question about Apostille

@TonyFF

I think some documents have to be apostilised, but according to the gov.uk website for Bulgaria, it says that documents can be in English or Bulgarian. I hope someone who's done this recently might have a definitive answer.

@TonyFF

Hi  I'm from the UK and the apostille here is the legalisation from your government it makes it legal in the eyes of the Bulgarian state ...   I had to get my pension document from my company notorised before it can be apostilled because it's not a document of the state ..  so I guess the question is are you a pensioner of the state or a company pensioner

Oh an make sure you use the authorised translator from the Bulgarian embassy site as that's what we have to do in UK an probably the same is USA ..   I'm just waiting for another police check document and then apostille in early December , translation and appointment for the visa so sounds like your a step ahead of me

@TonyFF

Hi Tony, you should first get your documents apostilled in your country (just police clearance record and pension entitlement letter for pensioners), then translate into Bulgarian by using a legit translator or agency (it may be listed on your government website). If you do it in Bulgaria, the translated version will be notarised, it is a common practice here.

Bulgarian translation can be done at the end of the process in Bulgaria. It has no sense to be fone in USA, because the signature of the translator must be with a notary certification. So, if this certification is not done in the Embassy, you need another apostile and another translation of the stamp of the notary. This is so called " legalization" of the translated document.

My experience was this:  get all necessary documents,  including FBI background check.  Get all U.S.  documents apostilled. Next, send them to my lawyer in Sofia, who is also a  certified translator,  recognized by the Bulgarian government.  He translated the documents and had the translation notarized by a Bulgarian notary.  The lawyer sent them back to me.   I filed them with the Bulgarian consulate nearest to my U.S.  residence,  along with the other required forms and fee.  The consulate reviewed them, and I went for my interview. The consulate issued the D visa, and I submitted my passport to them to have the visa  put into my passport.   I was then able to enter Bulgaria for an extended stay.  You apply for residency after you enter legally with a D visa.

@GinnyHench

Yes, absolutely true. The best can be done by one lawyer - as I always do for my clients. I perform all comples services and don't let them struggle to find itselves all which is necessary for them.

http://www.bulgaria-embassy.org/bg/ko-w … galizacia/

According to this ONLY translation is needed, nothing else. I found my answer but thanks so much for all responses. I learn from you guys all the time new things.

Документите, произхождащи от САЩ и снабдени с апостил, не се легализират от българските дипломатически мисии. Те се признават от българските власти, когато върху тях или в приложение към тях има поставен в оригинална форма  апостил. В случай че по някаква причина документите не притежават или не могат да бъдат снабдени с апостил, за да произведат действие на територията на България, те трябва да бъдат удостоверени (легализирани) от Министерството на външните работи на издаващата държава (за САЩ US Department of State, Washington DC), след което легализирани от българското дипломатическо или консулско представителство.

Documents originating from the USA and provided with an apostille are not legalized by the Bulgarian diplomatic missions. They are recognized by the Bulgarian authorities when an apostille is placed on them or attached to them in original form. In the event that for some reason the documents do not have or cannot be provided with an apostille in order to be effective on the territory of Bulgaria, they must be certified (legalized) by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the issuing country (for the US US Department of State , Washington DC), then legalized by the Bulgarian diplomatic or consular representation.

And by the way, I have my D visa and  I am heading for Bulgaria soon to apply for extended residence ( my wife is Bulgarian) - so I expect the process to be easy:)

P.S. The Bulgarian embassy here accepted FBI clearance with Apostille with  NO TRANSLATION. So if you are applying at any embassy in the world don't  waste your money and bother with translation. The translation is needed only in Bulgaria( it will be also cheaper for you to do the translation in Bulgaria )

Great that things are progressing for you, Tony!

@TonyFF

Translation is required at the Bulgarian Embassy in London actually (for visa application). They will not accept one’s application if the documents are not all presented, or correctly apostilled and legalised.

As I said I had no problem /no translation was needed when I applied for the D visa here in the USA.

When we legalized our marriage in Bulgaria years ago they also accepted the US marriage certificate with the Apostille without translation.( things may have changed since, though ..... it has been a minute.....)

Like many things, I suspect how strictly the rules are enforced may depend on the embassy you use, the person you see there, the time of day, and whether the month has an r in it. No way of predicting which way it will go!

It sounds like the USA embassy may be a little more relaxed than the UK one.

@TonyFF

Sorry Tony, can I just clarify that, just in case I'm missing something? You didn't need to translate anything to apply for the D Visa and the only thing you need to have apostilled was your FBI clearance?

So proof of income, birth certificate etc don't need to be apostilled?

@grumpyoldbird

It's REALLY difficult to find what we actually need. The official D visa information page on the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs  has two broken links for the crucial information on what paperwork is required!

@grumpyoldbird

I am married to a Bulgarian woman (she has dual citizenship).

For the D visa I submitted at the embassy:

1. only 1 apostille /FBI clearance( NOT TRANSLATED)
2. application/pictures
3. my wife made a statement that our marriage was not a fraud ( how stupid -we have been married for a looong time!!!). Bulgarian rules
4. Marriage license from Bulgaria ( we legalized our marriage in Bulgaria 10 years ago)- just showed it to them.
5. NO fee since I am married to a Bulgarian woman.
6. NO proof of income, health insurance ,ensured lodging ( not required if you are married to  a Bulgarian citizen)
7. I left my passport with them so they can send it back to me with the visa which they did.

It was super easy.

Thanks for sharing that, Tony! It's useful to know what the process is for a family reunification D visa.

So getting hubby his once I have residency will be far easier than me getting my retirement D visa.

