Citizens of the CIS countries, including the Russian Federation, wishing to visit Bulgaria, can enter the territory of this Black Sea state only with a visa. To get it, you need to submit a package of documents to the consulate, embassy or visa center, an important part of which is the application for a visa to Bulgaria.
Visa processing procedure
The Bulgarian Embassy issues visas of categories C (short-term) and D (immigration). To save time, you can contact a travel agency, whose employees, having accepted all the necessary official papers from the client, will take on the responsibility of transferring them to the embassy.
A less expensive option is to submit documents yourself, without involving intermediaries.
Having filled out an application form for a Bulgarian visa, the client must also provide:
- original passport, which will not expire for at least another 3 months after returning home;
- a copy of the first page of the passport;
- medical insurance;
- papers indicating the purpose of the trip (a call from a relative, letters of recommendation, and so on);
- a certificate from the workplace;
- confirmation of booking tickets, accommodation;
- financial statements (sponsorship letters, bank statements).
If a visa to Bulgaria is issued for a child, you will need a copy of his birth certificate. If a child travels abroad with only one of the parents, the second must give permission to cross the border to minors, attaching a copy of his internal passport to the document.
Where to find a visa application form
The form for obtaining a visa to Bulgaria is issued by those institutions that prepare official permits to enter the country. These include the consular section of the Bulgarian Embassy in Moscow, Consulates General in Yekaterinburg, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, visa centers located in various cities of Russia.
You can also download an electronic sample of the application form to Bulgaria for a D or C visa to a personal computer from the official website of one of the above institutions.
When sending a form to a printing device, you need to take into account that the text of the questionnaire should be placed on both sides of the sheet. For this purpose, in the "Print settings" dialog box that appears on the monitor, select the "Duplex printing" option.
If you don't want to waste time looking for the form, we suggest downloading it here. Having saved the file on your computer, you can print the Bulgaria visa application form yourself.
Filling procedure
The questionnaire consists of 37 items. In total, its text spans three pages. In order for the consulate not to refuse to consider the application, the applicant must comply with the following requirements when filling out:
- Information is entered exclusively in block letters, legibly.
- Use only blue or black ink.
- In places where you need to make a choice from several suggested alternatives, use a "tick" or "cross".
- Confirm each correction with a personal signature (according to the rules, a maximum of three corrections are allowed).
- Enter your surname and first name in accordance with the data of your foreign passport in Latin (letters of the English alphabet). It is not necessary to indicate the patronymic name.
- Enter all dates in numerical format in the order "day - month - year".
If you have any questions when submitting an application, you can contact the employees of the diplomatic institution or the visa center, who will tell you how to fill out an application for a visa to Bulgaria.
It is important to indicate the current place of residence in the appropriate paragraph of the questionnaire (that is, the actual address, not registration) and the current phone number (or better, several: for example, mobile and city). Using the contact information provided by the applicant, the consulate, if necessary, will be able to contact him.
It is necessary to note one more nuance: the owners of the old-style passports can enter the document number into the questionnaire without the symbol No., the holders of the new-type passports must also indicate the symbol No..
An example of filling out an application for a Bulgarian visa can be found here.
One photo must be pasted into the application, the size of which is 35 x 45 mm. You need to take a picture against a light background, the face should occupy at least 70-80% of the entire image. If the applicant has long hair, it is better to pull it behind the ears before filming so that the face is clearly visible.
If the photo does not meet the established requirements, the consulate may reject the visa application even though the rest of the personal data has been submitted to the Bulgarian embassy correctly.
If you need to apply for a visa for a child who has not reached the age of majority, you must fill out a separate questionnaire for him. In it, in paragraph 10, you will need to indicate the surname, name and citizenship of one of the parents / guardians.
If the specified parent / guardian does not live with the child, then you will need to enter his actual address and phone number. In general, the sample application form for a Bulgarian visa for minors does not differ from the form that is issued to applicants who have reached the age of 18.
It is important to note that children between the ages of 14 and 17, inclusive, sign the completed questionnaire with their own hand. But next to their signature is also the signature of the parent / guardian, whose surname and first name are indicated in paragraph 10. When applying for a visa for a minor under 14 years old, only his parent / guardian signs in the application form.
A sample of filling out an application for a visa to Bulgaria for a child, see here.
How to quickly find out if a visa is ready
If the application was submitted by the candidate independently, he can look online to see if his permission to cross the Bulgarian border is ready. For example, if the applicant applied to the consular department of the Embassy of Bulgaria in Moscow, you must go to its official website and enter the following data in the electronic form:
- name and surname in letters of the English alphabet, as in a passport;
- passport number.
In the same way, the readiness of a visa to Bulgaria is monitored on the websites of other diplomatic institutions and visa centers.
Summary
An application for a Bulgarian visa is an integral part of the package of documents that must be submitted to the embassy, consulate or visa center in order to obtain permission to cross the borders of the country. If the questionnaire is completed in violation of applicable rules, the applicant should not rely on the approval of the petition.
Therefore, before starting to enter personal data into the questionnaire, it is worthwhile to familiarize yourself in detail with the requirements existing in diplomatic institutions and study the ready-made samples of this document. If the consul refused to accept the application and documents, they can be resubmitted, correcting the shortcomings.
