To apply for a visa at this office you must legally reside in Bulgaria and hold a Bulgarian residence permit card, valid beyond the date of your intended departure from the Schengen area.
Check here if you need a visa to enter Italy and what documents you need to present in order to apply for a visa.
Visa forms could be filled online here or downloaded here
Visa applications are accepted only by prior appointment through the following link https://prenotami.esteri.it.
Please remember to book your appointment well in advance before your departure to Italy considering the gap time before an available date and that applications in most cases can be processed within two weeks of the date of the appointment.
The cost of the visa is variable and can be paid only in cash and only in lev. The administrative visa fee is not refundable, unless in cases of inadmissibility of the application or in case this visa office is not competent for processing the application.
Foreign nationals who are family members of an Italian/EU citizen in possession of a Bulgarian residence card, just as all foreign nationals in possession of a regular Bulgarian residence permit, may enter and circulate in the Schengen Area without the need for a visa, if entry into the Area takes place by air or sea.
Where, on the other hand, travel is by land, if the foreign national, who is a family member of an Italian/EU citizen, accompanies or joins him, we will issue a Schengen Visa free of charge in accordance with Directive 2004/38/EC.
Otherwise, where the aforementioned condition is not met, the foreign national who is a family member of an Italian/EU citizen will have to produce all the documentation ordinarily required for the issuance of the visa and will have to pay the prescribed fee.
National family visa for EU family members
Following the recent modification of the art. 23 of Legislative Decree 30/2007, for foreign family members of Italian or EU citizens who intend to reunite with the family member permanently resident in Italy it is no longer possible to issue a short-stay visa (VSU) for tourism/visit to family member.
Therefore, starting from June 1st 2024, foreign family members of Italian/EU citizens, who travel to Italy for the purpose of family reunification, will be issued a 365-day national visa for “family reasons,” free of charge and with multiple entry, as provided in the Inter-ministerial Decree 850/2011, Annex A, point 10.
Requirements and conditions:
Family members who have the right to family reunification are exclusively those identified in the art. 2 of Legislative Decree 30/2007:
1) the spouse;
2) the partner who has contracted a registered partnership with the Union citizen on the basis of the legislation of a Member State, where the legislation of the host Member State equates the registered partnership to marriage and in compliance with the conditions established by the relevant legislation of the Host Member State;
3) direct descendants under the age of 21 or dependents and those of the spouse or partner referred to in letter b);
4) dependent direct ascendants and those of the spouse or partner referred to in letter b).
Adoptees and minors subject to permanent guardianship/custody with provisions issued pursuant to Law 184/83 are also considered equivalent to direct descendants/direct ascendants.
Within 8 days after entering Italy, family members must apply for a residence permit for “family reasons” by filling in the appropriate kit at the Post Offices (Circular of the Ministry of Interior 00.B/2023/1Div.4Sez prot. 84545 of 19/9/2023).
You can contact the Visa Office by mail: visti.sofia@esteri.it
Warning: Any foreign documentation submitted as part of the visa application must be produced in original duly translated into Italian and legalized by the competent Italian Embassy or Consulate in the issuing country.