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Mel, I'm still in the UK as well so can't say this for sure, but I've read several places that it can only be done in Bulgaria. You might be able to hire a lawyer or immigration service in Bg to do it for you.

It's complicated - we need to be in Bg to set up half the things we need to apply for our D visa here in the UK!

Hi Jane, yes that鈥檚 my view too. I believe we can ask a solicitor to set one up if we give them power of attorney but not 100% sure. As you say , need to be in BG but that鈥檚 not happening at the moment due to Covid. Lots of hoops to jump through aren鈥檛 there!

Indeed, travel and bureaucratic processes are quite challenging now.

I think the SHORT answer to your question is: no! Pretty much all the banks have tightened up so you have to go in person (and even that isn't as easy as it used to be). I'm not 100% certain on this, so maybe there is some lawyer somewhere with inside contacts... but, in principle, I think I'm giving pretty reliable guidance.

But... there's a LONG answer too... :-)

However, do you need the bank account? I think your plan is D Visa application at Bulgarian Embassy in London? So let's check the (general) requirements:

1. A completed visa application form
2. Two (2) identical photos - (the standard passport size - 45 millimeters (mm) high by 35mm wide)
3. A current valid passport - you need a blank page in your passport for your visa. Your passport should be valid for the whole of your stay in Bulgaria
4. Evidence of sufficient funds to support themselves while in Bulgaria. This should be provided in the form of a bank statement (equal to at least 6 minimum monthly Bulgarian salaries).
5. A proof of private medical insurance from a Bulgarian insurance company to cover costs of healthcare, hospitalization, and repatriation.
6. A proof of accommodation - lease agreement (also known as a rental contract in Bulgaria). Relevant documents must be presented to a notary public and signed in their presence
7. Criminal background check - details of any immigration, criminal or civil offenses you might have committed
8. Paid visa fee.

Most of these are not a problem, but 4, 5, 6 are more of an issue. (All of these you'll need for your subsequent residence permit application too.)

For (4), there is info out there that says they want to see a BG bank account, with some funds, where you'll be paying your pension. However, there are others that just say it's "proof of financial means". That means it's probably OK to show your credit/debit cards (they accepted this for my last residence permit), plus a recent bank/savings statement that shows a nice healthy balance. Plus, as the application is for a pensioner, you will require proof of your pension(s), so I imagine they would also take this in account in terms of your financial means. So, for this one, I'm pretty confident that while you can't open a BG account from there, you can provide plenty of UK documents that they will be happy with.

Here's official BG website text: "Proof of financial means/bank statement". This supports my view that a BG account is not required.

In general, I think they're very happy to roll out the welcome mat for retirees, so if you're able to show a nice fat pension confirmation... and healthy bank balance that's your budget to go buy a big house with land... then I'd guess they'll be a bit more flexible on the rest of the details. :-)

For (5) you need the "Health Insurance For Foreigners" policy which is required for most/all residence applications. In person, it's quick and easy, takes about 10 minutes and costs about 80 euros. They might accept a UK-issued travel/medical policy that covers you throughout Europe, but I haven't had this confirmed, so I think it's safer to get the BG one. This is not something that is likely to require a POA, so I'm pretty sure you could do this online (message me and I'll give you the info for the BG online insurance outfit I use), or get a friend (me, my attorney, A.N.Other) to do on your behalf, and then send/email back to you. So this one can quickly be ticked off the list too.

The official BG government visa site says: "A medical insurance valid for the EU member states for the whole period of the trip, covering all costs for repatriation and for urgent medical care and emergency hospital treatment for the period of the stay indicated in the visa. The insurance amount cannot be less than 30 thousand euro". This seems to support my view that a UK-issued insurance would be fine.

For (6), we have a problem. Not only do you need proof of your BG address, but the document must be notarized in BG (as it's a Bulgarian document). The two options are: (a) a 12 month (= long term) rental contract, or (b) the notary act (deed) for your property in BG.

