Bulgaria Golden Visa (Residency by Investment): The Complete 2026 Guide

The Bulgaria golden visa grants immediate European Union permanent residence to non-EU investors who place a qualifying financial investment, from approximately EUR 512,000, in a licensed Bulgarian investment fund or collective investment scheme, with a higher threshold applying to directly held listed shares. It moved up the European rankings in 2025 and 2026 for two concrete reasons: Bulgaria became a full Schengen member on 1 January 2025 and adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, pairing both with the lowest flat tax in the EU. One honesty note belongs at the top, and this guide addresses it in full below: Bulgaria remained on the FATF grey list at the June 2026 plenary, which can add banking friction, although the FATF has now determined that Bulgaria’s action plan is substantially complete. This is the complete, current picture of what the programme is, what it costs, what it delivers and where its real risks lie.

On this page

• What is the Bulgaria golden visa?
• Why Bulgaria moved up the list in 2025 and 2026
• Investment routes and minimum amounts
• What the Bulgarian golden visa gets you
• Family inclusion
• Tax position for Bulgarian residents
• The path from residency to citizenship
• The FATF grey list: an honest risk assessment
• Application process and timeline
• Bulgaria vs the other European golden visas
• Is the Bulgaria golden visa legitimate?
• Frequently asked questions

This guide is general information about the Bulgaria residency-by-investment programme and is not legal, tax or immigration advice. Programme terms, thresholds and figures can change, and several are noted below as subject to official confirmation. Obtain independent professional advice before making any application or investment decision.

What is the Bulgaria golden visa?

The Bulgaria golden visa, more precisely Bulgaria’s residency-by-investment programme, gives approved non-EU applicants permanent residence in Bulgaria, a full member state of the European Union and, since 2025, of the Schengen Area. What sets it apart from most European routes is that the permanent residence is granted at the outset, with no temporary-permit phase to serve first and no renewal cycle to manage.

Residency by investment, not citizenship by investment

The single most important clarification is this: Bulgaria offers residency by investment, not citizenship by investment. Bulgaria’s former fast-track investor citizenship route was abolished in 2022, when amendments to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act, promulgated in State Gazette No. 26 of 1 April 2022, repealed the investor naturalisation provisions. No current Bulgarian programme sells a passport for an investment. Today’s programme grants permanent residence, with Bulgarian citizenship possible only later through standard naturalisation. We set out exactly what ended, when, and what replaced it in our guide to Bulgaria citizenship by investment and what remains in 2026.

Immediate permanent residence: no temporary-permit phase

Most European programmes issue a temporary permit that must be renewed and eventually converted to permanent status. Bulgaria grants permanent residence immediately upon approval of the qualifying investment. The permit is of indefinite duration, and there is no minimum stay requirement to keep it. For an investor whose priority is a settled EU status without a relocation obligation, this immediate, indefinite grant is one of the programme’s strongest structural features.

The legal basis and who administers it

The investment grounds sit in Article 25, paragraph 1, item 6 of the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act, which lists the qualifying financial instruments and their statutory minimums. The funds and schemes involved must be licensed or registered by the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission (fsc.bg), the investment is certified by the Bulgarian Investment Agency (investbg.government.bg) with securities holdings confirmed through the central securities depository, and residence is granted through the Migration Directorate of the Ministry of Interior (mvr.bg). The application of these provisions to a specific file should still be confirmed with counsel, but the structure is clear: an approved financial investment, made through regulated instruments, unlocks immediate permanent residence.

Why Bulgaria moved up the list in 2025 and 2026

For years Bulgaria was the quiet option in the European golden visa field: low cost, low tax, but outside Schengen and denominated in a national currency. Two events changed that materially.

Full Schengen membership since 1 January 2025

Bulgaria’s air and sea borders joined the Schengen Area on 31 March 2024, and full membership including land borders took effect on 1 January 2025 under the Council decision of 12 December 2024. For golden visa holders, this is the decisive upgrade: a Bulgarian permanent residence permit now carries Schengen travel rights, with no internal border checks. We cover exactly what that mobility does and does not include in our dedicated guide to the Bulgaria Schengen golden visa.

Euro adoption on 1 January 2026: a fully euro-denominated programme

Bulgaria adopted the euro on 1 January 2026, confirmed by the European Central Bank (ecb.europa.eu), with the lev converting at the fixed rate of BGN 1.95583 per euro. The practical effect for an investor is the removal of currency-conversion risk: the qualifying investment, the tax obligations and the banking are now euro-denominated. It removes a friction that used to weigh against the Bulgarian route.

