Visa D Bulgaria - Marriage

peterpan8154 wrote:

Hi Everyone,

My boyfriend (Bulgarian) and I (Canadian) are planning to apply to a visa D based on marriage. We have gathered most of the documents necessary for submitting an application at the nearest Bulgarian Embassy. However, we were wondering if we need to get the marriage certificate first and then apply for the Visa D, or can we apply to Visa D first and then get married at a later date? Any advice on this topic is appreciated.

Thank you

One of the grounds for the D visa is a marriage "to a person with the right of permanent residence in the country". But that means you already need to be married and have the necessary proof to submit as part of your visa application.

However... if you are Peter... and you have a boyfriend... would this be a same-sex marriage? If so, you might need to do a bit more investigation (into this particular immigration issue, and Bulgaria as a place to live), as I believe same sex-marriages are not recognized in Bulgaria. And indeed, like Russia and several other Eastern European countries, may not be very welcoming to those of the LGBT+ community.

Thank you for your reply. We are not a same-sex marriage but I received an email from a Bulgarian immigration expert and they said that marriage needs to come first as well.

Actually "marriage needs to come first" only in the case when you will be using marriage as grounds for your visa application.

However this is not the only option. It is good to read thoroughly the legislation concerning visa applications in Bulgaria and select the most appropriate grounds for your case.

everything is in the website of Ministry of foreign affairs, and since your boyfriend is Bulgarian, then you will have no problems using the information there.