Getting Your Residence Permit

Continuing from the last post, these are the steps I needed to get the Residence Permit.

Residence Permit

Once you have the “D” visa and have entered Bulgaria using it, your next step is to apply for temporary residence.

If you read my steps for the “D” visa, you’d already know you need another background check for this step, so hopefully you got 2 before coming. If you did not, and you did not get the original back from the Visa interview (or they are already “expired”, which means they are over 6 months old), you will need another one. At the end, I will include instructions on how you might do that if you are already in Bulgaria.

The required documents are nearly identical to the ones needed for the “D” visa. The documents I provided are as follows:

1. Passport, photocopy of identification page, photocopy of “D” visa, and photocopy of Schengen/Bulgaria entry stamp
   This is rather straight-forward. The passport should have been issued within the last 10 years, and should expire at least 3 months after the expected permit expiration date.

   The visa should still be valid. I found it easiest to apply as soon as I entered.

   Since my entry stamp was on a page full of stamps, I highlighted the appropriate entry stamp on the photocopy to make it easier to locate in the passport for verification.

2. Medical insurance coverage
   This is the same one you applied for to get the visa. However, if it has less than 1 year remaining, you must buy another year starting at the same date the current one expires to maintain continuous coverage throughout your residency. Similar to before, request a copy with the blue stamp.

3. FBI background check
   This is the same as the one you needed for the visa, but it must still be valid (less than 6 months old). Hopefully you still have one (see below if you do not).

4. Proof of financial means
   This is similar to before, except they specifically requested that it be in an account under my wife’s name. Also note that it needs to be enough money to last for 12 months, not just 6. At this time (May 2026), the amount needed is €7442.52. She opened a Bulgarian bank account, we transferred enough money to it, and then we had to get a notarized statement from the bank showing the balance.

   We also needed to visit a notary to have them draft an affidavit which states that my wife will support me financially.

5. Proof of housing/accommodation
   This is also similar to before, but it was far more strict. We needed to not only show the deed and the affidavit needed for the visa, but we also needed the property’s Act 16 form which we obtained from city hall.

Once you have gathered everything, you can go to the Migration office and submit everything. If you are missing something, or something is wrong, they will tell you and you need to correct it before returning. Note that they will generally stop looking at your papers and tell you that something is wrong immediately, so if you have many things wrong, it will take you many trips. You may become a familiar sight to the workers in the office.

Once everything is actually submitted, they will give you a receipt that you must show them when you return, so do not lose it. They give you a date that is ~14 working days out, and you can return any time after this date. When you return, they will let you know of the decision, and if approved, you pay the fee(s) (I believe we paid about €150 total) and get your picture and fingerprints taken (again). They will give you another receipt that you must show them on return, so once again, do not lose it. They will tell you on what date you can return to pick up your residence card.

At this point, you are now a resident! You need to begin the renewal process in 11 months to get a residence permit for another year. For the renewals, we were told that we won’t need the background check, but we will need all the other documents.

As a final related step, if you are planning on working in Bulgaria, you will need to visit your local “Национална Агенция по Приходите” (НАП) or National Revenue Agency (NRA) office to register to pay taxes (or rather, have them taken automatically out of your pay). They will need to see your residence permit card for this.

Getting an FBI background check from Bulgaria

Since my visa waiting time took so long (almost the full 60 days), and then my flight was another month after that, by the time I applied for residency in Bulgaria, my background check was over 6 months old and was considered “expired”. Getting a new FBI background check while I was already in Bulgaria was difficult.

This process will require assistance from someone you trust that is still in the US to do some mailing:

1. The first step was to visit the Identity History Summary Checks website and set up a new request. For the mailing address, you will use the address of your trusted person in the US.

2. You need to find a way to get your fingerprints taken. I found a few people online saying a police station might take them, but you would need to bring your own FBI FD-1164 fingerprint card. In my experience, none of the police stations nearby would take my fingerprints. The alternative was to visit the Research Institute of Forensic Sciences in Sofia. We called to make an appointment ahead of time, and they were familiar with taking fingerprints for the FBI, including already having the proper fingerprint card ready. It was a simple process and we left with a filled fingerprint card.

3. Mail the fingerprint card and a copy of the confirmation email (titled “Identity History Summary Request Confirmation”) directly to the FBI CJIS office at:

   FBI CJIS Division
   ATTN: ELECTRONIC SUMMARY REQUEST
   1000 Custer Hollow Road
   Clarksburg, West Virginia 26306

4. About a week after they receive the fingerprint card, you should get an email that your results are available. Go to the link in the email and download the results PDF.

5. To get an apostille, pre-fill a DS-4194 form PDF with the address of your trusted person in the US. Send both PDFs to that person digitally to print out.

6. The person either needs to go to the Office of Authentications directly, or mail them if they are not near Washington, DC.

7. Once they receive the apostilled document back, they need to send everything back to you in Bulgaria.

This takes a while, so use the time to get all the remaining documents in order. For me, the entire process of getting my new apostilled background check into my hands took almost 7 weeks: I had my fingerprints taken in Sofia on Feb 11, I had the background check results on Mar 4, the results were left at the Office of Authentications on Mar 9, and the apostille was sent to me on Mar 23. I finally received everything in Bulgaria on Mar 30.