@janemulberry

Jane, Tony’s situation might be a bit different than yours.  Assuming you and your husband are both British, you first apply and receive your D visa in London, go to Bulgaria and process your Residency. After that, you need to apply for family reunification permit at the same immigration office for your husband. Then his D visa (back in London), last his residency.

That is our experience.

Yes, that's what I'm anticipating. I know my retirement D visa will be harder to get than the family reunification. It's going to be quite the process and I'm guessing might take the best part of a year to complete so we can both have our Bulgarian residency.

Was the family reunification part of the process similar to Tony's for you and your wife, or more complicated? From what I've read people say, it seems different embassies perhaps apply the rules a little differently.

In my case scenario I find this " family reunification term" strange.

My wife has moved to the USA years ago; then we met, married. Now we are going to retire in Bulgaria.

We are both simply moving to Bulgaria together; for some reason if we are not happy there  we can aways come back. It is kinda fun to be able to have options in this world. I wish you all luck with your moves to Bulgaria. It is adventurous and challenging. Bulgaria is a great country.

@janemulberry

it was extremely difficult for us… I am British and my wife is from Hong Kong. We started with my retirement D visa, it was very easy (retiring in Bulgaria is the easiest way for Non-EU citizens to obtain residency, you should expect no issues, why do you think the retirement visa is difficult?)

After I received my residency permit, problems after problems. Well, one has to apply D visa at the Embassy or Consulate in his/her home country or current residence;  if you don’t mind spending over £1200 flying back to your home country, you’ll find less hassles doing extra procedures. We did’t understand why we could’t apply hers in a neighbouring country such as Romania or Turkey, since we already started living in our Bulgarian house after I received my residency.

We were glad and are still grateful that we sorted everything after all. Now we enjoy our life here in Bulgaria, very much so.

@janemulberry

That's the difficult part for me. I suppose the documents won't be much different to when I applied to come to France, although bizarrely, I didn't need a criminal records check to come here. The hardest thing is figuring out what documents need to be apostilled and what don't. According to the MFA.bg site, documents have to be in either Bulgarian, or, English, but it doesn't mention anything needing to be apostilled and the list doesn't seem particularly comprehensive either, so I'm a bit sceptical.  I have to do my application in Paris, which is better than having to trail to the UK, but Paris is a nightmare to get around, so I'm really not looking forward to it.

@TonyFF

I'm glad it's all worked out for you both.

@tutisservis

Ouch! Yes, that would be a huge problem, especially as I believe they take your passport so there's no going back to Bulgaria to wait until they put the visa stamp in the passport. Thankfully we're both British passport holders so all the applications will be in London. I think my retirement visa might be complicated by the fact I kept my passport in my maiden name but a lot of my banking etc is in my married name. We will see!

@grumpyoldbird

Yes, I found the same thing on the official website. Limited info on what needed to be translated and what needed to be apostilled. We'll work it out. Hopefully without needing too many trips back and forward! I'm glad you can do it in Paris.

@grumpyoldbird

There are not many things that need to be apostilled (or, strictly, "legalised" at the Legalisation Office, London). Typically, birth/marriage certificates, criminal record certificate (ACRO).

I will keep you all posted after I go through my Migration experience in Sofia.

If you can make it to 5 years in France, and permanent residence there, you might be eligible for a faster track in Bulgaria, rather than starting from scratch with a D visa.

Foreigners in Bulgaria

https://www.mig.government.bg/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/foreigners_in_the_republic_of_bulgaria_act.pdf

Chapter 3a, Article 33a on RESIDENCE OF A FOREIGNER WHO HAS RECEIVED A LONG-TERM RESIDENCE PERMIT IN ANOTHER

MEMBER STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION.

It will help a lot if you email mfa dot bg, they will send a list of documents required for your specific visa. In this way, you won’t be rejected at the embassy. LOL.

For Jane, please note that they require a Bulgarian Bank Account for D visa (retirement only, to ensure that you will transfer your pension into this bank acc.) now. You may want to sort that out first. If you need the list of documents required for retirement D visa, I can send you in private, or you can send an email to what I mentioned above.

@grumpyoldbird

Might be some good news for you in France - they're looking at allowing Brits like you who own a home in France to stay indefinitely (and Spain is also looking at this issue).

@gwynj

I've read some articles about this, but I think it's just for 2nd home owners who usually come out to France for 6 months. At the moment they have to apply for a visitors visa, which is the same process I used to move here. It's a pain if you're having to do it every year, just so you can stay for longer than 90 days. It's also 200 euros every time.

As far as I'm aware they're just extending the period to 180 days for 2nd home owners only. As this is my only home, it won't make any difference to me.

That's how I read it, too. Hubby was all excited hoping Bulgaria might do the same, but it is no help to anyone wanting to live full time in the country. Just so those who "divide their time" can spend six months one place and six the other without any extra paperwork, rather than having to do it in three month chunks.

    @grumpyoldbird
Might be some good news for you in France - they're looking at allowing Brits like you who own a home in France to stay indefinitely (and Spain is also looking at this issue).
   

    -@gwynj

This has been on th cards for a while now, but the UK has to agree on it as well for it to work.

I just called again the Bulgarian embassy in Washington DC.

The FBI clearance with Apostille  is sufficient if you are applying for extended residence only.

NO TRANSLATION, NO NOTARY LEGALIZATION IS NEEDED.

If you are applying for permanent residence- then there are lots and lots of documents to be submitted and translated.

@grumpyoldbird im just doing it now. its being notarised in the uk sent to bulgaria to be appostalised.

evidently the consulate can do it too