If you're planning to spend a year looking for the right property, then it's no hardship to rent a nice little apartment for a year, at, say, 400 euros per month. If you were thinking of finding your shortlist of places via the internet, and then coming over for a couple of weeks of viewings, while staying in B&Bs, and making the purchase... then that works out a bit expensive. So, instead, you'll need to just get a real estate agent to rent you the cheapest studio possible (150-200 euros per month), or buy the cheapest property possible (couple of thousand via Ebay). Or... my attorney (I am happy to share his info & websites if you message me privately) includes a valid rental contract for a cost of 500 euros when he's preparing Visa D or Residence Permit applications. (He did for me and my buddy from Cyprus recently. This satisfies the bureaucrats, but means we were not under any pressure to rent/buy something quickly just to get the residence paperwork sorted out.)

But we still need to notarize the document, which will be a bit of a faff. Whoever (your "agent" in this) is giving you the contract needs to email you a POA (in BG/English) which you will print, sign, and notarize... and return to your agent.聽 Notarization can be done at the BG Embassy and then sent directly to agent. Or you can notarize at your local UK notary... but then you need to send it to a London-based service to get it certified/apostilled before sending it to Bulgaria. With this document, your agent can sign the rental contract on your behalf and get it notarized, before sending it over to you.

It's a bit of a pain, but doable without travelling to Bulgaria.

The official聽 BG website again says: "Proof of housing/accommodation; when applying for D visa, a notarized lease agreement and notarized consent/declaration from the owner, stating that he/she agrees that the applicant will be registered on this address are both requested." So I think we can't avoid this one (and, as mentioned, you do need it for your Residence Permit application anyway).

If you send me a private message, I'd be happy to set up a viber/whatsapp chat to go over the above, if you think it would be helpful to discuss the process/options.

I have checked the official BG immigration pages, regarding the proof of address requirement. It's interesting...

"For the residence address verification, according to Art. 20a, one of the following documents should be submitted:
1. A title deed, or another document proving the ownership, as well as a statement, handwritten by the owner of the property in front of a representative of the Migration office;
2. A notarized declaration in which it is explicitly stated that the person is the owner of the property, as well as the type, number and date of the document;
3. A notarized lease contract, or respectively another document proving the usage of the property.
4. When submitting a lease agreement, which is not certified by notary, a notarized declaration from the owner for providing a residence address is also required."

This means you could eliminate a bunch of faff for getting your POA over to BG. Instead, it appears that a rental contract that isn't notarized is OK (so you could sign/fax or e-sign this), and then the owner (which could be me, or a friend, or A.N.Other) already IN Bulgaria could do the notarized declaration. I already did one of these for my Cyprus friend, so I know it's not a big deal.

I can't think where I read it -- maybe the Bg Embassy in London's site? -- but I did read somewhere that for retirement visas, you need to show that the pension will be paid into a Bg bank account.聽
Much easier if that's not the case!

Banks on a whole are tightening things up. You need to show a passport, residency etc... To open up accounts. This is down to stop money laundering issues.

Back in Wales, my dad who is friends with the staff in Barclays (including the manager) was not able to pay any money into my UK account with cash over the counter. It had to be done by transfer of accounts.

Hi Jane & Mel...

If you come to Bulgaria for a quick visit you definitely can do bank account, medical insurance policy, and rental contract. But this will cost you flights, hotel, covid tests (per person / per direction, I suspect), taxis, food, etc, etc. It's not cheap, and it's not easy with the current covid restrictions. Hence, we need to see how do this WITHOUT flying over!

The BG Embassy is aware of the crisis, so I'd imagine they'll show a little understanding of the situation. And the reality is that UK retirees are a valuable demographic, that Bulgaria is happy to see them retire over here and bring their fat (by Bulgarian standards) British pension with them.

Jane, you're quite right that there is text that says they want to see the BG account your pension will be paid into. And I'm sure this is the ideal option (along with a few thousand euros already in it... and with a certified bank statement that you got from your bank branch). But there is also official text (BG embassy site) that has the more general "Proof of financial means/bank statement". As discussed above, I think if you demonstrate financial means by a UK bank statement with a decent balance, a credit/debit card, perhaps even the proof of funds for the house you intend to purchase... and proof (letter of entitlement) of pension... I would have expected them to be happy with this.

