Foreign nationals who intend to stay in Bulgaria for more than 90 days are required to obtain a residence permit. Without this document there is no way to count on obtaining a permanent residence permit or citizenship.
Let’s start with the truth. There are no competent representatives in Bulgaria who can actually provide a service of full support throughout the process of obtaining citizenship or a permanent residence permit. Most such “specialists” merely create the appearance of active work, but practically all of their activity comes down to a standard set of actions.
At first glance, legal immigration routes conceal a large number of fictitious schemes that the Bulgarian government uncovered long ago.
The grounds for obtaining a long-term residence permit in Bulgaria are listed in the Law on Foreigners. However, regardless of the ground chosen, entry into the country in such situations must be made exclusively on a long-stay visa (type D).
Once a foreign national has been issued a long-term residence permit, the current visa is annulled. From that moment on, entry and exit are made using the international passport. At the same time, the immigrant must always carry an ID card certifying the right of residence obtained.
Permanent residence status is granted 5 years after the long-term residence permit is issued.
The most accessible way to obtain a long-term residence permit in Bulgaria is registering a trade representative office.
To begin with, let’s clarify what a trade representative office is.
So, a trade representative office is a fully independent unit that has no right to engage in commercial activity, unlike the company whose interests it represents in Bulgaria. Most often such units are set up for advertising purposes.
Although a representative office cannot carry out business activity, it does have the right to open a bank account in order to make expenditures.
Many foreigners living in Bulgaria open dummy representative offices. Such organisations put genuine representative offices at risk.
It is not enough simply to create the appearance of your presence at the representative office’s address. The Bulgarian Migration Service has tightened control over compliance with the legal requirements, so it is very important that the head of the company is always in contact with their trade representative. In some cases, Migration Service officers may ask a foreign national to contact the company’s director in their presence.
Representative offices are required to register the structural unit and reflect it in their financial statements. This obligation is governed by:
As of today there is no strict control over compliance with these requirements, but the situation may change at any moment, and a representative office that has ignored a statutory requirement faces a substantial fine.
A representative office is inspected every six months. It is precisely this fact that determines the cost of registering a foreign national in an existing representative office.
If there is no possibility of opening one’s own trade representative office, those wishing to live in Bulgaria on precisely this ground look for a vacancy in an already established representative office of another company.
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry requires the company to have real activity and turnover. How can you be sure that a company meets these requirements? Will its management be able to prepare the documents for the annual inspection of the trade representative office? How can you avert the very threat of losing your residence status in Bulgaria because of a careless attitude on the part of the company’s management? After all, representatives often learn too late that they are no longer needed at the representative office and that they will not receive the package of documents to extend it.
As a rule, no one wants to leave Bulgaria. So from that moment on, a spontaneous search for a new trade representative office begins. You can look for a vacancy on your own, but it is better not to experiment with random options so as not to repeat past mistakes in choosing a company.
By providing accounting services to a large number of firms with Russian-speaking managers that have real business interests in Bulgaria, our company is able to propose candidates for trade representatives who meet the management’s requirements and are able to advertise their firms’ products or services. Vetted companies usually turn out to be better than options found in a hurry.
In any case, there is no need to despair or panic. A correct solution can always be found.
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This article describes the general procedure. Your situation almost always has specifics — tell us about it and we will point out the shortest route.
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