The EU’s lowest flat tax: 10% personal and 10% corporate

Bulgaria applies a flat 10% personal income tax and a flat 10% corporate income tax. The personal rate is the lowest flat rate in the EU, and the corporate rate is tied for the lowest, level with Hungary. There is no wealth tax and no inheritance tax between direct relatives. For an investor with meaningful active income or a corporate structure, this tax profile is frequently the real prize, and we expand on it in the tax section below.

Investment routes and minimum amounts

The Bulgarian programme is a financial-investment route, not a real estate route. The qualifying investment goes into regulated market instruments listed in Article 25, paragraph 1, item 6 of the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act. The two fund routes share the headline minimum; directly held listed securities carry a higher one.

Licensed alternative investment funds (AIF)

The core route places the qualifying capital into an alternative investment fund established in Bulgaria, licensed or registered by the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission, with statutory conditions on the fund’s minimum assets and its Bulgarian-asset investment strategy. The FSC status of the chosen fund is the gatekeeping step, and its clearance is part of what determines the application timeline.

Collective investment schemes, ETFs and directly held listed shares

The second fund route places the capital into units or shares of an FSC-licensed Bulgarian collective investment scheme, a category that includes exchange-traded funds, whose strategy must be directed mainly at listed Bulgarian shares and bonds. A third route holds shares or bonds of Bulgarian companies traded on a regulated market directly, at the higher statutory minimum of BGN 2,000,000, approximately EUR 1,022,600. The Act also contains further, less used investment grounds, including concession rights, certified priority investment projects, larger unlisted-company investments and a job-creating business route. The right choice depends on the investor’s risk profile, liquidity preferences and the specific instruments available at the time.

A note on the threshold figure

The commonly cited minimum of approximately EUR 512,000 is the statutory BGN 1,000,000 fund-route threshold converted at the fixed euro adoption rate of BGN 1.95583 per euro, which works out to EUR 511,292. The statutory amounts in the Foreigners Act are expressed in levs and now read in euro at that fixed rate. We state the conversion openly and confirm the current figures per engagement, because precision on the entry number is exactly what a requirements reader deserves.

What ended: the government bond route and direct citizenship purchase

Older guides still describe a government bond route and a direct citizenship-purchase option. Both are gone. Government bonds were removed from the qualifying investment grounds when the provisions were restructured in 2021, and the fast-track investor citizenship route was abolished in 2022. We explain the history and the reader-protection implications in the citizenship status guide.

The 5-year holding requirement

The qualifying investment must be held for five years, a condition set in Article 25, paragraph 11 of the Foreigners Act. A 2025 amendment to that provision confirms that after the five years, the investor may end or change the investment without affecting the permanent residence already granted. The five-year mark is also the point from which the naturalisation clock is typically assessed. For the full eligibility and documentation picture, see the Bulgaria golden visa requirements guide.

What the Bulgarian golden visa gets you

Permanent residence from day one, indefinite duration

Approval grants permanent residence immediately, with no temporary phase and no expiry on the status itself, subject to ongoing compliance and the five-year investment hold. This is a genuine structural advantage over the temporary-permit programmes of Portugal, Greece and Hungary.

Schengen travel (90 in 180)

As a Bulgarian permanent resident, you can travel within the Schengen Area for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, with no internal border checks. For an investor whose home passport carries limited visa-free access, this mobility is often the most immediately valuable benefit.

No minimum stay requirement

There is no minimum physical presence requirement to obtain or to keep the permanent residence status. An investor can hold Bulgarian permanent residence without relocating. The one caveat, addressed below, is that citizenship through naturalisation is a separate matter and does carry its own residence expectations.

Right to live, work and run a business in Bulgaria

The permit carries the right to live, work and operate a business in Bulgaria. Combined with the 10% flat tax and euro denomination, this makes Bulgaria a credible base for an investor who does want an active economic footprint, not only a travel document.

Family inclusion

Bulgaria’s family reach is narrower than the widest European programmes, and we state that plainly rather than overselling it.

Spouse and children under 18

The core family unit is the spouse and unmarried children under 18. Under the Foreigners Act, minor children of a permanent resident qualify for permanent residence in their own right, while a spouse’s own permanent residence is linked to five years of marriage, with the Act waiving the in-country residence requirement for spouses of investors under the investment grounds. In practice a spouse typically holds extended residence in the interim, and the exact sequencing for a given family should be confirmed with counsel.

