Driving license

The RRTI is responsible for issuing, exchanging, and renewing driving licenses in Bulgaria.

The contact details for the RRTI are as follows:

Website: http://www.rtitraffic.bg

Email: rtibulgaria@rtitraffic.bg

Phone: +359 2 985 1800

@dhavalbhavsar258

Check on Google it has all the countries who have signed up to the Vienna road traffic agreement ... If India hasn't you will have to take a test

@dhavalbhavsar258

Just checked and India are not on the list ..

There are 36 counties on it

I think your ok for a year with your Indian licence but you do need to check if you need a international driving permit .. if the police stop you there just speek in Indian an they will let you go .  It used to work for me with English but many police now speak English as they are younger an the old ones have retired . 

I bring  international driving license from the USA anytime when I need to  drive in Bulgaria. If  you are not on the list- you need it. Not a big deal to get one.

@TonyFF

How do you get one?  D

In the USA you go to AAA insurance. It takes 10 minutes. Cost: $20.

in UK its the post office, but we dont need one for Bulgaria    hooray something we dont need to get

I forgot - you need 2 passport size photos to bring to AAA and of course your DL.

    I think your ok for a year with your Indian licence but you do need to check if you need a international driving permit .. if the police stop you there just speek in Indian an they will let you go .  It used to work for me with English but many police now speak English as they are younger an the old ones have retired . 
   

    -@philip Mckay

Indian is not a language!

If someone is resident in Bulgaria (they hold a residence permit), they need to have a Bulgarian or EU member state driving license.  An IDP is for visitors temporarily in a country.

No  not correct .  iv been going to Bulgaria since 2005 and very temporarily  .. UK citizens do not need an Idp never have even before Bulgaria was in the eu. And iv been stopped more times than I care to mention by police not one has asked me for an idp .  iv used hire cars in all those years and even when iv enquired with  BG hire companys  they say UK dont need one .

So what your saying is the minute I get residence you can't drive on your licence unless its EU ..  Think ill do some research about that ,

I think there's a limited period that one is still allowed to drive on a UK licence after getting residency, but then the person has to change to an EU licence, yes.

The rules are probably different for those who obtained their residency pre-Brexit, but my understanding is that's how it works for post-Brexit residency applicants.

    No  not correct .  iv been going to Bulgaria since 2005 and very temporarily  .. UK citizens do not need an Idp never have even before Bulgaria was in the eu. And iv been stopped more times than I care to mention by police not one has asked me for an idp .  iv used hire cars in all those years and even when iv enquired with  BG hire companys  they say UK dont need one .
So what your saying is the minute I get residence you can't drive on your licence unless its EU ..  Think ill do some research about that ,
   

    -@mckayphil

UK is not India, and India was never in the EU.

As @romaniac and @janemulberry say, there is a time limit for new Bulgarian residents to get themselves a Bulgarian driving license. This is a standard requirement throughout the EU, and, typically, you can't become a long-term resident of a new country and not have a local license. There might be different time periods for those with a non-EU license, and those with an EU license... but I don't know these details. We're not talking 5 minutes after getting your residence permit, maybe 3 months or 6 months or something in that ballpark.

There's a similar requirement with foreign-plated cars. You can't keep your UK (or Germany) registered vehicle here, and expect to drive it for the next 10 years in Bulgaria. On the other hand, if you still have a home in UK/Germany and drive the vehicle back there regularly, you might be able to show that it's more appropriate for you to keep it on the foreign plate.

In many (most) EU countries, I would say there's not much difference between theory and practice. :-) However, Bulgaria appears to be pretty lax about the enforcement of quite a lot of issues, including aspects of driving (speeding, foreign plates, dirty/loud exhausts, foreign driving licenses).

In my experience of traffic stops, they rarely or ever ask for my driving license. They always ask for the car documents, and they want to see a registration document (proof of you own the vehicle), valid insurance, and a current vehicle inspection. The vignette (road tax) has enforcement cameras, so you should have this too, even if you have a foreign-reg car. Even when my car was on its UK plates, they never checked if I'd exceeded the time for re-registering. (However, when I registered at KAT, after a couple of years, they fined me for late registration. Maybe 50 leva.)

I'm guessing they would be a lot stricter if I was drunk, or I'd blown through their speed trap at 200 kph, autobahn-styley. But for random stops or slight speeding, I've had a couple who grudgingly waved me on (after seeing my docs) when they realized I didn't speak Bulgarian (and they didn't speak English).

We have Spanish residence too, and the enforcement there is completely different. The local police can (and do) check whether or not you are a resident, and since what date... and then verify than your car can still be driven on its foreign plate, or that you can still drive on your foreign license. If not, they impound your vehicle, and fine you. They are pretty ruthless. :-)