As discussed, most of the requirements are not difficult, even with lockdown. The key ones are proof of finances, proof of medical insurance, and proof of BG address.

It's a bit fiddly to arrange these without coming to Bulgaria, but I've explained above, step by step, how each one can be done while remaining in the UK. Admittedly, it needs a bit of help from someone in Bulgaria, and involves a bit of cost... but definitely doable.

The proof of medical insurance one is a very good example. If you're here, it's absolutely easy-peasy... any insurance agent will issue the policy in about 10 minutes.

The embassy official text is general enough that it's clear they will accept a non-BG policy too. But the challenge is finding one at a decent price, that has the right amount of cover (30,000 euros) and the right period (a year). A regular UK travel insurance policy can cost 拢100-拢200 and might have the right amount of cover, but only for 30-60 days. The AXA Schengen Policy (accepted by most EU countries for immigration purposes, I used it Spain, and they have non-Schengen extra cover for Bulgaria, Cyprus etc) is now almost 300 euros. Plus, technically, English documents (such as insurance policies) need to be translated to Bulgarian, which adds another step.

So the easiest is to ask your attorney in BG to get the policy for you, and then DHL/email it over.

Proof of address is the most challenging. But as above, there is some detailed guidance on the BG Immigration pages, which shows they've considered the potential for non-notarized contracts. They specifically allow for the applicant to have a rental contact that hasn't been notarized, as long as the lessor/owner of the property has signed and notarized the relevant declarations. This means you can e-sign (or sign/fax) the rental contract document in the UK... while your attorney gets the declarations done in BG, before sending them over.

It's all good... and the BG dream awaits. :-)

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馃ぃ

LOL! Yes, that sounds about right for the UK, Evtra.

Hmmmm... @EVTRA...

Have you verified all this? Or used this exact process yourself?

Moreover, while the initial post is about whether you can "open a Bulgarian bank account", the context (I believe) is that they're applying for a D Visa in the BG Embassy, and there is guidance about having the bank account where the pension will be paid.

There are several points you make which I find dubious, at least currently (maybe it was different in the past):

Simply....if you are an extracommunitary citizen...you will have to open a company to own just about anything.

Pretty sure one (as a non-EU citizen) can own a car, and an apartment (without "ideal parts") directly in one's own name. It is a house with land that causes a problem, and requires incorporation of a BG company.

you open your company by giving power of attorney to an accountant or lawyer
he then will be able to open you a bank account related to the company...

Indeed, if you give your attorney a POA, he can do many things on your behalf. But simply opening a BG company is not sufficient grounds for obtaining the D Visa required prior to applying for residency. (Instead, it must be a BG company employing 10 Bulgarians, or, the easier corporate variation, a non-BG company, but registered in BG with you as its Trade Representative in Bulgaria.)

A company bank account will almost certainly not be accepted as proof of financial means, as it's not in your own name. And it's unlikely that someone would accept that you'll be paying your personal pension into this account.

Many Britons contemplating the D Visa process will apply as retirees, one of the specific categories (and the easiest) for this visa. They only need proof of the pension, and don't need a BG company.

A BG company and associated BG bank account may well be useful during your new life in Bulgaria, but I don't think this will be required for either the D Visa application or the residence application.

for residency just plain renting contract is fine.

They accept a rental contract or a notary act (property deed). The language in the immigration portal is very clear: there must be notarizations and associated declarations (from the lessor/owner). Normally the rental contract and the declaration are notarized, but there appears to be provision for the rental contract to not be notarized, as long as the declarations are.

My attorney has been very insistent about the notarizations, and adding the declarations. I don't think he would bother if it was customary for immigration to accept a simple un-notarized rental contract. I mean, you might get lucky with a sympathetic consular officer, but it seems like a pointless shortcut to me.

