Bulgaria visa guideThe Bulgaria family visit visa, listed by VFS as a private visit, is a Schengen short-stay visa (type C) for staying with relatives or friends in Bulgaria, for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Families in Punjab can apply at VFS Global in Chandigarh or Jalandhar, and the Embassy of Bulgaria in New Delhi decides, as a rule within 15 calendar days.
Your host prepares the key document: the Invitation-Declaration for a private stay, on the official form, signed, certified by a notary and then by the Migration Directorate of Bulgaria's Ministry of Interior. If it names your accommodation, no hotel booking is needed.
Do Indians need a visa to visit family in Bulgaria, and which one?
Yes. Parents visiting a son who studies medicine in Plovdiv, a wife joining her husband for a holiday in Varna, or a friend attending a wedding in Sofia all need a Schengen short-stay visa, type C. On the VFS site the category is called "Private Visit". Since 31 March 2024 the visas Bulgaria issues are full Schengen visas, good for the whole area, and the decision rests with Bulgaria's Embassy in New Delhi.
The limit is 90 days within any 180, and the clock starts on the day you first enter a Schengen state, Bulgaria among them. This is a visit visa, not a way to settle. Living with family in Bulgaria needs a long-stay (type D) visa, which VFS handles as a separate category.
Some relatives have a lighter route:
- Family of Bulgarian and EU citizens pay no visa fee, according to both the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and VFS.
- Family of EU, EEA and Swiss citizens need to prove only the family relationship, and the Ministry spares them proof of maintenance, accommodation and transport.
- Holders of an EU residence card. VFS explains that a family member of an EU or EEA citizen with a valid residence card as a family member of a Union citizen, travelling with or joining that citizen, can travel to Bulgaria without a visa.
Private visit to Bulgaria: key facts
- Category
- Schengen type C, private visit
- Longest visit
- 90 days within 180
- Decision maker
- Bulgarian Embassy, New Delhi
- Closest VFS centresGurugram and New Delhi too
- Chandigarh and Jalandhar
- Host's documentNotary first, then the Migration Directorate
- Invitation-Declaration for a private stay
- When to lodgeAnd 15 days before travel at the latest
- Inside 3 months of departure
Bulgaria's Foreign Ministry and the VFS Global India Bulgaria pages, read 14 Oct 2026
Where do applicants from Punjab apply?
Two VFS Global centres sit in the region itself, Chandigarh and Jalandhar, with Gurugram and New Delhi as alternatives. They take applications on weekdays between 9 am and 2 pm, so book elderly parents into an early slot. Wherever the file is lodged, the Embassy in New Delhi decides it.
Attendance follows a Bulgarian rule set out in the VFS checklist. A person travelling to Bulgaria or the Schengen area for the first time hands in the file personally. From the second trip, someone else can lodge it for the applicant, carrying an original authorisation letter and a copy of their own photo ID. For parents who visit a child every year, that saves a trip to the centre from the second visit onwards.
Children's applications are lodged by their parents or legal guardians, or by a person they have explicitly authorised, as the Ministry explains. VFS accepts card, cash or UPI and keeps its service fee once the booking is confirmed. For current openings, see our Bulgaria appointment availability page.
Which documents depend on your situation?
You will find the standard document list lower on this page. For a private visit, the paper that decides the case comes from your host.
The host's Invitation-Declaration
The private visit checklist on VFS names one document above all: the Invitation-Declaration for a private stay. To count, it has to be:
- Made out on Enclosure No 3, the set form attached to the Bulgarian visa regulation.
- Signed by the person inviting you.
- Certified by a notary public.
- Certified again by the Interior Ministry's Migration Directorate.
VFS insists that this format be followed for every private visit. A warm personal letter from your son or daughter is not a substitute. Both certifications take place in Bulgaria, so your host should begin as soon as the dates are settled and then post the certified original to you.
The form can also settle where you sleep. VFS accepts accommodation that the inviting person provides in the Invitation-Declaration, which means no hotel booking for the nights you spend in your host's home.