Parents: temporary residency only

Based on available sources, dependent parents may qualify for temporary residency rather than being included in the permanent residence grant, and eligibility for adult children is not clearly established. These are areas we hedge and confirm per file, because family provisions are exactly where programme detail varies and where a confident overstatement would be irresponsible. Families whose planning centres on elderly parents or adult children should weigh Bulgaria against wider-reach programmes such as Malta’s permanent residency programme, and we compare family scope across programmes in our golden visa family members guide.

Tax position for Bulgarian residents

10% flat personal income tax, 10% corporate, no wealth tax

Bulgaria applies a flat 10% rate to personal income and a flat 10% rate to corporate income. It levies no wealth tax and no inheritance tax between direct relatives. The standard VAT rate is 20%. For active-income earners and corporate structures, this is among the most efficient positions in the EU, and it is a large part of why the head term commands the commercial value it does.

The 183-day rule and territorial taxation for non-residents

Tax residence turns on presence. An individual who spends 183 or more days in Bulgaria in a year generally becomes a full tax resident, taxable on worldwide income at the flat 10%. Below that threshold, a non-resident is generally taxed only on Bulgarian-sourced income. This means an investor can hold Bulgarian permanent residence without automatically triggering Bulgarian worldwide taxation, a distinction that should always be planned with specialist tax advice for the individual’s full circumstances.

No non-dom or lump-sum regime: the low flat rate is the regime

Unlike Cyprus, Greece or Italy, Bulgaria has no dedicated non-dom or lump-sum tax regime. It does not need one. The tax efficiency comes from the low flat rates themselves and the 183-day rule for non-residents. For the cross-programme picture, see our golden visa tax hub; Bulgaria’s 10% flat rate sits below Hungary’s 15% personal rate, which we compare in the Hungarian guest investor programme guide.

The path from residency to citizenship

Naturalisation after 5 years of permanent residence

The route from Bulgarian permanent residence to citizenship is standard naturalisation under Article 12 of the Bulgarian Citizenship Act. The statutory conditions include holding permanent or long-term residence for at least five years, a clean criminal record, income or occupation sufficient for self-support, command of the Bulgarian language, and release from the previous citizenship, with exemptions from the release requirement for categories including EU, EEA and Swiss citizens and spouses of Bulgarian citizens. How these conditions apply to a specific applicant should be confirmed with counsel and the Ministry of Justice (justice.government.bg), and we confirm the detail per engagement.

What happened to fast-track citizenship

Bulgaria’s fast-track investor citizenship route, which historically allowed an accelerated path in exchange for a larger investment, was abolished by the 2022 amendments to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act, promulgated in State Gazette No. 26 of 1 April 2022. Any current marketing that presents a Bulgarian passport as purchasable is out of date. We set out the full history and the present reality in the Bulgaria citizenship by investment status guide, and the broader distinction between residency and citizenship routes in our guide to residency and citizenship by investment.

The FATF grey list: an honest risk assessment

This is the section that most competing pages leave out, and it is precisely the one a careful investor needs.

What grey-listing means for banking and KYC

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list identifies jurisdictions under increased monitoring for anti-money-laundering deficiencies. Being grey-listed does not make a residency programme illegal or invalid. What it can do is add friction: some banks and compliance teams apply enhanced know-your-customer checks to profiles connected with a grey-listed jurisdiction, which can slow account opening and lengthen due diligence.

Where Bulgaria stands

At its plenary of 19 June 2026, the FATF kept Bulgaria on the grey list but made the initial determination that Bulgaria has substantially completed its action plan, and authorised the on-site assessment that precedes removal from the list. In plain terms, Bulgaria is at the final stage before delisting, but it has not been delisted yet. Because the FATF plenary cycle can change this status, the current position should be verified against official FATF publications (fatf-gafi.org) and Bulgarian reporting (bta.bg) at the point of application. For an investor, the honest planning posture is to treat grey-listing as a manageable, disclosed friction rather than a disqualifier, and to confirm in advance that the specific banks and institutions in the plan will not be affected.

Application process and timeline

The typical sequence is investment first, then residence. In outline, the investor completes the qualifying investment into an FSC-approved fund or listed instrument, the fund clearance is confirmed, and the permanent residence application is then filed through the Migration Directorate. In our advisory experience, and consistent with the accuracy sources we rely on, the permanent residence application typically runs around four to six months, depending on document readiness and the Financial Supervision Commission’s clearance of the chosen fund. Timelines are indicative rather than guaranteed, and we confirm the current position for each file. For the cross-programme view of how these applications run, see our golden visa application process hub.

