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Pathway

Bulgaria Startup Visa Eligibility Certificate

Bulgaria Other
Pathway overview

At a glance

Bulgaria's Startup Visa certificate is for a non-EU/EEA/Swiss founder with a high-tech or innovative project that passes Ministry expert scoring. The certificate can support, but does not itself grant, long-term residence.

Type
Startup or entrepreneur status
Business fit
Founders seeking an official startup or business status
Core requirements
Innovative project, 8-point score, Bulgarian development plan, and residence filing
What to know
The one-year certificate is not itself a visa or residence permit
Minimum investment
No set minimum; the startup must be certified
Certificate validity
1 year

Summary

Bulgaria's “Startup Visa” is an official certificate for a high-tech or innovative project. Despite the name, the certificate is not an entry visa and is not a residence permit. A successful founder uses it as one of the documents in a separate long-term-residence process.

The route is designed for a non-EU founder who intends to develop the approved project in Bulgaria. For pathway matching, EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens should use their free-movement position instead of being sent through a third-country founder residence route.

The Ministry of Innovation and Growth evaluates the project through an expert council. The application must score at least 8 points under the published criteria. Since 2 January 2026, certificate applications are submitted electronically through Bulgaria's Information System for Management and Monitoring of EU Funds, known as ISUN 2020. Older instructions pointing only to the previous application platform are no longer sufficient.

Pathway fit check

Eligibility

The applicant must present a project that is genuinely high-tech or innovative and intended for development in Bulgaria. The official application asks for applicant and company information and a pitch deck covering the product or service, business activity, three-year financial forecasts, market, sales, customers, partnerships, and human resources.

The Ministry publishes six scoring areas:

The project needs at least 8 points. This means a founder does not necessarily need every optional item, but must have a well-supported combination strong enough to pass. Describing an ordinary consultancy, online shop, restaurant, or local service as “innovative” does not itself establish the required project quality.

The official supporting list includes an identity document, business plan and presentation, and, where applicable, patent evidence, investment evidence, a Seal of Excellence, an innovation or entrepreneurship award, scientific publications, education records, bank evidence, recent sales information, and letters of intent or Bulgarian partnership agreements. Investment contracts or letters of intent of at least BGN 100,000 are possible supporting evidence; the published route does not make that investment the only way to qualify.

The Ministry says the certificate application can be filed in Bulgarian or English, electronically, and without an application fee. The published review period is 30 days after submission, although missing or additional evidence can extend the practical process. An expert council drawn from government, academia, and business evaluates the project, and the Minister issues the decision.

The certificate is valid for one year. The founder must then complete the separate visa and residence requirements. Current official guidance describes the resulting long-term residence as up to one year. For a certificate extension, the founder submits a progress report and must meet the continuing conditions, including the required Bulgarian company and ownership structure; the official announcement describes at least 50% of the Bulgarian company's capital and implementation of the approved business plan. The certificate can be extended for two years.

What This Route Allows

An approved certificate gives the founder official evidence that the Ministry has accepted the project under the Startup Visa framework. The founder can use that certificate in the separate long-stay visa and long-term-residence process handled by the competent foreign-affairs and interior authorities.

If all immigration steps are also approved, the founder can reside in Bulgaria to develop the approved high-tech or innovative business. The certificate's extension mechanism gives a project that is making the required progress a way to support continued status, but the founder must document the company, ownership, activity, and business-plan results.

The route does not set one universal cash investment as the only qualifying route. This can make it useful for a research-driven or intellectual-property-based founder with strong planning, clients, capital, awards, or other credible evidence.

What This Route Is Not

The certificate is not a visa, residence card, work permit, permanent residence, or citizenship. The Ministry expressly describes it as one possible condition for a separate long-term-residence permit.

It is not an approval based only on a slide deck or an incorporated shell company. The project must reach the scoring minimum, and false information, failure to report material changes, or legal violations that block implementation can lead to revocation.

The BGN 100,000 investment evidence is not a blanket minimum investment. It is one optional evidence category in the official list. Conversely, having BGN 100,000 does not guarantee the required 8 points or a positive expert assessment.

The one-year certificate and possible two-year extension do not prove a direct path to permanent residence. Any later long-term or permanent status uses separate residence, continuity, activity, absence, and compliance tests.

Next Steps

  1. Confirm that the project is more than an ordinary small business and identify the high-tech, research, intellectual-property, or other genuine innovation at its core.
  2. Build the official pitch material: product or service, market, customers, partners, team, sales, and three-year income and expense forecasts.
  3. Score the project honestly against the six published areas. If it cannot plausibly reach 8 points, strengthen the evidence before applying.
  4. Gather applicable supporting records, such as a patent, investment commitment, bank evidence, customer or Bulgarian partner letters, sales history, publications, education, an innovation award, or a Seal of Excellence.
  5. Use the current ISUN 2020 application channel introduced on 2 January 2026. Follow the detailed instructions in that system rather than an old third-party form.
  6. Keep the submitted business plan stable and promptly report material changes. Respond to requests from the expert council or Ministry within the stated deadline.
  7. If the certificate is issued, immediately obtain the current long-stay visa and residence checklists from the Bulgarian foreign-affairs and interior authorities. Do not travel or begin work on the assumption that the certificate itself grants status.
  8. Establish and maintain the required Bulgarian company, ownership, and project activity. Keep accounts, contracts, staffing, product, client, capital, and progress evidence for the certificate and residence extension.
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Sources