Bulgaria opens its border and allows entry to foreign tourists from 1 May 2021

What foreign property owners in Bulgaria and tourists have been waiting so long for has finally happened! It has become known when Russians and other foreign citizens will be able to travel to Bulgaria. Officially, from 1 May 2021, Bulgaria will open its borders to Russians, citizens of Belarus, Moldova and many other countries. If you have been wondering when you will be able to fly to Bulgaria for a holiday, you can safely start packing. The 2021 tourist season in Bulgaria will take place.  A new order of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Bulgaria (hereinafter – RB) RD-01-278/29.04.2021 has been issued.

Below we provide a translation of some points of the document.

“With regard to entry into the territory of RB from 1.05.2021 to 31.05.2021, the following temporary anti-epidemic measures have been introduced:
1. Entry into the territory of RB is temporarily prohibited for persons arriving from India, Bangladesh, Brazil and countries and territories in Africa, with the exception of persons who are citizens of Bulgaria and persons with the status of permanent, long-term or extended residence in the territory of RB and members of their families....
... 5. Persons not specified in point 1 who enter the territory of RB, regardless of their citizenship and the country from which they arrive, are admitted to the territory of the country upon presentation of one of the following documents:

(a) a document confirming the completed COVID-19 vaccination schedule. Completion of the vaccination schedule is considered to be the administration of the appropriate number of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine listed in Annex I 1, and the expiry of a 14-day period from the date of administration of the last dose. The document must contain the name of the person, written in Latin letters, in accordance with the identity document with which they are travelling, the date of birth, the dates of administration of the respective doses of the vaccine, the trade name and batch number of the COVID-19 vaccine, the name of the manufacturer / marketing authorisation holder, the country from which it was issued, and the name of the competent authority that issued it;

(b) a document showing a positive result of a PCR test or a rapid antigen test for COVID-19 – for persons suffering from COVID-19 in the period from the 15th to the 180th day from the date of commencement of the test. The document must contain the names of the person in accordance with the identity document with which they are travelling, details of the medical institution that carried out the test (name, address or other contact details), the date of the test using the PCR or rapid antigen test. For COVID-19 written using the Latin method (PCR or RAT) and Positive result (Positive), which allows the document to be interpreted.

6. Bulgarian citizens, citizens of the Member States (EU), countries of the Schengen Agreement (including the Republic of San Marino, the Principality of Andorra, the Principality of Monaco and the city-state of the Vatican) and members of their families (including individual persons actually residing with them); the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, Australia, Canada, the USA, Japan, New Zealand, the PRC, Rwanda, the Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Thailand, the Republic of Tunisia, the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, the UAE, North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Israel, Kuwait, Belarus and Turkey; persons with the status of permanent, extended or long-term stay in the territory of RB and members of their families; persons holding a Bulgarian long-term type “D” visa, as well as persons holding a residence permit in an EU Member State or a country of the Schengen Agreement (including the Republic of San Marino, the Principality of Andorra, the Principality of Monaco and the city-state of the Vatican) and members of their families, except in the cases specified in point 1, may enter the territory of RB, apart from with the documents specified in point 5, upon presentation of a document showing a negative result of a PCR test carried out 72 hours before entry into the country, or a negative result of a rapid antigen test for COVID-19 carried out no later than 48 hours before entry into the country, as of the date of the test indicated in the document......

12. Persons are admitted to the territory of RB through the following border checkpoints (border crossing points): 
«Burgas Airport»; at the border of Varna Airport; at the border of Plovdiv Airport; at the border of Sofia Airport (Terminal 1 and Terminal 2);  “Port of Burgas”;  Checkpoint at the border of the Port of Varna; Vidin; Vrashka Chuka; Durankulak; Gyueshevo; Ilinden;  Kalotina; Kapitan Andreevo; «Kapitan Petko Voyvoda»; Kulata checkpoint; Lesovo; Makaza;  Malko Tarnovo; Oryahovo; Ruse checkpoint and Somovit-Nikopol checkpoint.