Bulgaria suits a portable-income earner who wants an EU and euro base at a low flat rate. The permit is new, the rate is flat, and the residence and citizenship clocks are two different things.
50 monthly wages
Income floor
Foreigners Act amendment, new Article 24s, State Gazette 52 of 27 June 2025 (dv.parliament.bg)
EUR 31,010/yr
On the 2026 wage
Council of Ministers Decree 243 of 13 November 2025, minimum wage, State Gazette 98 (dv.parliament.bg)
10% flat
Income tax
Annual tax on income, National Revenue Agency (nra.bg)
1 yr, renewable once
Permit term
Foreigners Act amendment, new Article 24s, State Gazette 52 of 27 June 2025 (dv.parliament.bg)
About three minutes. Free matches, every figure cited to its source.
The digital nomad permit admits a remote employee of a non-EU employer, an owner of more than 25 per cent of a non-EU company, and a freelancer who has been providing remote services for at least a year. It runs for one year and can be extended once, so it is an entry route rather than a decade-long base, and the income test is fifty minimum monthly wages a year on gross amounts.
Digital nomad permit
Best for this
Continuous residence for a person earning remotely from outside Bulgaria, on income proved against a statutory multiple of the minimum wage.
Income floor
Average annual income of not less than fifty minimum monthly wages under Bulgarian law, assessed on gross amounts
Who qualifies
A remote employee of an employer registered outside the EU, the EEA or Switzerland; an owner, partner, shareholder, board member or legal representative holding more than 25 per cent of such a company; or a person who has provided remote services in a personal capacity for at least a year before applying
Permit validity
One year, extendable once by one further year
Applications opened
20 December 2025, when the Rules amendment creating the document list took effect
A note on this route
The second and third categories also require that the holder does not work for, or provide services to, persons in Bulgaria.
Naturalisation
Also fits
Published so a reader can see what the route actually asks, and deliberately carried by no ranking. Nothing on this page scores Bulgaria as a second passport.
Residence clock
The applicant must have received a permit for permanent or long-term residence not less than 5 years earlier. The clock starts on that permit and not on arrival, and the digital nomad permit is neither kind
Renunciation
Release from the existing citizenship, waived only for spouses of Bulgarian citizens, nationals of an EU or EEA state or Switzerland, and nationals of states with which Bulgaria has a reciprocity treaty
Language and support
Command of Bulgarian, established by a procedure the Minister of Education sets, plus income or an occupation allowing self-support in Bulgaria
A note on this route
OmniFlag publishes no total number of years to a Bulgarian passport. The long-term residence permit the clock starts on has a residence requirement of its own, and that requirement has not been read on a primary source, so no figure for it renders.
Living in Bulgaria, and being taxed by Bulgaria
These are decided by different authorities, under different rules, on different clocks. The one people get wrong is the second.
Your right to live there
Digital nomad permit
Naturalisation
Granted by the immigration authority. Says nothing about tax.
What makes you a tax resident there
Permanent address
A permanent address in Bulgaria
Resident and non-resident persons, National Revenue Agency (nra.bg)
Day count
More than 183 days in Bulgaria during the year, with the day of entry and the day of exit each counted as a day of presence, and a stay solely for study or medical treatment not counted at all
Resident and non-resident persons, National Revenue Agency (nra.bg)
Sent abroad by the state
Sent abroad by the Bulgarian state, by its bodies or organisations, or by Bulgarian enterprises, together with that person's family members
Resident and non-resident persons, National Revenue Agency (nra.bg)
Centre of vital interests
A centre of vital interests in Bulgaria, weighing family, property, the place from which the person carries on work or business, and the place from which they manage that property
Resident and non-resident persons, National Revenue Agency (nra.bg)
What gets taxed
Worldwide income for a resident natural person, meaning income from Bulgaria and from abroad. A non-resident is taxable on income from Bulgaria only
Resident and non-resident persons, National Revenue Agency (nra.bg)
The permit decides where a person may live. The Revenue Agency decides separately whether Bulgaria taxes them, on four conditions of which any one is enough: a permanent address, more than 183 days in the year, being sent abroad by the Bulgarian state, or a centre of vital interests in Bulgaria. Nationality changes none of it. Once one condition holds, income from Bulgaria and from abroad both fall into the Bulgarian base.
