Updated information for travellers upon entry in the Republic of Bulgaria

07 January 2022

From 7 January 2022 to 31 March 2022 pursuant to Order No. RD-01-977 / 26.11.2021, amended and supplemented by Order No. RD-01-1036/ 17.12.2021 and Order No. RD-01-04/05.01.2022 of the Minister of Health for the purpose of tourism on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria tourists are allowed through the following border checkpoints (BCPs):  

  1. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Burgas Airport“;
  2. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Varna Airport“;
  3. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Plovdiv Airport“;
  4. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Sofia Airport“ (Terminal 1 and Terminal 2);
  5. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Port of Burgas“;
  6. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Port of Varna“;
  7. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Vidin“;
  8. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Vrashka chuka“;
  9. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Durankulak“;
  10. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Gyueshevo“;
  11. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Zlatarevo“
  12. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Ilinden“;
  13. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Kalotina“;
  14. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Kapitan Andreevo“;
  15. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Kapitan Petko voyvoda“;
  16. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Kulata“;
  17. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Lesovo“;
  18. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Makaza“;
  19. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Malko Tarnovo“;
  20. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Oltomantsi“
  21. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Oryahovo“;
  22. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Russe“ 
  23. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Stanke Lisichkovo“
  24. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Somovit-Nikopol“
  25. BORDER CHECKPOINT “Strezimirovtsi“

The entry in the country is conducted on an assessment of the prevalence of COVID-19 in the respective countries by criteria and placement of the countries in color zones.

Color zones are as follows:

  • Green zone;
     
  • Orange zone;
     
  • Red zone;

Persons arriving by color zones of the countries in the Republic of Bulgaria

Countries in the green zone

  • The person is admitted to the territory of the country upon presentation of a valid EU digital COVID certificate for vaccination, disease or testing or for a similar document containing the same data as the EU COVID digital certificate.
  • Persons who do not present a document are quarantined for 10 days in the home or other accommodation where the person has indicated that he will reside, with a prescription issued by the director of the relevant regional health inspectorate or his authorized deputy -Director.
  • The quarantined person may perform a polymerase chain reaction test to detect COVID-19 or a rapid antigen test of those listed in Annex № 2 not earlier than 72 hours of arrival in the country. In case of a negative result of the conducted research, the quarantine of the person shall be considered terminated from the day following the registration of the result in the National Information System for Combating COVID-19.

Countries in the orange zone:

  • Those persons are admitted to the territory of the country only upon presentation of a valid EU digital COVID certificate for vaccination, recovery from the illness or a test conducted, or a similar document containing the same data as the EU digital COVID certificate.

Persons who do not present a document under item 4.2 are placed under quarantine for a period of 10 days in the home or other accommodation where the person has indicated that he will reside, with a prescription issued by the director of the relevant regional health inspection or a deputy director authorized by him.

  • The quarantined person under item 4.2.1. may conduct a polymerase chain reaction test to detect COVID-19 or a rapid antigen test of those listed in Annex No 2 not earlier than 72 hours of arrival in the country. In case of a negative result of the conducted research, the quarantine of the person shall be considered terminated from the day following the registration of the result in the National Information System for Combating COVID-19.

Countries in the red zone:

  • Citizens of the European Union, the European Economic Area and the Swiss Confederation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and their family members arriving from a Member State of the European Union, the European Economic Area, the Swiss Confederation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”;
  • Persons shall be admitted to the territory of the country upon presentation of a valid EU digital COVID certificate for vaccination or disease or a similar document, together with a negative result from a polymerase chain reaction test conducted up to 72 hours before entry into the country examination by the method of polymerase chain reaction for COVID- 19, certified by a valid EU digital COVID certificate or similar document.
  • Bulgarian citizens and persons with the status of permanent, long-term or long-term residence on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and members of their families who do not present any of these documents are allowed on the territory of the country and placed under quarantine for 10 days or in another place of accommodation where the person has indicated that he will reside, with a prescription issued by the director of the relevant regional health inspectorate or a deputy director authorized by him/her. ";
  • Bulgarian citizens and persons with the status of permanent, long-term or continuous residence on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and members of their families, who present upon entering the country only one of the documents specified in item 4.4. (for vaccination or recovery, or for a negative result from a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction test performed up to 72 hours before entry into the country) shall be quarantined for a period of 10 days at home or another place of accommodation, where the individual has indicated that he/she will reside, with a prescription issued by the director of the relevant regional health inspectorate or his/her deputy authorized by him/her. The quarantined individual may perform a polymerase chain reaction test for detection of COVID-19 performed no earlier than 72 hours of arrival in the country. In case of a negative result of the test, the person's quarantine shall be considered terminated from the day following the registration of the result in the National Information System for Combating COVID-19.

All countries outside the European Union and the European Economic Area and the Swiss Confederation that do not fall within the Red Zone are considered to be from the Orange Zone.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

List of countries according to Appendix No. 1 item I, 3 of Order No. RD-01-977 / 26.11.2021 of the Minister of Health.

Green zone:

  1. The Vatican City State;
  2. Republic of Romania;

Orange zone:

All countries outside the green and red zone.

Red zone:

  1. Republic of South Africa;
  2. Lesotho;
  3. Republic of Botswana;
  4. The Kingdom of Eswatini
  5. Republic of Zimbabwe;
  6. Republic of Mozambique;
  7. United Republic of Tanzania;
  8. Republic of Namibia;
  9. Republic of Zambia;
  10. Turkmenistan;
  11. Republic of Tajikistan;
  12. Afghanistan;
  13. Kyrgyz Republic;
  14. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea;
  15. Georgia;
  16. Jordan;
  17. Republic of Seychelles;
  18. Republic of Argentina;
  19. Republic of Chile;
  20. Eastern Republic of Uruguay;
  21. Federative Republic of Brazil;
  22. Republic of Paraguay;
  23. Multinational State of Bolivia;
  24. Republic of Suriname;
  25. Republic of Panama;
  26. Republic of Costa Rica;
  27. Republic of Guatemala;
  28. Belize;
  29. Republic of El Salvador;
  30. Republic of Cuba;
  31. Dominican Republic;
  32. Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis;
  33. Republic of Trinidad and Tobago;
  34. Barbados;
  35. British Virgin Islands;
  36. Aruba;
  37. Curacao;
  38. Bahamas;
  39. Cayman Islands;
  40. Sint Eustatius;
  41. Saba;
  42. Turks and Caicos Islands;
  43. Bermuda;
  44. Cape Verde;
  45. United States of America;
  46. Canada;
  47. Australia;
  48. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;
  49. Isle of Man;
  50. Gibraltar;
  51. Kingdom of Denmark;
  52. Faroe Islands;  
  53. Iceland;
  54. Ireland;  
  55. Republic of Lithuania;
  56. Republic of Latvia;
  57. Republic of Estonia;
  58. Republic of Finland;  
  59. Kingdom of Norway;  
  60. Kingdom of Sweden;
  61. Kingdom of the Netherlands;
  62. Kingdom of Belgium;
  63. Federal Republic of Germany;
  64. Principality of Liechtenstein;
  65. Swiss Confederation;
  66. Italy;
  67. Republic of San Marino;
  68. Principality of Monaco;
  69. France;
  70. Kingdom of Spain;
  71. The Principality of Andorra;
  72. The Portuguese Republic;
  73. Slovenia;
  74. Croatia;
  75. The Slovak Republic;
  76. The Czech Republic;
  77. The Republic of Poland;
  78. Montenegro;
  79. The Republic of Malta; 
  80. The Republic of Cyprus;  
  81. Greece.

