Bulgaria
Citizenship guide · BG
Citizenship by descent is available; naturalisation requires 5 years; dual citizenship is permitted; a golden visa (residency by investment) is available.
✓ Good news
Residency by investment (golden visa) is available here often a faster path than full naturalisation.
Who can visit Bulgaria?
93 of 199 passports can enter Bulgaria visa-free, visa on arrival, by ETA, or with an e-visa.
Visa-free 93
- Albania
- Andorra
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Argentina
- Australia
- Austria
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brazil
- Brunei
- Canada
- Chile
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Dominica
- El Salvador
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Grenada
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Hong Kong
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Kiribati
- Kosovo
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Macau
- Malaysia
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritius
- Mexico
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Palau
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Lucia
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Samoa
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Seychelles
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Solomon Islands
- South Korea
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Taiwan
- Timor-Leste
- Tonga
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Tuvalu
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Vatican City
- Venezuela
105 passports require a visa to visit Bulgaria.
Am I eligible for Bulgaria citizenship?
Tap the option closest to your situation for an instant steer.
Why Bulgaria?
The Bulgaria passport offers visa-free, visa-on-arrival, ETA, or e-visa access to 184 destinations, ranking it #23 globally.
Descent extends to third generation.
Citizenship by descent
Bulgaria applies jus sanguinis citizenship can be acquired by descent across multiple generations.
Naturalisation
Naturalisation typically requires 5 years of residence.
Dual citizenship
Bulgaria generally permits dual citizenship.
Investment routes
Bulgaria offers a golden visa (residency by investment) (from ≈ €250,000 in qualifying investment) a residence permit leading to naturalisation.
Fees & timeline
There is no standard published application fee costs vary, so check with official sources.
Tax considerations
- Top personal income tax rate: 10%
- Corporate income tax rate: 10%
- Standard VAT/GST rate: 20%
- Taxation basis: worldwide (residents are generally taxed on worldwide income)
Compiled from the Citizenship Hub law dataset (approximate). Verify with official government sources before relying on this information.
Residency by investment
The good news: the Bulgaria Golden Visa doesn't need any of that
While citizenship is discretionary, the Bulgaria Golden Visa grants up to 10-year renewable residency through investment from about €250,000, with a published fee schedule and processing timeline.
Documents checklist
The documents you'll typically need for each citizenship route in Bulgaria. Tick items off as you gather them your progress is saved on this device.
Citizenship by descent
Proving your lineage to a citizen parent or ancestor.
Naturalisation
The standard route via continuous lawful residence.
Residency by investment (golden visa)
A residence permit obtained through investment, often leading to naturalisation.
Country data
Overview, citizenship routes, economy, freedom, and tax at a glance.
Overview
- Capital
- Sofia
- Region
- Europe
- Area
- 110,879 km²
- Population
- 6,975,761
- Demonym
- Bulgarian
- Languages
- Bulgarian
- Currency
- Euro (€)
Citizenship routes
- Citizenship by descent
- Yes
- Descent depth
- 3 generations
- Naturalisation period
- 5 years
- Dual citizenship
- Allowed
- Golden visa
- From €250,000
- Official application fee
- Varies
Economics & development
- GDP per capita
- $20,328 2025
- Total GDP
- $68.6B 2019
- Inflation
- 4.6% 2025
- Life expectancy
- 75.8 years 2024
- GDP growth
- 3.1% 2025
- Human Development Index
- 0.799 #70
- Income group
- Upper middle income
- Development status
- Developed region: nonG7
Freedom & quality of life
- Corruption Perceptions Index
- 43 / 100 2024 · #63
- Freedom in the World
- 78 / 100 Free · 2024
- Human Rights Index
- 0.85 / 1 2025 · #51
- Liberal Democracy Index
- 0.50 / 1 2025 · #61
- Life satisfaction
- 5.70 / 10 2025 · #83
Tax considerations
- Personal income tax
- 10% top rate
- Corporate tax
- 10%
- VAT / GST
- 20%
- Tax basis
- Worldwide
Relocation & living
- Internet penetration
- 82.4% 2024
- Driving side
- Right-hand
- Time zone
- Europe/Sofia
Where the Bulgaria passport can travel
Each dot is a destination colours show what you need to enter.