The numbers
50 monthly wages
The digital nomad permit is issued on proof of average annual income of not less than fifty minimum monthly wages under Bulgarian law, assessed on the gross amounts received.
State Gazette
10%
Bulgaria charges 10 percent of the tax base on income acquired in the previous year, and 15 percent for sole traders.
National Revenue Agency
20 December 2025
Applications became possible on 20 December 2025, when the Council of Ministers decree that lists the documents for a digital nomad permit took effect, three days after its promulgation on 16 December 2025.
State Gazette
Renunciation
Naturalisation requires release from the applicant's existing citizenship, waived only for spouses of Bulgarian citizens, nationals of an EU or EEA state or Switzerland, and nationals of states with which Bulgaria has a reciprocity treaty.
Ministry of Justice
Quick eligibility read
No email needed
A generic read against Bulgaria's cited thresholds. Your plan weighs all six of your inputs against every destination.
The facts, each cited
New residence ground
The Foreigners Act was amended in June 2025 to add a continuous-residence ground for digital nomads, alongside a definition of who counts as one.
State Gazette
Three categories
A digital nomad is defined in three alternatives: a person employed by an employer registered outside the EU, the EEA or Switzerland who provides remote services through information technology; a legal representative, board member, owner, partner or shareholder holding more than 25 per cent of the capital of such a company; or a person who has provided remote services in a personal capacity for at least one year before the date of application. The second and third alternatives also require that the person does not work for, or provide services to, persons in Bulgaria.
State Gazette
50 monthly wages
The permit is issued on proof of average annual income of not less than fifty minimum monthly wages under Bulgarian law, and the gross amount of the income received is what counts.
State Gazette
1 year, renewable once
The permit runs for one year and may be extended once, for one further year. Where it expires while an extension is already being decided, the holder may stay until the decision is taken, provided the application was filed inside the permit's validity.
State Gazette
EUR 620.20/mo
The Council of Ministers set the national minimum monthly wage at BGN 1,213, stated in the decree as EUR 620.20, from 1 January 2026. Fifty of those is EUR 31,010 a year, or EUR 2,584 a month, and that derived figure moves every January with the decree behind it.
Council of Ministers
20 December 2025
A December 2025 decree added a new article to the Rules for applying the Foreigners Act, listing what a digital nomad applicant files on a first application and on a renewal: proof of the fifty-wage income, and documents proving whichever of the three categories applies. That paragraph took effect three days after promulgation on 16 December 2025, which is 20 December 2025.
State Gazette
10%
Bulgaria taxes income at 10 percent of the tax base on income acquired in the previous year. Sole traders are charged 15 percent.
National Revenue Agency
Worldwide basis
Resident natural persons are taxable on income from the country and from abroad. Non-resident persons are taxable on income from Bulgaria.
National Revenue Agency
183 days
Residency is decided regardless of nationality, on four conditions of which any one is enough: a permanent address in Bulgaria; presence of more than 183 days during the year, counting the day of entry and the day of exit separately and excluding a stay solely for study or medical treatment; being sent abroad by the Bulgarian state; or a centre of vital interests in Bulgaria.
National Revenue Agency
5 years, from the permit
Naturalisation asks that the applicant received a permit for permanent or long-term residence in Bulgaria not less than 5 years before the date of the application, alongside command of Bulgarian and income or an occupation allowing self-support. The clock starts on that permit, not on arrival.