I would do it properly because it's required for both the initial D Visa application (at a BG embassy/consulate, usually in your home country), and the subsequent residence permit (at immigration in Bulgaria). The chance of getting sympathetic officials twice is slim to none.

the POA can then request your residency as well without you being there

Pretty sure this is one of the things the lawyer can't do for us, otherwise this would be the easiest option in these covid times. With your POA, your attorney can prepare all the paperwork, including the application forms and declarations and get everything notarized. But to file your residency application you have to be there in person. Apart from anything else, the residence permit is a biometric ID card with your photograph and fingerprint, so they certainly can't get these while you're sitting at home in the UK. :-)

once you move in you can change bank account to avoid problems with POA having access to it.

You seem to be a little jaded about rapacious lawyers! Your advice is for us to give a POA to our attorney to open a bank account... but then when we get to BG, we go open another account, personally, because the lawyer has a POA and could cheat us? That seems very inefficient. Once you've got the account open, simply rescind the POA. Or, just make sure you give a "Limited POA" giving only specific authorities, such as "opening an account" (but hence, by omission, does not allow operating the account, or withdrawing funds).

bring only new documents as residency expire with passport.

Absolutely not! I mean, don't come with an expired passport, or one with only a couple of months left... it's only sensible to renew before you come. But visas and Residence Permits are normally independent of your original passport. I have a long-term US business visa in my expired passport that I still take with me when visiting the USA. My BG residence permit includes my current passport number, and is valid until 2025. But it will remain valid after my passport expires (although possibly they might ask to see my new/old passports, or suggest I go to immigration and ask for a replacement card with the new passport number).

bring your educational titles as well as they are needed for other documents as driving license etc.

I have lots of educational titles, so it would be nice to flash them around occasionally. :-) But, sadly, absolutely no government department has asked me for these. Not for buying a property, not for paying taxes, not for incorporating a company, not for getting my residence permit, not for getting my driving license. But, sure, I do have scans of them, just in case. Well... the school asked for them, but you expect employers to want to take a peek. :-)

Ah, seems BG does have specific requirement of 18 months for passport validity.

"From 01.01.2021 British citizens who plan to stay more than 90 days in Bulgaria will have to apply for long-term visa. This includes British citizens who are family members of Bulgarian citizens. For detailed information on long-term visas, please contact the Consular office by email, specifying the purpose of stay /education, work, business, etc/. The required passport validity is 18 months from the date of applying for the visa."

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Gwyn, I think you were lucky there! I've heard of Brits being asked to provide proof of school qualifications (the Bg equivalent of O levels) to switch their UK drivers' licence to a Bulgarian one, and I believe that is also stated on the Bulgarian government site discussing changing licences.

One Brit who used to blog about living in Bg reported that he couldn't get recognised as a teacher in Bulgaria, because though he could show proof of his science degree and graduate diploma in education and could speak Bulgarian, he didn't have the Bulgarian School Leaving Certificate the department handling his application insisted was needed. IIRC, eventually he had to (very reluctantly) go back to the UK, because he was way off retiring age and needed a job.

So to be safe, it's a wise idea to dig out those 30 and 40 year old school O level and A level certificates or your home country's equivalent-- if you still have them! -- and take them with you. You never know if you'll be unlucky enough to hit someone who works to the letter of the rules when you're applying for anything. You may never get the chance to flash them, but if could happen.

Anyway, getting back on topic, is the answer that people needing a Bulgarian bank account, as Mel and I and other non-EU citizens wanting to move to Bg mare likely to, will need to travel to Bg to do it?
On another thread an American had to do that, because the Bg bank account was an absolute requirement for her. Post Brexit, it's going to be the same for the Brits. IMO, pre-Brexit Brits' experiences won't be at all the same as what will currently apply.
I hope there is an easier workaround for Mel! For me, it's fine, I'm not ready to move yet, so once we can travel I'll go there as part of the visa-less 90 days, and get everything that needs to be done there, done.
Which raises another question - what do we need to open a Bulgarian bank account. Please, no one say a residency card!聽

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Thanks, EVTRA. I was joking about banks asking for residency before opening an account. Just, sometimes it feels as if we are going around in circles with these things.

It's not unique to Bulgaria, the bureaucracy in the UK can be just as frustrating!

That's useful information about the fiscal codes.

