Bulgaria Digital Nomad Visa for US Citizens: Income Rule, Documents and Steps

The law does not create a separate nomad visa. It adds a digital nomad ground for a "prolonged residence permit," and the long-stay type D visa is the way in. The permit renews once, so the route lasts two years at most.

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Bulgaria added the nomad route to its Foreigners Act in 2025

The route sits in Article 24, paragraph 1, item 23 of the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act, added by an amendment published in State Gazette No. 52 of June 27, 2025. Article 24s sets the income test and the one-year term, and the Act's supplementary provisions (§1, item 36) say who counts as a digital nomad. The Ministry of Interior publishes the consolidated text of the Foreigners Act as a PDF in Bulgarian.

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The paperwork came six months later. Article 32g of the Act's implementing rules, in force since December 20, 2025, lists the documents. The application form in Annex 3 of those rules now has a box for digital nomads under Article 24, paragraph 1, item 23.

The law defines a digital nomad in three ways

Section 1, item 36 of the Act's supplementary provisions names three groups. All of them deliver services remotely using information technology.

• Employees: people on an employment contract with an employer registered outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland. If the contract has an end date, the time left on it must be at least as long as the permit.
• Owners and managers: a legal representative, board member, owner, partner, or shareholder with more than 25% of a company registered outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, working remotely through that company. They may not work for or serve people in Bulgaria.
• Self-employed workers: people who have provided remote services in their own name for at least one year before they apply. They may not work for or serve people in Bulgaria, and may not freelance there.

Some English-language guides say nomads must work "exclusively with non-EU clients." The Act sets no such test. It checks where the employer or company is registered, and it bars owners and the self-employed from serving people in Bulgaria. Apart from that bar on clients in Bulgaria, the self-employed group sets no rule on where clients are based.

Bulgaria's freelance permit is a separate route. Article 24a covers freelance work under Bulgaria's Labour Migration and Labour Mobility Act and needs a permit from the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy. The self-employed nomad group expressly excludes freelancing in Bulgaria, so the two routes serve different people.

Income must reach 50 Bulgarian minimum wages a year

Article 24s asks for an average yearly income of at least 50 Bulgarian minimum monthly wages "for the previous calendar year." The law counts gross income, before tax.

Bulgaria joined the euro area on January 1, 2026, at a fixed rate of 1.95583 leva per euro, so the figures below are in euros. Eurostat's minimum wage table shows Bulgaria at €551 a month for 2025 and €620 for 2026. Eurostat rounds to whole euros. The 2026 row uses the exact wage of €620.20 set by the Council of Ministers. The 2025 row is a close estimate, not the legal amount.

The law's wording reads two ways: last year's minimum wage, or the current wage applied to last year's income. As of October 2026, those readings give the two lines below, converted at the European Central Bank's reference rate of $1.1298 per euro on October 1.

Ask the Migration Directorate which line it applies before you file. Some online guides still quote monthly amounts in leva that do not match this formula, so test any number you see against the 50-wage rule.

Americans get 90 visa-free days, but the permit needs a D visa

US citizens can visit Bulgaria without a visa. The United States sits on the EU's visa-free list in Annex II of Regulation (EU) 2018/1806, and Bulgaria joined the Schengen area on January 1, 2025. Visitors get 90 days in any 180-day period across all 29 Schengen countries.

A weekend in Istanbul or Belgrade does not restart that count, because the rule caps your total days inside the area. The US Embassy in Sofia says that from October 12, 2025, most US citizens on short visits have fingerprints and facial images recorded at the border under the EU's Entry/Exit System.

A visa-free visit does not lead to the nomad permit. Article 24 grants it to people who hold a type D visa, and Article 24(8) says the permit is refused when its ground differs from the visa's ground. So the D visa needs to be issued on the digital nomad ground.

Bulgarian embassies and consulates issue the D visa under Article 9g. It is valid for up to 6 months, allows a stay of up to 180 days, and lets you enter more than once (Article 15). A Council of Ministers ordinance sets the visa rules, so ask the embassy or consulate for its current document list before you book.

The consular fee tariff posted on the Ministry of Interior site lists €100 for a D visa application, not refunded if the visa is refused, unless another rule sets a different fee. The posted copy lists no amendment after January 2019, so confirm the amount with the embassy or consulate.

Article 32g sets the papers you file in Bulgaria

Once you are in Bulgaria on the D visa, the rules ask for these papers on a first application and on each renewal:

• the application form, handed in by you in person;
• a copy of your passport's photo and data pages, your D visa and your last entry stamp where the border rules give one, plus the original passport;
• proof that you paid the state fee, unless you paid it electronically;
• proof of housing in Bulgaria;
• mandatory health insurance valid in Bulgaria, if you are not insured under Bulgaria's Health Insurance Act;
• a criminal record certificate from your country of citizenship or usual residence, on the first application only;
• proof of an average yearly income of at least 50 minimum monthly wages;
• proof that you fit one of the three groups, as the table shows.

US public papers, such as a criminal record certificate, need an apostille. The Hague Apostille Convention has been in force for the United States since October 15, 1981, and for Bulgaria since April 29, 2001. Article 32g(2) also asks for certified Bulgarian translations of documents issued abroad.

Five steps take you from a US application to a Bulgarian permit

1. Gather your documents, get apostilles on US public papers, and have everything translated into Bulgarian by a certified translator.
2. Apply for a type D visa on the digital nomad ground at a Bulgarian embassy or consulate.
3. Travel to Bulgaria on the D visa, which allows up to 180 days' stay.
4. File the permit application in person at the Migration Directorate or a regional Ministry of Interior directorate, at least 14 days before your allowed stay ends.
5. Wait for the written decision, due within 14 days or one more month in a complex case. If officials ask for more papers, you have 14 days to send them, or the case closes and cannot be reopened.

The permit runs one year, renews once, and family members apply separately

Article 24s(2) gives a one-year permit that can be extended once, for one more year. File the renewal at least 14 days before the permit expires. If you file while it is still valid, you may stay in Bulgaria until the decision comes.

While the permit is valid, Article 35(2) lets you leave Bulgaria and come back without a visa. Two years is the cap on this ground. Long-term residence (Article 24g) and permanent residence on the residence-time ground (Article 25(1) item 5) both ask for five years of lawful, continuous residence, so the nomad permit alone does not get you there.

Family members apply on their own ground. Article 24(1) item 13 covers family members of a foreigner with a prolonged residence permit, when the papers proving the family ties and the right to support are recognized under Bulgarian law. Article 24 asks for a type D visa on this ground too.

This guide gives no tax advice. The IRS says US citizens abroad are taxed on worldwide income, and Bulgaria's National Revenue Agency handles Bulgarian tax.

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Bulgaria's Migration Directorate has the final word

This guide sums up the published law. It is not legal advice, and the Migration Directorate decides each case. Before you apply, read the current texts on the Directorate's legislation page, and ask the Bulgarian embassy or consulate for the visa list and fees.

Other countries set different income tests and terms. Our guides to Spain's telework visa for US citizens and Portugal's D8 visa for Americans cover two of them.