Ministry of Justice
Renunciation required
Naturalisation also asks that the applicant has been released from their existing citizenship, or will be at the moment Bulgarian citizenship is acquired. That requirement is waived only for spouses of Bulgarian citizens, for nationals of an EU or EEA state or Switzerland, and for nationals of states with which Bulgaria has a reciprocity treaty.
Ministry of Justice
UK treaty in force
The United Kingdom and Bulgaria have a double taxation convention in force, which entered into force on 15 December 2015 and has since been modified by the Multilateral Instrument.
HM Revenue and Customs
Canadian treaty in force
Bulgaria appears among the bilateral tax treaties Canada lists as in force.
Department of Finance Canada
What an expert actually does, and when
Moving to Bulgaria is four different jobs for four different people, and the order matters more than the choice of any one of them. Here is the sequence, what each person settles, and what to hold them to in writing.
First
A cross-border tax adviser in the country you are leaving
Before you sell anything, move your family, or claim to have left
What they settle
This is the one whose answer can make the rest of the plan pointless, so it is worth knowing before you spend anything on the rest. A residence permit somewhere else is not the same thing as having stopped being tax-resident where you are.
→Whether and when your tax residence at home actually ends
→Which ties (home, family, accounts, memberships, company control) have to be dealt with, and in what order
→What you owe on the way out, and what you can elect or defer
→Which transactions to complete before you go rather than after
Ask for it in writing. A written residence and departure-date memo, with the tax on leaving set out asset by asset, and a list of the evidence your position depends on.
Second
An immigration lawyer in the destination
Six to twelve months before you intend to move
What they settle
Routes look interchangeable from outside and are not. Which one you qualify for depends on evidence you may not have gathered yet, and gathering it is often the long pole.
→Which route your actual income, work history, and assets satisfy
→Which authority handles each stage, and whether your entry status has to change first
→What proof each requirement takes, and what is missing today
→How a partner and children are included, and when
Ask for it in writing. A route recommendation with the eligibility tested against your documents, plus a dated checklist of what is still missing.
Third
Document authentication and translation
Only after the lawyer has frozen the list
What they settle
Ordering apostilles and translations before the list is settled is the most common way to pay twice. Certified documents also expire, so starting early can be worse than starting late.
→Which authentication chain each document needs, in its issuing country
→What has to be translated, by whom, and to what standard
→The order to obtain things in, so nothing expires while waiting for something else
Ask for it in writing. Authenticated originals and accepted translations, tracked so you know where every document physically is.
Fourth
Local advisers where you land
Once your status is approved
What they settle
Approval is not the same as a working life. Banking, health cover, and a tenancy each have their own requirements, and several of them want the paperwork from the earlier stages.
→What banking will require of you, and what to prepare before you ask
→Which health cover satisfies the local requirement
→What a lease commits you to, and what your obligations are on registering it
→What you now have to file locally, and when
Ask for it in writing. A working household: identity documents, an address, cover, banking, and a calendar of what renews when.
Before you retain any of them
A licence is not the same as a good engagement. These are worth asking on the first call with anyone you find, in the Vetted Directory or outside it.
1Who is licensed, where, and who signs the advice?
2What exact written output will I receive, and by when?
3Which assumptions, if wrong, would reverse your recommendation?
4Who tracks deadlines and holds my original documents?
5What is excluded from the fee, including government charges?
OmniFlag is not a law firm or a tax adviser. Experts are retained independently and their engagement letter defines what they advise on, what they file, and what they deliver.
A note for US citizens and green-card holders. US federal tax follows you wherever you live. A move to Bulgaria does not reduce your US federal tax, and this page makes no such claim.
What nobody puts on the Bulgaria brochure
The permit is short. It runs one year and can be extended once, for one further year, which is two years in total. Anyone planning to stay beyond that has to move onto a different residence ground, and this page does not cover which ones are open.
Residency pulls in income earned anywhere. A resident natural person is taxable on income from Bulgaria and from abroad, and the four residency conditions turn on an address, a day count, a posting or a centre of vital interests rather than on the permit.