Taken legal advice on this & about a 100 other things 馃ぃ A solicitor can set up a company & open a bank account for you if they have POA. This may be the way we have to go as can鈥檛 realistically be in BG at the moment. Also, it鈥檚 all done legally so nothing to worry about hopefully 馃檹馃徏 馃槅

Sounds good, Mel. Hope it all works out!

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LOL, EVTRA! I knew we would get this mentioned somewhere:

"They will now open bank account to a foreign person only in the following 3 cases:

- If the person has a permanent residency status in Bulgaria. Please note that the applicant has to be in possession of Bulgarian permanent residency card (long term residency doesn鈥檛 do the job here);"

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GENERAL GUIDANCE ON BANK ACCOUNTS

With AML/KYC regulations, and substantial penalties for breaching them, it is increasingly difficult to open bank accounts in most countries, but especially in the more highly regulated EU. The typical bank wants to see the customer in person, and wants to see not just a passport but some kind of national ID card (e.g. Residence Permit in Bulgaria or Spain) or national ID number (e.g. national insurance number in UK, NIE in Spain, personal number on your Residence Permit in Bulgaria).

The typical requirements include a proof of address (bank statement, utility bill, etc.) which usually needs to be an original, or a certified original/copy rather than a copy, or something you printed off the internet. They also want to see proof of source of funds (such a statement of your savings or brokerage account, or your letter of entitlement to your pension).

When I want to open a personal checking/current account (I move around a lot, so I've had lots of bank accounts in lots of countries), I always take documents which establish my address, the source of my funds, and the reason I'm asking for an account in this particularly country. Maybe they won't need them... but it's better to be prepared, and have too much, than too little.

Accordingly, it's very difficult for an attorney to do this on your behalf using a POA. It is many, many years since I was able to do this. There may be attorneys who have a well-established relationship with a particular (usually smaller, less compliant) bank and are still able to open accounts for their clients... but this is rare.

You may have heard that Bulgaria banks are more "flexible", but this is an EU country subject to EU banking regulations, so where (for example) Spain and Germany go, Bulgaria soon has to follow.

OPENING A BULGARIAN BANK ACCOUNT

Given the above, I'd be very surprised if an attorney can do it for you. If he can, lucky you. (But, given that you don't need it, as discussed below, it's certainly not worth paying any significant amount for this service.)

My attorney has specifically declined any bank opening. He says he simply can't do it. (Of course, like other Bulgarian attorneys, he can incorporate a company for you, and open a corporate bank account. But this doesn't help your D Visa or Residence applications.) Moreover, he says the days of passport-only are behind us, and most Bulgarian banks will want to see your residence permit (as it has both your unique Bulgarian ID number, and it is accepted as a proof of address - as your council tax bill would in the UK - as it includes the address you gave immigration).

My Cyprus colleague did his residence permit last November, and my attorney told him not to bother trying to open his bank account beforehand, with only his passport. He didn't say it was impossible, he just said that he would probably spend a day trying different banks with no guarantee of success. Whereas, in 2 days, with his new residence permit, he would easily do it at the first bank he walked into.

I would not advise anyone to fly to Bulgaria to open a bank account with only their passport. I'd suggest they do it when they're here to submit their residence paperwork (still not high probability, but you're here anyway, if you want to give it a go). Or, ideally, after they've received their residence permit.

If you do open a Bulgarian account, and you want to use it as proof of means, then there's not much point simply opening the account. You should transfer in some money (a few thousand euros, say)... wait for it to clear... and then go to your new branch and ask them to print and stamp a bank statement. This gives you an original, certified document regarding your account.

Crucially, as I've tried to highlight several times, you almost certainly don't NEED (as opposed to it being nice to have) a Bulgarian bank account, either for your D Visa application, or for your Residence application. Of course, when you actually live here, it will be very useful. :-)

In 2017, when I first applied for my Residence, my attorney asked me to make sure I had 2,000 euros in my BG bank account and to get an original, certified statement from my branch. My last Residence application (renewal) was in November 2020, and we provided a photocopy of my debit card, and a notarized declaration that I had sufficient funds to support myself. (My Cyprus colleague was making a first application, and he did this too.) I recommend you do the same.