- Visa-free
- Visa on arrival
- ETA
- e-Visa
- Visa required
Europe
42 visa-free · 1 ETA · 1 e-visaAmericas
28 visa-free · 1 on arrival · 3 ETA · 2 e-visa · 1 requiredAsia
24 visa-free · 15 on arrival · 1 ETA · 7 e-visa · 4 requiredAfrica
15 visa-free · 13 on arrival · 2 ETA · 16 e-visa · 8 requiredOceania
10 visa-free · 3 ETA · 1 required- Visa-free
- Visa on arrival
- ETA
- e-Visa
- Visa required
- No admission
Alternative paths to Bulgaria citizenship
Beyond standard naturalisation, these routes may apply to you.
Residency by investment (golden visa)
A residency-by-investment route is available from €250,000. It can be faster than naturalisation and often lets you keep your current nationality.
More citizenship guides
Romania
Citizenship by descent is available; naturalisation requires 8 years; dual citizenship is permitted.
- Capital
- Bucharest
- By descent
- Yes
- Naturalisation
- 8 yrs
- Dual citizenship
- Allowed
Croatia
Citizenship by descent is available; naturalisation requires 8 years; dual citizenship is permitted.
- Capital
- Zagreb
- By descent
- Yes
- Naturalisation
- 8 yrs
- Dual citizenship
- Allowed
Serbia
Citizenship by descent is available; naturalisation requires 3 years; dual citizenship is permitted.
- Capital
- Belgrade
- By descent
- Yes
- Naturalisation
- 3 yrs
- Dual citizenship
- Allowed
Montenegro
Citizenship by descent is available; naturalisation requires 10 years; dual citizenship is permitted.
- Capital
- Podgorica
- By descent
- Yes
- Naturalisation
- 10 yrs
- Dual citizenship
- Allowed
Latest Bulgaria immigration news
Recent headlines on Bulgaria immigration and citizenship, auto-fetched from Google News.
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Bulgaria immigration & citizenship sources
Official government portals and reference pages for Bulgaria citizenship and immigration rules.
Law
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Overview of citizenship-by-descent, naturalisation and dual-citizenship rules.
Jobs
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International job board with local listings.
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International job board with local listings.
General data sources & licenses
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Visa-requirement matrix and passport mobility scores.
Visa data derived from passportindex.org, via imorte/passport-index-data (MIT License).
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Country metadata: names, capitals, regions, flags, currencies, languages, calling codes, borders, tld, lat/lng, UN/independence status.
Country metadata from mledoze/countries (MIT License).
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Country polygon geometry plus population, GDP (total), income group, economy, and continent classifications.
Made with Natural Earth (public domain) naturalearthdata.com.
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Raster basemap tiles for the interactive visa-access maps.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL 1.0).
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GDP per capita (current US$) and inflation (CPI annual %).
GDP per capita and inflation from the World Bank (CC BY 4.0) data.worldbank.org.
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Human Development Index (HDI) values and ranks.
Human Development Index from the UNDP Human Development Report (CC BY 3.0 IGO).
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Intermediate distribution of the Corruption Perceptions Index, V-Dem Human Rights Index, and V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index.
Indices sourced via Our World in Data (CC BY 4.0).
Our World in Data states that third-party datasets remain subject to the original publisher’s license see the individual sources below.
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Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) scores.
Corruption Perceptions Index 2024, Transparency International (CC BY-ND 4.0).
Restrictions: No derivatives
CPI scores are reproduced as factual data points, unmodified.
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Human Rights Index and Liberal Democracy Index.
Human Rights Index and Liberal Democracy Index from V-Dem (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0).
Restrictions: Non-commercial · Share-alike
⚠ Non-commercial license: confirm commercial use is permitted before monetising the site.
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Freedom in the World scores and status.
Freedom in the World 2024, © Freedom House (used with attribution for informational purposes).
Review Freedom House republication terms before commercial use.
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Reference for personal income and corporate tax rates.
Tax rates cross-checked against the Tax Foundation.
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Reference for personal income tax, corporate tax, and VAT/GST rates.
Tax rates cross-checked against the OECD Tax Database.
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Reference for personal income tax, corporate tax, and indirect tax rates.
Tax rates cross-checked against KPMG Tax Rates Online.
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Reference for citizenship-law rules (descent, naturalisation, dual citizenship, fees).
Citizenship-law facts compiled from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Law facts are human-curated approximations; always verify with official government sources.
Citizenship Hub is an independent resource and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the organisations above. Informational only not legal, immigration, tax, investment, or travel advice. Requirements, scores, fees, and tax rates change frequently; always verify with the relevant official government source before acting.