Bulgarian law offers various grounds for obtaining a residence permit. One of them is studying at a Bulgarian university. This ground has its own particularities, and anyone intending to stay in the country after graduation should be aware of them.
Students receive a long-term residence permit in Bulgaria under Art. 24в of the ЗЧРБ (the law on foreigners). The main difference between the “student” long-term residence permit and the other grounds for long-term stay is that after 5 years of lawful residence in the country with a residence permit it will not be possible to obtain a permanent residence permit, since only half of the five-year period will be counted.
So what should students who plan to go on living in Bulgaria do? Change the grounds. And the sooner this is done, the better, because the less time will be needed to obtain permanent residence in the country.
After completing their studies, a foreigner with a student residence permit may obtain a residence permit for a further period of 9 months. To do so, within one week of completing their studies they must submit an application to the employment agency in order to register as a person seeking work. After that, at least one month before the residence permit expires, the relevant application must be submitted to the migration service. The following are attached to the application:
While living in Bulgaria, the former student must find a job and obtain a residence permit on new grounds.
It is by no means necessary to change the grounds only at this stage: you can consider the change long before your studies end. In that case you will be able to accumulate more quickly the five years required for obtaining a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status.
What should the student grounds be changed to? The most popular options are marriage, employment, a trade representative office. You can review the various grounds for a long-term residence permit here.
Residence permit in Bulgaria (long-term residence permit)
Long-term residence permit in Bulgaria on the grounds of “Freelance profession”
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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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