I suggest you supplement it with a UK bank statement (ideally of your savings account showing the big wodge of funds you intend to bring over to Bulgaria to buy a nice house in the country) and your Proof of Entitlement to a huge (by Bulgarian standards) UK pension.

The average salary in Bulgaria is around 400 euros, and the average pension is 200 euros. A full UK state pension is around 700 euros, say. If you have two pensions, or a nice work pension instead of the rubbish state one, so much the better. Similarly, the average household wealth in Bulgaria is something like 5,000 euros. Is this with or without the house? Who knows. The point is that you, as a retired Brit, most likely intend to buy a place, for cash. Maybe you've got 25k. Maybe it's 50k. Maybe it's 100k.

Overall, you are one wealthy gringo... and the Bulgarian authorities are going to welcome you with open arms.

This doesn't mean you can ignore the checklist of requirements for your D Visa application. Bureaucrats have a very difficult time saying yes when they can't tick all the boxes. So no bank statement / proof of finances, is pretty much an automatic no. But they have considerable flexibility as to whether to accept UK bank statement or BG bank statement or UK/BG debit/credit card.

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EVTRA... I can see you absolutely love being a contrarian, but I don't see any justification for your claims.

I am sure that I, and you, did not apply for D Visas, so, to a certain extent, one can say that we are both speculating.

However, at least I've discussed with the attorney, the Bulgarian embassy in London, and read the guidance notes online.

Moreover, the whole point is that travel is difficult, so most of the Brits (or other non-EU) asking about this, are trying to get it done without travelling to Bulgaria.

You keep saying they HAVE TO HAVE A BULGARIAN BANK ACCOUNT... and THEY HAVE TO PROVE THEIR PENSION GOES INTO IT. AND THEY CAN EASILY GET A BANK ACCOUNT IF THEY COME HERE, OR GIVE THE LAWYER A POA.

You are just so, so, so wrong.

Getting bank accounts is no longer easy even if you come in person. Many Bulgarian banks won't do it with a passport only. My lawyer can't open a personal account with a POA. If you know a bank / bank manager / attorney who can, then POST IT HERE so they can contact this person directly and get it done.

Next, the potential retiree is not going to stick their pension in a Bulgarian account UNTIL THEY GET RESIDENCE APPROVED. You'd send your pension to a foreign country on the off chance that you're going to move there?

The Bulgarian Embassy (as a general requirement) wants to see PROOF OF YOUR MEANS. That means a chunk of money in a bank account. You arguing about whether it's 2,000 euros or not is ridiculous. Besides, as I emphasized repeatedly, most retirees have a savings account and plan to buy a house in Bulgaria FOR CASH. This could be anywhere from 拢20,000 to 拢100,000 and up, sitting in UK bank account ('cos they're not going to send it to Bulgaria UNTIL THEY GET RESIDENCE). So I think it's simple: show the Embassy this money. (And besides, 2K euros is about right. Minimum salary is 600 leva, show 6 months of this. Double it for a year. Sending a little cash on the off chance I get residence is not so onerous.)

Next, there is a particular justification for gaining a D Visa which is to be a retiree/pensioner. Hence, you have to demonstrate proof of your pension by providing a letter of entitlement.

You're seriously arguing that if I rock up to the Bulgarian Embassy in London, with proof of the 拢50k I'm going to buy a house with, and the 拢1,000 pension I'm going to live on... that they're going to reject me because I don't yet have my Bulgarian account?! (which, in any case, I can't get, because UK won't allow holiday travel currently, and even if I get there, most Bulgarian banks will ask for my residence permit, which I don't yet have!)

AFTER I've gotten my D Visa approved, I have 6 months in Bulgaria. Now I can look around, decide if I like it. While I'm there, sure, I can hunt around for a bank branch that will accept my passport, and, sure, I could stick my pension in there for a couple of months. But this is for the next step, the Residence application. And even then, pretty confident that it ain't necessary.

And your solution is that I hunt around for some local gatekeeper who can tell me the rules on the ground, and the secret to getting this stuff done.

I don't even understand how you feel justified in writing this stuff.

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This is an excellent and accurate post.