Get a residence permit in Bulgaria as a foreign company representative

It is easy to move to Bulgaria if you are a pensioner, going to marry a Bulgarian citizen, or have a family in this country. In all the other cases there is practically one working way to get a residence permit and it is to be added to a foreign company representative office or to register it.

The trade representative office must be registered in the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI). The number of people who can work in each company is limited. And as years go by, the requirements to such legal entities are becoming stricter.

We are ready to add you to a running trade office, to provide a consultation per all the questions you have and to help you gather all the necessary documents. 

Please send us a request and we will provide detailed information about our services, the registration process, prices and time.

How to get a temporary residence permit

You will need to go through several steps to receive a temporary residence permit in Bulgaria being applying as a trade office representative:

• To register the foreign company and its office in BCCI. Separate representatives who intend to be added as a company’s list, must also be registered.  
• To get visa D.
• To gather documents and receive a permit.

Registration process

The registration process takes much time and requires a lot of papers.
Having decided to register your company office in Bulgaria, you will need to submit the following package to the BCCI:

• Filled up application form.
• Legal entity registration certificate.
• Extract from the Register of Legal Entities.
• Decision to open a trade representative office (TRO).
• Valid passports of the Director.
• Power of attorney issued to the name of the applicant.
• Power of attorney issued to the name of our company’s employee who will submit the application to the BCCI.
• Samples of signatures of the person to be added and the director.
• Certificates stating that neither the director nor the applicant have criminal records.

Recently, new requirements have appeared. The candidate must provide a tax certificate confirming the cash flow in the company account as well as the absence of the tax debts. BBCI may also request an operation plan where responsibilities of each employee would be described.
The documents must be translated into Bulgarian as well as legalized. 

Preparation process takes a long time and quite high financial costs. 

Apart Estate company will help you exclude this step and get added into a running TRO.

Among our partners there are successful foreign companies with considerable working experience who are ready for new candidates. We at the same time follow all the legal changes and assure that new applicants will be registered in the reliable and running firms only. 

Visa D

Adding to the TRO and preparation of all the necessary documents takes not more than 4 weeks. As a result, you will get a certificate that will be a basis for the visa D application. This type of visa allows receiving residence permit. 

Apart from the certificate, there are other documents that need to be prepared and submitted to the Bulgarian consulate or embassy in the country where you permanently live:

• Application (2 originals) with a color photograph 3.5x4.5.
• Foreign passport valid not less than 18 months.
• Certificate that the applicant has no criminal records. It must be translated by a licensed interpreter and confirmed in the consulate (the translation costs 15 Euro).
• 6 months medical insurance with 30 thousand Euro coverage.
• Confirmation that you have where to live. If you are an owner of the real estate, you need to submit a Notary Act. If you rent an apartment, prepare a rental agreement and an owner’s declaration. Every document must be in Bulgarian and notarized. 
• Bulgarian bank certificate confirming that you have an amount equal to 12 minimum monthly salaries in your account.
• Receipt of consular fee payment equal to 100 Euro.

The certificate has 30 days validity that is why all the papers must be submitted within this period. The applicant must come to the embassy or consulate in person. The application date is appointed by an embassy employee based on the scanned package of documents. 
The decision can be received in person or per a Letter of Attorney. The minimum consideration time is 30 days. Sometimes applicants wait for 3-4 months. 

Receiving residence permit in Bulgaria

As soon as you get visa D in your passport, you can go to Bulgaria and proceed. The visa is valid for 180 days. Within this time you can enter and leave the country several times. You need to apply for the residence permit 3-4 weeks prior to the visa validity date.

The documents’ package includes:

• Application.
• Foreign passport. 
• Certificate that the applicant has no criminal records. It must be translated by a licensed interpreter and confirmed in the consulate (the translation costs 15 Euro).
• Confirmation that you have where to live. If you are an owner of the real estate, you need to submit a Notary Act. If you rent an apartment, prepare a rental agreement and an owner’s declaration. Every document must be in Bulgarian and notarized. 
• Bulgarian bank certificate confirming that you have an amount equal to 12 minimum monthly salaries in your account.
• 12 months medical insurance.

Receipt of fee payment equal to 10 Leva.

Before applying, you need to issue a new BCCI certificate. The residence permit cannot be received without it.

Your application will be considered within 2-3 weeks. An employee of the migration department of the regional Ministry of Home Affairs who has accepted your documents would provide you a coupon with a date when you need to come to get a decision.

On this day you can come to the migration office, learn whether your application was satisfied, fill up one more application form, take a picture and pay fees. If you get 12 months’ residence permit, the fee is 500 Leva, if for 6 months – 250 Leva. An additional charge equal to 45-220 Leva is taken for a personal ID issuance. The cost depends on how quickly it will be issued.

Residence permit prolongation

The residence permit can be issued a maximum for 360 days. You can apply for a permanent stay allowance after 5 years of living in Bulgaria. This means that you need to repeat the above-described procedure 5 times.
The procedure is identical. The only difference is that you do not need to submit a criminal record’s certificate.

Apart Estate adds citizens from different countries to foreign companies’ representative offices. We work in full compliance with the legislation as well as guarantee the legality and decency. Trust us with your documents and you will get a possibility to move to one of the most comfortable countries of the EU!