The flat rate is not the same for everyone. Sole traders are charged 15 percent rather than 10, so the structure a freelancer trades through changes the figure before any deduction is applied.
Naturalisation asks for the passport already held. Release from the existing citizenship is a condition, waived only for spouses of Bulgarian citizens, EU, EEA and Swiss nationals, and reciprocity-treaty cases, none of which covers a Canadian, a Briton or an American on the face of the text.
What people get wrong about Bulgaria
WrongFive years of living in Bulgaria gets me a Bulgarian passport.
The rule
The Citizenship Act runs its five years from the grant of a permanent or long-term residence permit, not from arrival, and the digital nomad permit is neither of those and caps at one year plus one extension. The same article also asks a Canadian, British or American applicant to be released from the citizenship they already hold, a requirement waived only for EU, EEA and Swiss nationals, spouses of Bulgarian citizens, and reciprocity-treaty cases.
Bulgarian Citizenship Act, Article 12, consolidated text (justice.government.bg)
WrongThe nomad permit has been available since Parliament passed it in 2025.
The rule
The Foreigners Act article was promulgated on 27 June 2025, and nobody could apply on it until the Council of Ministers brought the Rules into line. That happened on 20 December 2025, when the paragraph creating the document list took effect. The two dates are different facts and only the second one answers when an application was possible.
Council of Ministers Decree 286 of 12 December 2025, State Gazette 109 (dv.parliament.bg)
WrongThe income floor is about thirty-one thousand euros, so that number is the test.
The rule
The statutory test is fifty minimum monthly wages, and the euro figure is a derivation that changes every January when the Council of Ministers sets a new wage. On the wage set for 2026, EUR 620.20 a month, fifty of them is EUR 31,010 a year. A figure quoted without its wage year will look correct for a whole February after it has stopped being correct.
Council of Ministers Decree 243 of 13 November 2025, minimum wage, State Gazette 98 (dv.parliament.bg)
Common questions
When did the digital nomad permit actually open?
On 20 December 2025. The Foreigners Act article was promulgated on 27 June 2025, but an application only became possible when the Council of Ministers decree creating the document list took effect, three days after its promulgation on 16 December 2025.
Council of Ministers Decree 286 of 12 December 2025, new Article 32g of the Rules, State Gazette 109 (dv.parliament.bg)
How much income does the permit require?
Average annual income of not less than fifty minimum monthly wages under Bulgarian law, measured on gross amounts. On the wage set for 2026, EUR 620.20 a month, that works out at EUR 31,010 a year. The wage is reset each January, so the euro figure moves with it.
Foreigners Act amendment, new Article 24s, State Gazette 52 of 27 June 2025 (dv.parliament.bg)
What does Bulgaria tax once I live there?
A resident natural person is taxable on income from Bulgaria and from abroad, at 10 percent of the tax base. Residency is decided regardless of nationality by any one of four conditions: a permanent address, more than 183 days in the year, a posting abroad by the Bulgarian state, or a centre of vital interests in Bulgaria.
Resident and non-resident persons, National Revenue Agency (nra.bg)
Can I keep my current citizenship if I naturalise?
Not on the face of the statute. Naturalisation requires release from the existing citizenship, and the waiver covers spouses of Bulgarian citizens, nationals of an EU or EEA state or Switzerland, and nationals of states with a reciprocity treaty. A Canadian, British or American applicant is in none of those categories.
Bulgarian Citizenship Act, Article 12(1) item 6 and 12(2), consolidated text (justice.government.bg)
OmniFlag ranks Bulgaria against your profile alongside every other destination it covers, and returns your Report with every claim cited. Nothing in it is read by a person: a claim it cannot cite does not render.
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OmniFlag helps you research and plan. It is not a law firm or tax advisor and does not give legal or tax advice. The filings go to licensed professionals you engage, and the order matters: a cross-border tax adviser where you are leaving, then an immigration lawyer in Bulgaria.