Annex 4 of Order No RD -01-977 /26.11.2021

List of countries whose COVID-19 vaccination, testing and disease certificate is considered equivalent to the EU digital COVID certificate:

1. The Republic of Northern Macedonia;

2. The Republic of San Marino;

3. The Swiss Confederation;

4. The Republic of Turkey;

5. Ukraine;

6. Vatican City State (only in respect of vaccination certificates issued);

7. The Principality of Andorra;

8. The Republic of Albania;

9. The Faroe Islands;

10. The Principality of Monaco;

11. The Republic of Panama;

12. The Kingdom of Morocco;

13. Israel;

14. Armenia,

15. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland;

16. Republic of El Salvador;

17. United Arab Emirates;

18.  Lebanese Republic;

19. Cape Verde;

20. Uruguay;

21. Tunisia;

22. The Kingdom of Thailand;

23. Taiwan;

24. Montenegro

The list is subject to update and supplementation depending on the development of the epidemic situation.

Information by countries from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in connection with the travel conditions at COVID-19 – https://www.mfa.bg/bg/covid19map

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

On 15 November 2021, the European Commission adopted four decisions certifying that the COVID-19 certificates issued by Georgia, Moldova, New Zealand, and Serbia are equivalent to the EU digital COVID certificate. As a result, from 16 November 2021, the four countries will be connected to the EU system and their COVID certificates will be accepted under the same conditions as the EU digital COVID certificate.

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

In the sense of the Order No РД -01-977 / 26.11.2021 of the Minister of Health “Valid digital COVID EU vaccination certificate or similar document” is a document for completed vaccination course against COVID-19. The document must contain the names of the person written in Latin, according to the identity document with which he/she travels, date of birth, the date on which the last received dose of vaccine against COVID-19, serial number of the dose, and the total number of doses in double vaccines, the trade name of the vaccine against COVID-19, name of the manufacturer/holder of the marketing authorization, country of issue and name of the issuing competent authority and, for the EU certificate, its unique identifier.

The completion of a vaccination course is considered to be the administration of the appropriate number of doses of a COVID-19 vaccine listed in Annex No 3 and the expiry of a 14-day period from the date of administration of the last dose. The combination of one dose of Vaxzevria / AZD1222 with one dose of Comirnaty / BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine) is also considered a completed vaccination course.

“Valid EU digital COVID certificate” is a document certifying that a person has suffered from COVID-19 and which is valid for the period from the 11th to the 180th day from the date of the examination entered in the document. The certificate must contain the names of the person written in Latin, according to the identity document with which he/she travels, date of birth, date of the first positive result of the NAAT test and a positive result (Positive), details of the issuing authority, country, which the examination was done and its unique identifier. “NAAT test” means a molecular test for nucleic acid amplification, such as polymerase chain reaction with reverse transcriptase (RT-PCR), cyclic-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), and transcriptional-mediated amplification (TMA) techniques used to detect the presence of ribonucleic acid of SARS-CoV-2 (RNA).

A document analogous to the EU's digital COVID certificate of illness is a document certifying that a person has suffered from COVID-19, and which is valid for the period from the 11th to the 180th day from the date of the examination entered in the document. The document must contain the names of the person written in Latin, according to the identity document with which he/she travels, date of birth, date of the first positive result of PCR test or rapid antigen test and a positive result (Positive), information about the medical institution, carried out the examination (name, address or other contact details) or the issuing authority and the country in which the examination was conducted.

“Valid EU digital COVID certificate for testing” or a similar document is a document showing a negative result from a polymerase chain reaction test performed up to 72 hours before entry into the country or a negative result from a rapid antigen test conducted up to 48 hours before entry into the country, as of the date of sampling entered in the document. The document must contain the names of the person written in Latin, according to the identity document with which he/she travels, date of birth, type of test, written in Latin method (PCR or RAT) and negative result (Negative), date and time of collection test sample, trade name and manufacturer of the test (mandatory for rapid antigen tests), name of the laboratory / medical institution that performed the test, country where the test was performed and authority that issued the certificate / document, and for the EU certificate - and its unique identifier.

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