Law on Trade Representative Offices

All the amendments concerning Trade Representative Offices have been adopted unanimously

namely:

Criteria for the foreign founding company

A foreign trading company wishing to open a representative office in Bulgaria and obtain a residence permit for its representatives must provide the following documents:

✔️Tax clearance: Documents confirming the company’s tax clearance.

✔️Annual turnover: Confirmation of an annual turnover of at least 100 000 leva (or the equivalent in foreign currency) for each of the two consecutive years preceding the registration of the trade representative office.

✔️Current status: A certificate of the foreign company’s current status, issued no earlier than 6 months before submission and valid for 6 months from the date of issue. The document must be obtained from the relevant competent registration authority in the company’s country of origin.

Number of representatives and extension of stay

✔️Maximum number: On this ground, no more than two representatives of a foreign trading company may obtain a residence permit.

✔️Extension: To extend the period of stay, the BCCI issues a new certificate after the trade representative declares their activity for the previous period of stay and confirms fulfilment of the representative office’s activity programme. Also, when applying for an extension, it is necessary to provide evidence of an office, of representative actions carried out and/or of relations with Bulgarian partners, as well as a new certificate of current status of the foreign legal entity (valid for 6 months from the date of issue).

❗️Upon extension, it is presumed that the parent company must meet the same criteria as at registration; however, for trade representative offices already registered at the time the amendments were adopted, a 2-year grace period is proposed