Remote employees, company owners and self-employed professionals earning from outside the European Union may qualify for Bulgaria's digital nomad permit, a route the Foreigners Act only gained in 2025.
Next Visa Step reads your income against the fifty-wage test, matches you to the profile the Act actually names, and prepares the D visa file for the Embassy in Islamabad.
Income, main applicant
€31,010.04 / year
The route began on 27 June 2025, so there is no earlier figure to compare. Both readings of the wage year
The short answer
An annual test, stated as a multiple of the minimum wage.
The amount is one thing, the proof is another. The Act and the Rules ask for evidence of the income without naming the documents. We prepare twelve months of statements and the invoices or payslips behind them, which is our advice rather than a Bulgarian list. The Migration Directorate may ask for more, and that is a request, not a refusal.
What the government charges
€100 for the long-stay D visa, under the Foreign Ministry's tariff. The permit and the residence card carry their own fees under the Interior Ministry's tariff; we confirm those at filing rather than quote a table we could not tie to this article. Insurance, apostilles and translations are your own costs. Our fee is separate.
Documents
What the Rules name for this route, and what the Foreign Ministry asks of every long-stay visa.
Clients outside the EU
A year of remote work already done, one contract and one client reference to prove it.
One employer outside the EU
A contract that outlasts the permit, and proof the company exists.
More than a quarter of a company abroad
Registration and capital, then a contract and reference from a client.
Apostille proves a document is genuine. A translation makes it readable. The Rules ask for legalisation under the Hague Convention, which for Pakistan means the Ministry of Foreign Affairs apostille, and for a certified Bulgarian translation. English is not enough here. We check what each of yours needs.
Where the official list stops. The Rules refer to their general document list for the rest, and the Embassy in Islamabad publishes no checklist for this route. We do not guess the gap from other countries' pages; we confirm it with the Embassy before you file.
The visa gets you in. The permit is a second application. The D visa is issued for up to six months. Inside that time you apply to the Migration Directorate in Bulgaria for the permit itself, which is granted for one year and can be extended once.
Filing from Pakistan: the D visa goes to the Bulgarian Embassy in Islamabad, consular hours Monday to Thursday, by appointment only, and the Foreign Ministry allows no exception to the personal interview for a long-stay visa. Read the Rules in the State Gazette before you submit.
From experience
On a new route, usually because the file was built for a different country's rules.
01
A freelancer who files as a company owner, or an owner with twenty percent of the shares, does not fit the definition. Each of the three routes has its own test.
How we handle itWe place you in the profile the Act names before a single document is gathered.
02
Three good months do not answer a question about the previous calendar year. The test is average annual income, and the file has to cover a year.
How we handle itWe build the twelve month picture first and check it against both readings of the wage.
03
The Act asks for an employment contract at least as long as the permit. A rolling or short contract is a real earnings history and still fails the wording.
How we handle itWe check the term before filing, and ask the employer for a contract that matches.
04
Bulgaria wants a certified Bulgarian translation as well as the apostille. A file that was fine for Malta or Croatia is not yet fine here.
How we handle itTranslation is on the checklist from day one, timed after the apostille so it is done once.
Working with us
Three stages. The first decides whether the other two happen.
Stage 1
We review how you earn, your recent bank statements and the documents supporting your ongoing work. You receive a clear explanation of any gaps to address before applying.
Stage 2
We help organise the forms, letter of intent, work evidence and supporting records for your application. Your checklist reflects how you earn and whether family members are included.
Stage 3
We guide you through the Embassy appointment, the interview and the D visa fee. We also explain the permit application at the Migration Directorate once you arrive.
Questions
Average annual income of at least fifty minimum monthly wages, which is €31,010.04 a year against the 2026 wage, about €2,584.17 a month. The Act says "for the previous calendar year" without saying which year's wage applies, so we prepare every file to the higher reading.
Yes. The route is for third-country nationals working for companies outside the EU. You apply for a long-stay D visa at the Bulgarian Embassy in Islamabad, by appointment and with a personal interview, then for the permit itself at the Migration Directorate once you are in Bulgaria.
One year, and it can be extended once for one more year. That is the Act's own wording. If you file the renewal while the permit is still valid, you may stay until the decision. After two years the route ends.
Only if you have already been providing remote services for at least one year before the date you apply, and at least one contract and a client reference confirm the work is done remotely. A freelancer who started this year does not yet meet the time condition.
The digital nomad article says nothing about family, and the general reunification article asks for at least one year of permitted residence before family can apply. On a one year permit that means not at the start. We have not found an official page that says otherwise.
Both. The Rules require foreign documents to be legalised under the Hague Apostille Convention, which Pakistan joined in 2023, and to carry a certified translation into Bulgarian. Most Pakistani documents are in English and still need the Bulgarian translation.
No. The definition excludes working for, or providing services to, anyone in Bulgaria, and excludes freelancing there. Your employer, your company or your clients have to be outside the EU, the EEA and Switzerland.
The long-stay D visa is €100 under the Foreign Ministry's tariff. The residence permit and the card carry their own fees under the Interior Ministry's tariff, which we confirm at filing rather than quote from a table we could not tie to this article. Our fee is separate.
We have not been able to read the tax authority's position on an official page, so this page does not state one. Bulgarian tax residence follows its own rules and can apply once you live there most of the year. Speak to a Bulgarian adviser before you plan around it.
The Act does not say. What it does say is that the permit lasts one year and can be extended once, so on its own it reaches two years, not the five that long-term residence requires. We do not claim a path that no official page describes.
The insurance figure and the interview rule come from the Foreign Ministry's visa page, and the wage from the 2026 decree. We do not give tax advice.
Tell us how you are paid, what last year looked like and how long you want to stay. The first conversation gives you a straight read on the profile, the income test and the documents, and it costs nothing.