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Bulgaria · digital nomad visa · 2026

Bulgaria's digital nomad visa

12months
Разрешение за продължително пребиваване на цифрови номадиOpen · checked 2026-08-18 · iisda.government.bg

Bulgaria runs the Разрешение за продължително пребиваване на цифрови номади (long-term residence permit for digital nomads), Art. 24(1)(23) of the Law on Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria (ЗЧРБ), entered via a type D long-stay visa, an initial 12 months.

Next step

One email when the app can count this stay for you.

How we know

Every figure here is as iisda.government.bg publishes it, checked 18 August 2026. Where a number is our own arithmetic rather than a printed figure, the row says so.

Status
Open
Visa
Разрешение за продължително пребиваване на цифрови номади (long-term residence permit for digital nomads), Art. 24(1)(23) of the Law on Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria (ЗЧРБ), entered via a type D long-stay visa
Initial stay
12 months
Renewal
Issued for up to 1 year; secondary legal sources state it can be extended once for a further year (24 months total). The official service registry lists permit issuance fees for 'up to 6 months' and 'up to 1 year' but does not state the number of renewals.
Fee
500 BGN — Official service registry: "за исканата услуга – 10 лв." (10 BGN to lodge the request) and on grant "до 6 месеца – 200 лв.; до 1 година – 500 лв." (200 BGN for up to 6 months, 500 BGN for up to 1 year). Quoted in BGN exactly as published; not converted. The separate type D visa fee charged by Bulgarian missions is not stated on the pages fetched.
Processing
Official service registry states a timeframe of "до 120 дни" (up to 120 days).
Who qualifies
Non-EU/EEA/Swiss nationals working remotely for parties outside Bulgaria. Secondary legal sources describe three categories: employees of a company registered outside the EU/EEA/Switzerland; statutory representatives, board members or shareholders holding more than 25% of such a company; and self-employed people/freelancers providing remote services in a personal capacity (reported minimum one year of prior activity). Holders may not work for Bulgarian companies or serve Bulgaria-based clients. General type D requirements also apply: secured accommodation, compulsory health insurance, criminal record certificate for applicants aged 18+, and a mandatory in-person interview at the mission.
Where to apply
Two-step: apply for a type D long-stay visa at a Bulgarian diplomatic or consular mission in your country of permanent residence (interview mandatory, no exceptions), then apply to the Migration Directorate of the Ministry of Interior (Дирекция 'Миграция', MVR) for the residence card after entry.
Official page
iisda.government.bg
Checked
18 August 2026

Sources are listed further down the page.

What to know before you apply

CORRECTION to the starting assumption: Bulgaria DOES now have a dedicated digital nomad route — it is no longer merely a proposal. It is confirmed on the official Bulgarian government administrative-services registry (iisda.government.bg), which lists 'са дигитални номади' as ground item 19 for long-term residence with legal basis 'Чл. 24, ал. 1 т. 23 от ЗЧРБ'. Secondary legal sources date the enabling amendments to the Foreigners Act to State Gazette issue 52 of 27 June 2025 (in force 1 July 2025), with the implementing decree adopted 10 December 2025 and applications opening 20 December 2025. Source disagreement on income: the official registry entry gives only the generic 'not less than the minimum monthly wage' subsistence test and no digital-nomad-specific figure; law firms and press give 50x the monthly minimum wage as an annual figure but disagree on the total (EUR ~27,500 vs EUR 31,000), which appears to turn on which calendar year's minimum wage is applied and on Bulgaria's currency changeover. No absolute income amount is recorded here because it could not be verified officially. mfa.bg is behind Radware bot protection and its HTML pages could not be fetched; only its static type D visa PDF was readable, and that PDF predates the digital nomad category and does not mention it. migration.mvr.bg returned HTTP 526; www.mvr.bg/migration was reachable but its navigation lists no digital nomad page. Fees are quoted in BGN as published in the official registry — note Bulgaria's euro changeover means these BGN figures may be restated in EUR; the registry had not been updated on the date checked.

What it means for your tax days

A visa is permission to stay; tax residency follows the days you actually spend. Check Bulgaria's tax authority for the day test that applies to you — and count the days either way.

Sources

Questions people ask about Bulgaria

Does Bulgaria have a digital nomad visa?

Yes. Bulgaria runs the Разрешение за продължително пребиваване на цифрови номади (long-term residence permit for digital nomads), Art. 24(1)(23) of the Law on Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria (ЗЧРБ), entered via a type D long-stay visa, which grants an initial stay of 12 months (issued for up to 1 year; secondary legal sources state it can be extended once for a further year (24 months total). the official service registry lists permit issuance fees for 'up to 6 months' and 'up to 1 year' but does not state the number of renewals.). Checked 18 August 2026 against iisda.government.bg.

How long can you stay on the Bulgaria digital nomad visa?

12 months on the initial permission; issued for up to 1 year; secondary legal sources state it can be extended once for a further year (24 months total). the official service registry lists permit issuance fees for 'up to 6 months' and 'up to 1 year' but does not state the number of renewals.. Stretch counts the days either way and tells you the date you must be out.

Does a digital nomad visa in Bulgaria make you tax resident?

A visa and tax residency are different things: the visa lets you stay, the tax rules follow the days you actually spend. Check Bulgaria's tax authority for the day test that applies to you.

How does Stretch help with the Bulgaria digital nomad visa?

Log the day you land and Stretch counts the days against the permission you are on, shows the date you must be out, and reminds you at 14, 7, 3 and 1 days. It also tallies the days that count towards tax residency, so the 183-day question answers itself. The counting and the alerts are free, forever.

Other digital nomad visas

Bulgaria, the rest of it

Stretch is a tracker, not legal advice, and this is not tax advice. Visa and tax rules change and are applied by the authority, not by an app — every figure here shows its source and the date we checked it. Checked 2026-08-18; confirm on the official page before you apply or file.