Your own documents
Salaried
- What to add
- An employer's letter on company letterhead with your job title, length of service and approved leave, plus three months' salary certificates
Running your own business
- What to add
- A request letter for the visa on the firm's letterhead, with its registration papers
Student
- What to add
- A leave letter from the school or university and a copy of your student ID
Spouse or children on the same trip
- What to add
- Each files under the tourist procedure, the checklist says
A minor without both parents
- What to add
- Birth certificate and the absent parent's original notarised consent giving the purpose, period and length of stay, with the parents' passport or ID copies
Family of an EU citizen
- What to add
- Proof of the relationship
Money is shown from your side as well: bank statements for three months and income tax returns for three years, personal and company where relevant, with their ITR-V acknowledgements. Old passports go in as originals, or with proof that they were lost, together with copies of the data pages and visa pages of your current passport.
How much is the Bulgaria family visit visa fee?
The visa fee is €90; on 14 October 2026 VFS showed ₹9,900 as the rupee amount. Children under 12 apply free, and so do family members of Bulgarian and EU citizens. Each traveller also pays VFS a logistics charge of ₹2,530, GST included. If the visa is refused, neither the visa fee nor the VFS charge comes back. Our filing fee is shown at the top of this page.
How long does it take, and when should you apply?
Bulgaria's Ministry gives 15 calendar days once an admissible file is in, stretching to 45 days in individual cases. The VFS list mentions 30 days, or 60 at the outside, where more scrutiny is needed. Take the longer figure, then add the weeks your host spends on the form.
Put together, the order runs like this:
- The host's form. A notary signs it off, the Migration Directorate certifies it, and only then does the original travel to Punjab.
- Your appointment inside 3 months. VFS will not take a file more than 3 months before departure, even though the Ministry permits six.
- Never under 15 days. A file lodged later than 15 days before departure may not be finished in time, VFS warns.
For a convocation, a wedding or the birth of a grandchild, aim to sit at the VFS counter about two months before the date, with the certified form already in hand.
Why do Bulgaria family visit visas get refused for Indian applicants?
Refusals use the EU's standard form. VFS also cautions that a file with missing or faulty papers can be refused on that ground alone. Family files tend to slip here.
The wrong invitation
An informal letter or a form without both certifications leaves the purpose of the visit unproven. Bulgaria wants the official Invitation-Declaration, signed off by a notary and the Migration Directorate.
Nowhere to stay on paper
If the Invitation-Declaration does not say you will stay with the host, and there is no hotel booking either, the officer cannot see where you will sleep. Read the form before the appointment.
No finances of your own
The checklist wants your own statements and tax returns. Parents who depend entirely on a child abroad should still show pension, property or savings in India.
Doubts that you will come home
A long stay, no job or property to return to, and every child living abroad add up to doubt. Fixed return dates and clear ties in India answer it.
Each refusal ground, and how to answer it next time, is covered on our Schengen refusal reasons page. Appeals go either to the Foreign Ministry in Sofia or to the Administrative Court Sofia-City, the Ministry says, within the deadline printed on the refusal form.
Tips for a stronger family-visit file
- Dates that match. The host's form, your cover letter, the return booking and the leave letter should carry the same dates and name the same host.
- Cover letter. Say why you are going, how long you will stay and whether you plan to come again.
- Insurance. Pick a policy from an insurer on VFS's approved list for India; it must cover Bulgaria for every day of the stay and pay out at least €30,000. Our Schengen travel insurance explainer covers what to check.
- Photo. One professional colour photo, recent, 3.5 × 4.5 cm on a light background, with the face taking 70 to 80 per cent of it. Dark glasses are out; a turban or other religious head covering is fine.
- Passport. It must remain valid three months beyond your exit from Bulgaria, be under 10 years old, and have two empty pages back to back.
- Carry copies. The Ministry notes that a visa alone does not give an automatic right to enter the Schengen area, so keep the host's form and your bookings in your hand luggage.
Can a friend in Bulgaria invite me, not only family?
Yes. The Invitation-Declaration for a private stay is made and signed by the inviting person, and the checklist does not limit it to relatives, so a friend living in Bulgaria can invite you too. The friend goes through the same notary and Migration Directorate steps. What changes for close family of Bulgarian or EU citizens is the paperwork: they prove the relationship, pay no visa fee, and skip the proof of maintenance, accommodation and transport.
Travelling without a host? Read the Bulgaria tourist visa guide. Everything else starts at the Bulgaria country page.
