Acquiring / Renewing a Residence Card
If you are a foreigner, and wish to move to Bulgaria for a longer than 90 days (in a 180-day period), then you will need to apply for a Residency permit. The application must be submitted in Bulgarian, so if you need help message us and we will be there to help you.
You can obtain residency if you are self-employed in Bulgaria, or have registered a company here, have sufficient funds to cover medical insurance and other expenses, both for yourself and your family, or if you have been accepted into university here.
For non-EU citizens (now including UK citizens as well) who are applying for residency for the first time, you will need to apply for a long-stay visa before that. If you need assistance, we can get you in touch with one of our trusted lawyers, who specializes in visa applications and get it sorted for you.
Please remember that all visa applications must be submitted at least 3 months prior to your intended travel.
If you are already a resident and need to renew your card, give us a call and we will help you with collecting all the documents and filling in the application documents at your migration office.
For more information and a list of needed document, please contact us via email or the contact form.
Foreign Driving License Exchange
You can exchange your driving license for a Bulgarian one, without having to pass a driving test, if you have a permanent or long-term residency. After the exchange your old driving license is sent back to your country of origin.
If you have a non-EU driving license you can use it on the territory of Bulgaria for up to one year. After that you have to exchange it for a Bulgarian one.
Please note that provisional or temporary licences, international driving permits (or any other certificates issued in your home country) may not be recognised in Bulgaria.
Contact us for more information, specific to your case, or if you need help filling in the forms and acquiring all the needed documents.
Opening a Bulgarian Bank Account
It is quite easy to open a Bulgarian bank account, both as a resident and a non-resident. All you need is your passport (or a valid ID), your NHS number (if you are a UK citizen), as well as an address that will be used for correspondence.
Once you’ve completed the forms and paid a nominal fee, you will receive an IBAN number and a way to access your online banking. It takes about a week for the bank to commission and deliver your bank card, which you can then collect from the branch you originally opened your bank account in.
Please note that the forms need to be filled in Bulgarian, something that we at CB Translate will be more than happy to help with.
Car Registration in Traffic Police (KAT)
As long as you have residency, you can now register a car in your name as a foreigner. You have a month after you have bought a vehicle to go to the Traffic Police office in your local municipality and switch the car to be in your name.
All you need is the sales contract, your ID, and the small and big talon of the car. Due to the fact the forms need to be filled in Bulgarian, CB Translate will be more than happy to help, or even do it for you if you give us Power of Attorney.
Property Purchase / Sale
If you have a property you wish to sell, or have found the perfect house and want to buy it, CB Translate can help every step of the way.
If you are selling a house, but do not wish to go around and collect all the documents yourself, by giving us Power of Attorney we can do it for you. We will collect everything that is needed, contact our trusted notaries, and even complete the sell on your behalf.
If you have fallen in love with the perfect house, and wish to buy it, as a foreigner (from a non-EU country) one of the first things you need to do is open a company in Bulgaria. Due to a Bulgarian legislation, only foreigners with a registered company can buy land here. We can get you in touch with our trusted lawyers, who, along with us, can help you every step of the way with opening and registering a company here. After that is completed, we can finish the purchase without a problem, either ourselves via Power of Attorney, or accompanying you in front of the notary.
NHIF Registration
If you are a pensioner from the UK and have your residency, as well as a copy of the S1 form, we can now help you register to the NHIF (our equivalent of the NHS), alongside transferring your health insurance rights from the UK to Bulgaria.
After we fill in the forms, the NHIF advise that it might take up to a week for you to receive a certificate showing the change. Once you have received it, all you need to do is bring it to your chosen Bulgarian GP. He will then issue you a blue book, with which you can then visit him, as well as the dentist for a very small nominal fee.