Time for family reunification of non-EU family member of EU citizen

@MrM95

It's my understanding that, yes, the "processing" of family reunification permits for spouses of EU citizens now takes a few months, rather than a few days. The exact date it will be ready is hard to predict. Usually you'll have given your attorney authority to collect the permit on your behalf, so you can just come back when the attorney says he has it - you certainly don't need to hang around in Plovdiv, and you can go visit other parts of Bulgaria. (Unless that has also been changed, and you're now required to collect in person.)

I don't know if you have stay to Bulgaria while you wait for the new permit, so perhaps you can even go home for a few weeks and return only when it's ready. But I wouldn't do this unless your attorney confirms it's OK.

I can see this is pretty frustrating for you as it's a pretty recent change, and it used to take only a week. At this point, you've pretty much waited in Bulgaria until it's almost time for it to be issued. I guess we're talking 1-5 weeks only... probably easier to chill out looking at some Bulgarian sights (Bansko and Pirin National Park, Plovdiv, Rhodopes, Karlovo and Central Balkan National Park, Veliko Tarnovo and the fortress, bit of Black Sea coast).

If the attorney says you can travel internationally too, then you might find a cheap Wizzair/Ryanair flight to Cyprus, Greece, Turkey. Some nice beaches there. (We're popping over to Cyprus next week, and I highly recommend it.)

You also spotted a bit of immigration drama, but you can't please all of the people, all of the time, right? :-)

It took me 86 days to get my family reunification visa and now I’m waiting the five weeks to get my residency card to Bulgaria. It was really rough because I had already used up my 90 days waiting for my husband to get his residency in order for him to be able to apply for us to join him. And Bulgaria now requires you to apply from your country of origin. We ended up waiting one of the months in Turkey and the rest of the time, I waited in the states with our family separated.

our timeline was my husband got his visa on October 23rd though he had started the process in March 2023. It took the US government a long time to apostille our marriage certificate, and our daughters birth abroad certificate (state government is backlogged due to Trump's requirement for a verified US special driver's license that requires more documentation to receive, so they told us a 6 month wait but we had our representative help and it took 2 weeks, plus   the FBI background check which takes a month.

My daughter and I had to leave October 25th, because our 90 days had expired, luckily, my husband could keep working since he had just gor his visa. He went to the local Bulgarian government office and applied for a residency card, then had to go back 1 week later to take a picture, then it took one month to get his residency card. Then he applied for a family reunification that same day.  About a week later, we heard I had to go to the Chicago Bulgarian Embassy and submit a notarized form that I knew my minor child was applying for a residency visa. My husband had to sign one in Bulgaria. Then it took another month for us to get the family reunification letter. This whole time, my husband had to work in Bulgaria and we couldn't be there.

After my husband gets the letter, he emails me and also emails an official letter from our insurance company that we have international insurance, I emailed those documents to the chicago Bulgarian embassy. Then I went in the next day and found out we weren't done yet, but now had to apply for a visa. the reunification letter just gave us permission to apply for a visa. i had to change our flight again- so many flight changes anticipating that i would be able to come home to bulgaria. now its January 15th. My daughter and I applied for visas, paid the fee, and brought in passport pictures. The visa wait is 1-2 weeks.  we finally got our visa and came home on the 23rd of January after being away for 86 days. The Bulgarian government has on their books that I was able to get a visa in one week. my three month experience shows up as a quick visa turnaround.   That does not tell the story of how hard it was to get my visa. I got back to Bulgaria and immediately applied for a residency card, went back a week later to take the picture and pay the fee, and now I am waiting my month to get my residency card.

So the answer, my friend, is that it takes a very long time.

@MrM95

Maybe it easier if your wife would apply as an EU citizen..makes life a lot easier..and saves all the hassle of a BG residence permit..you can thank me later.😂

    @MrM95
Maybe it easier if your wife would apply as an EU citizen..makes life a lot easier..and saves all the hassle of a BG residence permit..you can thank me later.😂
   

    -@wtruckyboy

But the OP says that his wife isn't an EU citizen.....

@gwynj

There you are, Mr Professional Bulgaria! Thanks for answering.

So yeah we applied middle of December and just came back to Bulgaria end of January, so technically you can leave during the waiting time.

BUT my wife needs a visa to enter Bulgaria due to her citizenship and if she leaves now, she cannot re-enter without applying for a visa. So we need to sit it out and wait here. Luckily, with her residence card she does not need a visa for any EU country in the future anymore. Thanks Bulgaria!

And sure we do not need to hang around in Plovdiv, we are in Sofia now and exploring the city. But cold and boring, saw every park already and our daughter is a regulator visitor in the playground in the mall haha

All okay, Bulgaria is not bad at all, friendly people, safe, no woke madness like in my home country, but we just miss beaches and sun.

So you have no experience how long it takes now?

My wife, when we applied middle of December and me and my daughter got our ID cards already, got a paper card that looks almost identical to this one:

It is funny, looks not even official but it is.

Only difference to the one above, the one of my wife says "TEMPORARY Certificate for Long-Term Residence" and it ends exactly 3 months after the issuance date, so middle of March.

Am I right in thinking that the date when it ends is the LAST day where the issuance of her real plastic ID card residence permit should be done?  So the processing should be finished before? But it can happen any day and no way to know it?

    @MrM95
Maybe it easier if your wife would apply as an EU citizen..makes life a lot easier..and saves all the hassle of a BG residence permit..you can thank me later.😂
   

    -@wtruckyboy

Thats a genius idea. I will tell her to shapeshift into an EU citizen as soon as she gets awake.

Thats a genius idea. I will tell her to shapeshift into an EU citizen as soon as she gets awake.
   

    -@MrM95

After's she's managed the magical transformation into an EU citizen, please ask her to come and tell the rest of us waiting to get D visas how she did it!

    Thats a genius idea. I will tell her to shapeshift into an EU citizen as soon as she gets awake.        -@MrM95

After's she's managed the magical transformation into an EU citizen, please ask her to come and tell the rest of us waiting to get D visas how she did it! -@janemulberry

All she has to do is:

1: self-identify as a Hollywood A-lister, or a Nigerian sportsman.

2: drop an email to Mitsotakis, the shifty PM of Greece, telling him that she thinks his country is nice.

3: offer him a photo op in exchange for a Greek passport.

4: try not to let him bite her hand off in his eagerness to accept her offer.

Those well-known "Greeks", Messrs Hanks and Antetokounmpo can explain the procedure to her in more detail....

Short update:

The residence permit for my wife was issued beginning of March, so it literally took 2 and a half months.

We are very happy with the easy-going process and are thankful to Bulgaria for making this possible, in my home country the whole process would have been a pain in the ass.

We are on the way to a sunny beach now

So everyone who is concerned about the new processing time, at least with us it was indeed exactly 2 and a half months. Sure not as convenient as before with the 3 days, but still way better than in any other EU country that I know of. And with Bulgaria being in Schengen end of the month, one does own a Schengen Residence Permit with a Bulgarian Family Permit soon. Very cool.

@MrM95

You mean Bulgaria being in a sort-of Schengen...

@MrM95

Congats! All's well that ends well. :-)

I'm glad it worked out for you! Hope you get some nice beach weather!

@MrM95 - Congrats that you managed to complete this

I feel I am also in a similar situation as you were. Can you pls tell me what was the time gap it took to apply the visa and collect the visa from the embassy for your wife.

I assume she must have visited the Bulgarian embassy in her home country to submit her visa application - Can you tell me when did she apply (date) and when she got her visa ?

In my case, my wife has applied for her visa on Feb 14th in Bulgarian embassy in India and so far no updates.