Holders of Schengen visas will be able to visit and stay in Bulgaria without Bulgarian visas
2012-01-27 10:00:00
Accepting a proposal by the Prime Minister, the Cabinet today decided that until the date of Bulgaria’s full accession to the Schengen zone, Bulgaria unilaterally will apply a visa-free system for holders of valid Schengen visas. With this decision, Bulgaria will apply the Schengen acquis. The decision will allow holders of Schengen visas and residence permits to enter and reside in the Republic of Bulgaria for a period of no more than three months in any six-month period from the date of first entry, without needing to have a Bulgarian short-stay visa. In practice, this decision will affect the citizens of all countries that currently require visas to enter Bulgaria and the EU, respectively. It means that citizens of China, Turkey, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and many other countries who already have Schengen visas or residence permits need make no further effort to stay in the territory of Bulgaria. Holders of such visas mainly are business people with strong economic potential, seeking to make investments, while other potential beneficiaries are tourists wanting to visit Bulgaria’s seaside or mountain resorts. Progressive efforts by the Government to ease the visa system for citizens of third countries visiting Bulgaria for tourism or business have produced concrete results – in 2011, Bulgarian consulates issued 733 623 visas, 18 per cent more than in 2010. Bulgarian visa requirement for holders of Turkish special passports falls away The Government today agreed to grant visa exemption for citizens of the Republic of Turkey who have special (green) passports. The resolution, adopted on the proposal of Foreign Minister Nickolay Mladenov, will allow Turkish citizens holding valid passports to enter and transit through the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria without visas and reside temporarily therein for a period not exceeding three months within any six-month period from the date of first entry. Almost all EU countries exempt Turkish citizens with special passports from visa requirements. Granting this visa-free system to Turkish citizens with special passports is an expression of goodwill on the Bulgarian side and is in the context of good neighbourly relations with the Republic of Turkey. This move will give additional impetus to economic, cultural, commercial and academic links between the two countries. The Government's decision will facilitate human contacts between citizens of both countries.

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