Bulgaria in the EU
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

In accordance with the Bulgarian legislation/Decree No 31/12 February 1993 of the Council of Ministers/ an invitation-declaration drawn up on a special application and certified by the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is required for a visit of a foreign natural person with an ordinary passport to the Republic of Bulgaria (from a country with which our country has a visa regime) in connection with their business activity.

The invitation-declarations for business trips of foreigners are certified by an authorized official of the Chamber in Sofia and in the regional chambers of commerce and industry.

The invitation-declarations are certified upon the presentation of the following documents: a certificate of actual status issued by the respective court in connection with the legal seat of the tradesman, a certificate by the tax authorities in accordance with the legal seat of the tradesman for declared financial results and paid taxes and a letter by the attending bank confirming his/her financial activity during the last 6 months.

The invitation-declarations for business trips are submitted for certification to the BCCI, having been filled in legibly on a computer or a typewriter without any corrections or erasures in compliance with a model form.

The BCCI official verifies the presence of an actual registration in the Chamber’s trade register of the Bulgarian tradesman requiring the invitation, the granted powers of its representative who has affixed his/her signature on it and the authenticity of their signature.

If the representative of the Bulgarian tradesman is a foreign natural person, his/her nationality, single number of foreigner and the date of issuance of his/her certificate of residence in the Republic of Bulgaria and its validity are entered in the invitation.

The invitation-declarations are valid for 6 months as of the date of their certification by the BCCI with a maximum period of residence of the foreigner in the R.Bulgaria up to 90 days.

If the representative of the Bulgarian tradesman is a foreign natural person, the validity of the certified invitation-declaration, as well as the time-limit of residence of the invited person cannot exceed the validity of the issued certificate of residence of the foreign natural person in the Republic of Bulgaria.

The information for the Bulgarian tradesman is entered in Bulgarian.

The information of the invited foreign person is entered using the Roman alphabet in conformity with the way they are written in the documents under their national legislation.

The certified invitation-declarations shall be sent to the country whose citizens the invited foreign natural persons are.

If the invited foreign natural person is a citizen of one country and the company, whose representative he/she is during the business trip to the Republic of Bulgaria, has its legal seat in another country, documents proving his/her connection with the specified company and his/her residence in the respective country need to be presented.

At the request of the Bulgarian tradesman, the BCCI sends a confirmation-letter to the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in the respective country for the certified invitation-declaration. The sending of the confirmation is done only by the fax of the BCCI in Sofia in accordance with an approved form.

The BCCI maintains a list of companies and representatives of companies upon whose invitation foreign persons, having visited the Republic of Bulgaria, have committed an offence under the Bulgarian legislation and the Chamber has been officially notified about that by the relevant authorities. The requests submitted by these companies or persons for the certification of invitation-declarations for business trips of foreigners to the country are turned down and no guarantees are taken on in regard to them on behalf of the BCCI.

The BCCI can draw up invitation-declarations in its name only in the cases when representatives of counterpart organizations are to be invited, such as chambers of commerce for instance, or when joint activities are to be organized – business delegations, meetings, exchanges and other such forums. In this particular case the relevant national chamber of commerce guarantees the reliability of the said companies and invited people.

The filling in and certification of the invitation-declaration costs 20.80 BGN, including: 1.80 BGN for the application form, 12.00 BGN for the filling in of the form and 7.00 BGN for the stamp/per one invited person/.

80 % are deducted from the stamps’ value which the BCCI transfers to the Ministry of Interior bank account, the rest of the sum being allocated for covering the current expenses of printing the application forms with a special protection. The application forms and the stamps are bought at the BCCI’s cash desk.

Provided the foreign natural person needs a one-year multiple business visa in connection with establishing lasting business relations with their Bulgarian partner, then the Bulgarian company draws up, beside the invitation, a letter as well to the Consular Office at the Embassy of the Republic of Bulgaria in the respective country, in which it provides reasons for the necessity of the issuance of such a visa - for example in view of the regular implementation of a foreign trade contract etc. In this case the BCCI certifies the letter by verifying the existence and the registration of the Bulgarian company and the authenticity of the signature affixed on it by its lawful representative who bears the responsibility for its content.

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