Permanent residence permit for minor children of Bulgarian citizens and foreigners with a permanent residence permit

Minor and unmarried children (including adopted ones) are entitled to obtain the status of permanent resident of Bulgaria under a simplified procedure.

In the current wording of the law, this ground is strictly divided depending on the parent's status:

Art. 25, para. 1, item 3 of the ZChRB — for children whose parents (or one of them holding parental rights) are foreigners with a permanent residence permit or EU long-term resident status in Bulgaria.

Art. 25, para. 1, item 12 of the ZChRB — for minor unmarried children of Bulgarian citizens.

Entry routes and visa rules

The legislation clearly distinguishes the procedure depending on the child's current location:

The child is already in Bulgaria legally: If the minor is in the country on the basis of a temporary long-term residence permit (for example, through family reunification), there is no need to leave Bulgaria in order to change the status to a permanent residence permit. The documents are submitted directly to the regional migration service.

The child is abroad: In that case, a long-term category “D” visa is arranged in advance at the Bulgarian consulate at the place of permanent residence. Entry on short-term Schengen visas (type C) with subsequent application for a permanent residence permit inside the country is not provided for children on the general track (not by descent).

Step-by-step procedure and set of documents

The documents are submitted in person by the child accompanied by both parents (or by one of them, with notarised consent/a court decision from the other) to the “Migration” Directorate at the place of permanent address.

Deadlines:

The set of documents must be submitted no later than 2 months before the expiry of the child's period of lawful stay in the country.

The review period is 2 months (with the possibility of an extension by another 2 months by the agency's management if in-depth checks are required).

List of documents:

Application (molba): Completed using the established template. For children under 14 it is signed by both parents; from 14 to 18 it is signed by the teenager themselves and by both parents.

Review fee: Receipt for payment of the fee of €5 (the equivalent of the former 10 leva).

The child's valid international passport: Original + copies of the pages with personal data and the stamp of the last entry. The passport must be valid for at least 3 months at the time of submission.

Birth certificate: Original + notarised copy with a mandatory legalised translation into Bulgarian.

Declaration of maintenance and accommodation (Deklaratsiya za podslon i izdrazhka): A notarised document from the parents confirming that the child is provided with housing (owned or rented) and financial maintenance of no less than the established Bulgarian standards.

Notarised consent of the second parent: If only one of the parents submits the documents, the second parent's official consent to the child obtaining a permanent residence permit in Bulgaria is required (or a court decision on the sole deprivation of parental rights with a legalised translation).

Certificate of the parents' status: Retrieved automatically by migration service officers from the internal database (confirmation of the parents' permanent residence permit/EU long-term resident status or Bulgarian citizenship).

An important exemption: Minor children are fully exempt from the obligation to provide a certificate of no criminal record, regardless of whether they previously lived in Bulgaria or arrived from abroad.

Final formalities, EGN and the new fees in Euro (€)

After receiving the official notification letter approving the permanent residence permit, the parents go through the following stages:

Payment of the state fee for the status: From 2025–2026 all fees are fixed in euro. The one-off fee for granting a permanent residence permit to a minor child is €512 (corresponding to the former 1000 leva).

Registration at the Municipality (ESGRAON): With the original decision from Migration, the parents go to the municipality (Obshtina) at their place of residence. There the child is assigned an EGN (Edinen grazhdanski nomer) and certificates of permanent and current address are issued.

Please note: The municipality keeps the original notification to build the file, so make several plain copies in advance.

Ordering the plastic ID card: Children aged 14 to 18 are required to obtain their own plastic ID card (Razreshenie za prebivavane). The cost of production in the standard mode (30 days) is about €23 (45 leva). A plastic card is not issued to children under 14 — their permanent residence status is confirmed by a paper Certificate from the Municipality and a stamp/insert in the international passport.

Preference when moving to citizenship

The text retains an important legal rule: foreigners who obtained a Bulgarian permanent residence permit before coming of age have the right to apply for Bulgarian citizenship by naturalisation on an accelerated track — after 3 years of continuous permanent residence in the country (instead of the standard 5 years for adults). They may submit such an application themselves immediately after turning 18 (Art. 13 of the Bulgarian Citizenship Act).