FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What travel documents are required to enter Bulgaria? Which are the procedures to follow?
Bulgarian authorities have decided that citizens from EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland can pass and stay in Bulgaria for maximum 90 days within a six-month period just with their Identity Card that is valid for going abroad or a passport.
Permit of stay:
Citizens from EU, European Economic Area and Switzerland, who intend staying in Bulgaria for more than 90 days, have to make application for the long term staying (up to 5 years) at the National Service of Police. The permit of stay is issued for dependent or self-employed people, for studying or for proven availability of financial means to cover the stay dispenses for themselves and their families, and of the possession of a health insurance.
EU citizens may also ask for the permanent stay in Bulgaria through the Home Office National Service of Police, provided that they have stayed uninterruptedly for five years in Bulgaria, and that:
- They have worked during the last year as a dependent or self-employed, reached the age of retirement or being in the pre-retirement period, but having stayed in Bulgaria for more than three years;
- They are dependent or self-employed with reduced work ability, but having stayed in Bulgaria for more than two years uninterruptedly;
- They are dependent or self-employed with inability to work because of injury on work or occupational disease;
- They are dependent or self-employed and in three years have stayed and worked uninterruptedly in Bulgaria and now are working in another EU country, keeping the right to stay in Bulgaria, going back there at least once a week.
In that case, the work period in another EU country will be considered as work made in Bulgaria, leveling the periods of inoccupation or of work disruptions because of illness or of injury accident.
2. Where can I have useful information and find further touristic material about Bulgaria? There are several touristic guides on commerce, but for more specific exigencies there is the Bulgarian Touristic Office at the Embassy of Bulgaria to Italy in Rome (Balkan Holidays, Via Barberini 11, tel. 06 47821961). There is also an official website for tourism in Bulgaria:
www.bulgariatravel.org 3. What should I do in care of robbed or lost of documents during my stay in Bulgaria? What documentation can be released by the embassy to allow me to come back to Italy?
In case of documents stealing, Italian citizens must accomplish a complaint at a Police station as soon as they can, and then go to the Italian Embassy with that complaint and three passport-type photos. There, they will be given a temporary document for travelling back to Italy.
4. Is it possible to make an instant money transfer to an Italian citizen in Bulgaria, in the case he has an unexpected need of money during his stay in Bulgaria?
Yes, it is. For example, it is possible to contact a relative or a friend who can send money from Italy (to call for free an Italian customer from any phone box, dial the number 06 80 00 39 11 and follow the instruction of the International Telecom Italian service. The bill will be charged to the person called). This person may use, to establish the transfer and the delivery modality of the requested amount, a Western Union Money Transfer point or a Unicredito Italiano Office, of which the Bulbank, main Bulgarian bank provided with a huge quantity of desks on the territory, is a member. The person who will take the money sent from Italy will be asked to fill a form by indicating his personal data and the following ones:
5. Are there any risks during a touristic permanence in Bulgaria?
The security level in Bulgaria is increasingly improving and generally good. For a more detailed description of the Country conditions and the main security rules to follow, we suggest you to check our website and the following link
www.viaggiaresicuri.mae.aci.it , which also offers useful information for car drivers. Howeverwe think it might be useful to pay attention to some categories of risk: for instance, hold-ups against foreign tourists by groups of bandits along the secondary freeways. In this scenario, bandits, usually pretending to be Police blocks or indicating them a car breakdown, ask the tourists to stop. Bags’ robbery and pickpocketing frequently occur in hotels restaurants and other public places.
6. Is it possible to take part in the Catholic Holy Ceremony celebrated in Italian is Sofia?
In Sofia, the Italian Catholic community attends every Sunday the “Santa Messa” at the Saint Joseph Catholic Church - 125, Kniaz Boris I Str., tel. ++359 (0)2 9815548 - at 18:30.
7. Which rules do people who intend to go hunting in Bulgaria have to respect?
In addition to formalities relating to export of hunting equipment (we remember you that the European Hunting Card allows its owner to move the weapons registered without any other authorization solely within EU Member States), we advice those who intend to come hunting to Bulgaria to acquire weapons by the competent Bulgarian Authorities or by specialized Agencies, before the beginning of the hunting activity, and to get informed about hunting legislation in force in the Country. In particular, it is recommended to be informed about protected species of animals for which an absolute hunting prohibition is established. Killing and detention of safeguarded species of animals is considered a crime against the environmental heritage and it may bring – in addition to heavy administrative sanctions - even to the liables’ arrest.
8. Which services and documents can the Consular Chancery provide for compatriots residing in Bulgaria?
For detailed information about the most important documents and consular services, and about the procedures necessary to obtain them, check the Consular Services Section of this web site.
9. What time is it possible to refer to the consular and visa office of the Embassy of Italy in Sofia?
The counter service of the Consular Chancery/Visa (entrance at 2, Shipka Street) is opened from Monday to Friday, from 9.00 a.m. to 13.00 p.m., and on Tuesdays and Fridays, also from 14.30 to 15.30.
Telephonic information is available from Monday to Friday from 10.00 to 12.00 and from 14.30 to 16.00.
Tel. ++359 (0)2 9217300 – fax ++359 (0)2 9803717
e-mail:
consolare.sofia@esteri.it 10. Does an Italian residing in Bulgaria have to register at the RAIA (Residing Abroad Italian Anagraphe) or is it a facultative attainment?
