Hello! My husband and I are hoping to move to Bulgaria this coming spring or summer, and are genuinely confused as to the visa process.
We have found conflicting information on official websites, and I tried contacting the Bulgarian consulate in Los Angeles (we live in Washington state, USA), but they were pretty uninformative. I am starting to reach out to other people who have already done the move to Bulgaria as expats so that I can learn from what they did. As a note: we are not 100% positive that Bulgaria will be the country we end up in long-term; we are wanting to move there this year but have it be a sort of trial period where we spend as much time there as our visas allow, but also travel around a bit to surrounding countries to get a feel for them too, just in case. There's probably only like a 20% chance that we wouldn't choose to stay in Bulgaria versus somewhere else. Then we would apply for residency in Bulgaria (or wherever else, if somewhere else sticks out more). That is why we are not applying for residency right now before we go.
Here's what we have figured out: US citizens can stay in Bulgaria up to 90 days within a 6-month period. To stay longer than that, we would need a D-type visa which would then allow for 90 more days of stay. To work in Bulgaria, we need a work permit.
What we are getting conflicting information about: Does the D-type visa absolutely need to be applied for in the US, or can it be done in Sofia once we're already in Bulgaria? To get the work and residency permits, do we need to already have had the D visa? Are we allowed to travel within the Shengen area during the portion of time that our visas do not allow us to be in Bulgaria?
I would love to hear what others have done successfully so that we can try to replicate it.
Thank you!!
We have found conflicting information on official websites, and I tried contacting the Bulgarian consulate in Los Angeles (we live in Washington state, USA), but they were pretty uninformative. I am starting to reach out to other people who have already done the move to Bulgaria as expats so that I can learn from what they did. As a note: we are not 100% positive that Bulgaria will be the country we end up in long-term; we are wanting to move there this year but have it be a sort of trial period where we spend as much time there as our visas allow, but also travel around a bit to surrounding countries to get a feel for them too, just in case. There's probably only like a 20% chance that we wouldn't choose to stay in Bulgaria versus somewhere else. Then we would apply for residency in Bulgaria (or wherever else, if somewhere else sticks out more). That is why we are not applying for residency right now before we go.
Here's what we have figured out: US citizens can stay in Bulgaria up to 90 days within a 6-month period. To stay longer than that, we would need a D-type visa which would then allow for 90 more days of stay. To work in Bulgaria, we need a work permit.
What we are getting conflicting information about: Does the D-type visa absolutely need to be applied for in the US, or can it be done in Sofia once we're already in Bulgaria? To get the work and residency permits, do we need to already have had the D visa? Are we allowed to travel within the Shengen area during the portion of time that our visas do not allow us to be in Bulgaria?
I would love to hear what others have done successfully so that we can try to replicate it.
Thank you!!