Bulgaria vs the other European golden visas

Where Bulgaria wins

Bulgaria’s advantages are specific and current. It grants immediate permanent residence rather than a temporary permit. It now carries full Schengen access. It offers the EU’s lowest flat tax and a euro-denominated structure. And it sits in the lowest cost-of-living band of the European golden visa peer group. Among the immediate-permanent-residence programmes, Bulgaria is distinctive for pairing that immediacy with Schengen membership.

Where another programme fits better

Bulgaria will not suit every investor. Its family reach is narrower than Malta’s four-generation scope. Its economy and market are smaller than Portugal’s, Greece’s or Hungary’s. And the FATF grey-list position is a live consideration that some peers do not carry. An investor prioritising the widest family inclusion, the deepest market, or the longest unbroken track record may find another route fits better. We set the six programmes side by side in our guide to the best golden visa countries in Europe. For the Schengen contrast specifically, note that Cyprus permanent residency grants EU residence but sits outside Schengen, which is exactly the line Bulgaria now crosses.

Is the Bulgaria golden visa legitimate?

Search interest around whether the Bulgarian programme is real or trustworthy is understandable, because the story genuinely changed. Here is the plain version. The residency-by-investment programme is legally valid and operationally active. What changed in 2022 was the abolition of the investor citizenship route, under EU pressure and money-laundering scrutiny, which is why so much old marketing now describes something that no longer exists. Bulgaria did not close its programme; it restructured it into a residence-first ladder. The other live scrutiny, the FATF grey-list designation, is real, disclosed above, and at the final assessment stage before removal.

The way to verify any claim about the programme is to check it against primary sources: the Financial Supervision Commission (fsc.bg) for approved funds, the Migration Directorate (mvr.bg) for residence, the European Commission (home-affairs.ec.europa.eu) for Schengen status, the ECB and Bulgarian National Bank for euro adoption, and FATF (fatf-gafi.org) for the grey-list position. The European Parliament Research Service has also published a 2024 briefing on the scrutiny of investment-migration schemes across the EU, useful context for understanding the direction of policy. A programme that survives that level of source-checking, as Bulgaria’s residency route does, is a legitimate instrument, provided it is presented honestly.

Frequently asked questions

Does Bulgaria have a golden visa?
Yes. Bulgaria grants immediate permanent residence to non-EU investors who place a qualifying investment, from approximately EUR 512,000 (statutory BGN 1,000,000), in a licensed Bulgarian investment fund or collective investment scheme. Directly held listed shares qualify at a higher threshold of approximately EUR 1,022,600.

Is the Bulgarian golden visa residency or citizenship?
Residency. Bulgaria abolished its citizenship-by-investment route in 2022, so today’s programme grants permanent residence, with citizenship possible later through standard naturalisation, generally after five years.

Does Bulgarian residency give Schengen access?
Yes. Bulgaria has been a full Schengen member since 1 January 2025, so residents can travel visa-free within the Schengen Area under the 90/180 rule, with no internal border checks.

Do I have to live in Bulgaria to keep the permit?
No. There is no minimum physical presence requirement to maintain the permanent residence status. Citizenship through naturalisation is a separate matter with its own residence expectations.

What is Bulgaria’s flat tax rate?
Bulgaria applies a flat 10% personal income tax and a flat 10% corporate income tax, the lowest flat rates in the EU. Non-residents are generally taxed only on Bulgarian-sourced income unless they spend 183 or more days in the country in a year.

Is Bulgaria on the FATF grey list?
Yes, as of the June 2026 FATF plenary Bulgaria remained on the grey list. The FATF has determined that Bulgaria substantially completed its action plan and has authorised the final on-site assessment before removal. Some banks apply enhanced checks in the meantime. Verify the current status with official FATF publications before relying on it.

The bottom line

Bulgaria is the value-and-velocity play in the European golden visa field. It genuinely suits the cost-sensitive investor who wants immediate EU permanent residence with full Schengen access, the active-income or corporate planner who values the EU’s lowest flat tax, and the no-presence investor who wants a settled status without relocating. It suits less well the family that needs the widest multi-generational reach or the investor who wants no FATF-related banking friction at all. If the first description fits, the sensible next step is a confidential assessment of your profile, your source of funds and the right investment route before anything is committed. The Aegir Global team advises HNW investors and their professional advisors on exactly this, and advisory fees are quoted per engagement.