According to the Law n.70/88, an Italian citizen residing abroad is attained to register at the Consular Office responsible for that territory within a period of ninety days. The Consular Office will inform the Italian Municipality the citizen belongs to in order to attain the registration in the RAIA. In order to be registered at the consular Anagraphe, it is sufficient to get to the counter service of the Consular Chancery with a valid identity document and a permission to stay issued by the Bulgarian Authority. In this sense, it is strongly recommended to all Italian citizens residing in Bulgaria to verify or to update their anagraphical position (with the assistance of the consular office), also considering the coming into force of the Law granting and regulating the exercise of the right to vote recognized to Italian citizens residing abroad. More elements about the above law can be found in the relating link on this website.
11. Do civil status Acts issued by a Bulgarian Authority need a legalization procedure in order to be valid in Italy? Yes, they do.
12. A Bulgarian acquaintance would like to do a tourist stay in Italy. Does he/she need a visa to be issued by the Italian Embassy?
On the basis of the Schengen legislation and the bilateral Agreement on Visa in force since April 2001, Bulgarian citizens are allowed to enter to Italy for touristic reasons without a Visa for limited periods up to 90 days. The same regulation is applied also to stays due to other reason (such as business, invitation, sport competition and study), once more with the time limits mentioned above. Visa remains necessary in all remaining cases, in particular those related to stays of remunerative nature (as subordinated/autonomous job). Anyway, we remind you that the visa is not the only requirement to match in order to enter the Italian territory. Even in the case of nationalities exempt from visa requirement, the Boarder Authority maintains the right to verify that suitable conditions for entrance do really exist, especially the possession of sufficient financial means. It must be paid attention to the fact that, according to the Italian legislation, foreign citizens entering Italy must go and register themselves at any territorially competent Police Headquarter by 8 working days after their first arrival in the Country so to apply for obtaining a permission to stay, document which allows the permanence on the national ground. In the Visas section, you may find a useful link to the file containing a full list of all the documentation necessary to require at this Embassy an entrance visa. A view of the main normative sources on this subject and a list of the different types of obtainable visa is also included.
13. Can a Bulgarian student apply to an Italian University? How can the validity of the conditions required for the registration be verified? The Consular Chancery of the Embassy and the Italian Institute of Culture in Sofia are available to provide you with any information about this subject and, if required, to help the candidate submitting his application directly to the Universities. You can also check the link “Universities” on this website and/or the IIC-Sofia website
www.iic-sofia.com.
14. How can an Italian residing in Bulgaria exercise the right to vote abroad? As already known, on December 27th 2001 the Italian Parliament introduced in our legislation (through the Act n.459) the norms necessary to Italian citizens’ residing abroad to exercise their right to vote. This has given our compatriot residing abroad the opportunity to vote by post, through our diplomatic-consular offices, in occasion of both political elections and abrogative referendums. In particular, some specific aspects of this regulation should be underlined:
- The creation of the Abroad Electoral District: an Abroad Electoral District has been constituted in order to allow Italian Communities residing abroad to be represented in the Italian Parliament. This District has been assigned 12 Deputy and 6 Senator seats in our Parliament. The Abroad District is divided into four geographical-electoral groups, relating to settlement densities of our compatriots in each area of the globe: Europe (including Russia and Turkey); South America; North and Central America; Africa, Asia, Oceania and Antarctica. Each of this group elects at least one Deputy and one Senator while the remaining seats are distributed among them in proportion to the total amount of compatriots living there. Seat assignment among competing lists is done proportionally to each group.
- The right to opt for voting in Italy: Italian electors residing abroad, who intend to keep on exercising their right to vote in Italy in the same electoral district they belong to, are obliged to a formal option that they must communicate in written form to the consular-diplomatic Delegation competent for their territory. Without this “option” – that must be formalized right before each vote, on the basis of clearly established procedures and deadlines, and that is valid just for that vote – the law presumes the option has been chosen to vote in the Abroad Electoral District. Therefore, only those Italian citizens residing abroad who have exercised their right to opt will be accepted to express their vote in Italy. Passive electorate is also directly linked to the residence and to the active electorate: a Italian citizen residing abroad will be allowed to candidate only in the district where he resides and only if he is a voter there.
- The definition of the electoral body: in order to organize electoral lists, the Italian Government prepare an updated list of the Italian citizens residing abroad, by unifying all data collected from the Residing Abroad Italian Anagraphe and from the consular schedules.
Also for this reason, compatriots residing in Bulgaria are invited to contact their Consular Chancellery of this Embassy in order to check and, if necessary, to regulate their own anagraphical position and the one of their relatives.
15. Is health insurance compulsory?
As Bulgaria joined the EU, the Italian public local assistance makes provision for the necessary medical treatments for any Italian citizen staying temporarily in Bulgaria – for studying, tourism, affairs or working - and having the TEAM – European Card for Disease Insurance. The TEAM card takes the place of the former E110, E111, E119 and E128 forms, and is distributed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Those who have not received it yet, may ask their own ASL for the ‘temporary equivalent certificate’.
For more information you can ask your ASL or visit the thematic areas ‘salute e cittadino’ (health and citizens) and ‘ assistenza italiani all’estero e stranieri in Italia’ (assistance for Italians abroad and strangers in Italy) of the Ministry of Health website: www.ministerosalute.it.
Anyway, you are advised, before leaving for the journey, to draw up a health insurance that provides for the repatriation by plane or the transfer in another country, as well as the cover of the insurance expenses.