved, you enter Bulgaria and file the permanent residence application with the Migration Directorate. That’s the part that turns the investment route into a residency card. The paperwork is still bureaucratic and slow, but it’s the right track if you want permanent status rather than a temporary stay that runs out after a year or two.

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Bulgaria doesn’t officially call any route a “Golden Visa.” What investors usually mean is a long-stay visa D or a residence permit issued under Bulgarian foreigners and investment rules. The practical point is simple, though, these are residence routes, not short-stay tourist visas.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Bulgaria now issues Schengen short-stay visas and that Bulgarian residence permits and long-stay visas remain valid after March 31, 2024. That matters because holders can make short visits to other Schengen states, but only within the standard 90 days in any 180-day period. That Schengen limit applies to travel outside Bulgaria, not to living in Bulgaria under a residence permit.

What the official material does not spell out is the standard validity period for visa D or the initial length of an investor residence permit. It also doesn’t publish a clean, public renewal timetable for these investment-linked permits. So if you’re trying to plan around exact dates, the official portal leaves a gap.

The same problem shows up with longer-term status. Bulgaria’s general law can lead from long-term residence to permanent residence after several years, but the Ministry’s visa overview doesn’t confirm how that works for investor routes specifically. It doesn’t set out the timeline, the residence-day requirements or any program-specific fees in the material reviewed here.

• Short-stay Schengen travel: up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
• Bulgaria residence status: valid for living in Bulgaria, not capped by the Schengen short-stay rule.
• Visa D and residence permit validity: the official overview doesn’t give a fixed public figure.
• Renewal rules: not clearly summarized on the official visa page.
• Permanent residence and citizenship path: possible in general law, but not confirmed for this investor route in the sources reviewed.

If you’re considering this route, the annoying part is that the public government material stops short of the details you’d actually want before applying. You can confirm the existence of the residence route, but not rely on the official overview for the full lifecycle of the permit.

Bulgaria’s investor residence route doesn’t come with a special tax label and the official visa guidance doesn’t spell out any separate tax regime for people who enter through investment. That means you shouldn’t assume the residence permit itself changes how Bulgaria taxes you. It doesn’t say that anywhere on the official visa page.

The biggest gap is tax residency. The MFA guidance doesn’t explain when a residence permit turns into a Bulgarian tax residency trigger and it doesn’t set out how physical presence or a permanent address affects your tax status under the general rules. So if your plan depends on becoming a tax resident, you’ll need to check that separately instead of relying on the investor visa materials.

There’s also no official detail here on the things investors usually care about most:

• Foreign-earned income: the visa page doesn’t say how Bulgaria treats income earned outside the country.
• Double-taxation treaties: the official guidance doesn’t list treaty coverage or how it applies to residence-by-investment cases.
• Reporting obligations: there’s no breakdown of what an investor resident must declare or file.

That silence matters. If you’re moving money, keeping income abroad or planning to split time between countries, the visa page alone won’t tell you the tax cost of the move. You’ll need proper tax advice based on your full personal setup, not just the residence route you use.

One more thing: Bulgaria’s investor route is often marketed as a “golden visa,” but the government doesn’t officially use that label. So if you see tax claims tied to a “Golden Visa” package, treat them carefully unless they’re backed by separate tax rules, not just visa marketing.