Residency by Investment
Bulgaria.
Permanent From the Start.
Most golden visas issue a permit that has to be renewed. Bulgaria's investor programme issues permanent residence — from €520,000 in units of a licensed Bulgarian fund, held five years, with citizenship eligibility five years after the status is granted.
One Fund. Permanent Status.
Administered under the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act and the Bulgarian Citizenship Act, in a country that has been in the EU since 2007, NATO since 2004 and the Schengen Area since 2025. No donation is required: the whole of the qualifying sum goes into an asset you continue to own.
Permanent Residence, Not a Permit to Renew
The status granted here is permanent from the outset, rather than a five-year permit that lapses if the investment is sold. That is the structural difference between this programme and every golden visa in the same menu.
Citizenship Eligibility at Five Years
Naturalisation becomes possible after five years of holding permanent resident status. It is eligibility rather than entitlement: naturalisation carries its own conditions, the Bulgarian language among them.
Schengen — 90 Days in Any 180
Bulgaria joined the Schengen Area in 2025, so the status carries visa-free access to it for three months in any six-month period. It is not unlimited free movement, and it is not a work permit for other member states.
10% Flat, and 5% Withholding
Bulgaria levies a flat 10% on both corporate profit and personal income, with a 5% withholding rate, and exports freely into the EU. A residence status is not in itself a tax residency ruling — where you pay turns on where you actually live.
A Regulated Fund, Not a Building
The qualifying sum buys units in an alternative investment fund or ETF licensed by Bulgaria's Financial Supervision Commission, with a net asset value of at least €5 million and a strategy directed at Bulgarian assets. There is nothing to let, manage or maintain from abroad.
Family, Through Reunification
Once the investor's status is approved, a spouse and children follow through family reunification. Dependent parents obtain temporary permits instead, valid from some months up to five years depending on the ground for the stay.
Healthcare and Education
Access to Bulgarian healthcare and education, and to the wider EU system, once permanent resident status is held.
Six to Nine Months, No Language Test
The decision takes six to nine months and there is no language requirement at the residency stage — the language arrives later, if citizenship is the goal.
No Residence Requirement — but Trips You Cannot Avoid
There is no requirement to live in Bulgaria, and there are journeys you must make: the permanent residence application is filed in person, and so is the application for the card. That is two trips for the investor, and two more for each relative added through reunification — a family of four is eight journeys, spread across the four to five months each family ID takes. Nothing about that is onerous; it is simply not "apply from your desk", and it is easier to plan for at the start than to discover in month seven.
Your Entire Journey, In One Panel
From eligibility to the permanent residence card — and every family member after it — the Bayat Group panel keeps every document, appointment and journey in one place, guided by Pathinnova AI and reviewed by our legal team.
One Route. Five Conditions.
There is nothing to choose between here — one qualifying investment, and a list of things the fund and the applicant must each satisfy. What the sheet cannot do is price the fees, because Bulgaria does not publish them; it says so rather than guessing.
Non-binding estimate
One route, and the conditions it carries — on the fund, and on the applicant.
8 journeys to Bulgaria in total — two for the investor, and two for each of the 3 qualifying relatives, whose Bulgarian ID takes a further four to five months once the investor holds their card. The household size changes the travel and the calendar on this programme, not the qualifying investment.
The qualifying investment is fixed and published. The fees are neither, and this sheet will not invent them.
Applicants must possess a personal net worth exceeding €520,000 — that is wealth you evidence alongside the investment, not a second €520,000 you send. It is excluded from the figure below and should never be added to it.
Unlike our other programmes, Bulgaria's costs are not published as a schedule. Three categories apply, and all of them — the government's and the firm's alike — are liable to change and vary with the number of applicants and the complexity of the file:
◆ Government application fees for processing
◆ Legal and translation fees for document preparation and compliance
◆ Service fees for background verification and validation of the source of funds
You will have exact figures in writing after the eligibility assessment. We would rather hand you those than a number invented to make this sheet look like the others.
You may see this threshold quoted as EUR 512,000 elsewhere on this site and in our menus: that is BGN 1,000,000 at the currency board's fixed rate of 1.95583, while this programme page publishes EUR 520,000. The larger, published figure is used here, and your own file confirms which applies during due diligence. Permanent residence is indefinite status rather than a permit that expires, though the card itself is renewed periodically; what it means for later generations is a question of Bulgarian family and nationality law and one for counsel rather than a landing page. Citizenship after five years of permanent residence is eligibility, subject to the language and the other statutory conditions of naturalisation. Figures are indicative, non-binding, and confirmed during due diligence.
Six Steps, Two Journeys
Select a step to see what happens — and note that steps four and five are the two trips to Bulgaria.
Internal Due Diligence and Qualification Assessment
Bayat Group's compliance team conducts an internal due diligence check — a background security screening of the applicant, preparation of KYC (Know Your Client) documentation, and a qualification assessment against the programme's requirements.
Talk It Through. Then Begin.
Our concierge answers your Bulgaria questions in minutes — and when you are ready, it opens your application right where the conversation ends.
Sending opens your secure Bayat Group account, where an advisor picks the thread up.
Assessed against your own circumstances, in about five minutes.
- It asks about your circumstances, not your paperwork
- It names the trade-offs before you commit to a route
- It ends with the programs you actually qualify for
A scripted example. Your own assessment is private, and takes about five minutes.
Assessment
An adviser that reads your circumstances, then the rulebook.
40+ official programs, each with its own arithmetic. The assessment maps those rules to your situation in a short conversation and tells you where you actually stand.
- It asks about you, not about paperworkWhere your family is going, what your work needs, what you would not give up. Navigating the rules is our business, not your burden.
- Clear, unbiased reasoningWhen options pull in different directions, it calls out the compromise, detailing what each path costs you before you decide.
- A shortlist tailored to youNo generic marketing. Just the programs your profile actually unlocks, with realistic timelines and capital commitments.
Step one of three
Where should we send your code?
One address, one five-digit code. No password to invent, and nothing sent to you that you did not ask for.
Step two of three
Check your email
We sent a 5-digit code to . It expires shortly, so it is worth doing now.
Setting up your assessment…
One moment.