When I find housing / accommodation / shelter, do I have to announce the address to the authorities?

By law, every foreigner who enters Bulgaria must, within 3 days, make an address registration with the regional police department at his place of residence. However, there are no restrictions for this to happen after these 3 days.

If the person is staying in a hotel, his address registration is done ex officio by the hotel administration and there is no need to do anything extra by the person himself.

If the person is staying in a private home – for rent, or, with friends / relatives – the owner of the home is the one who has to make the address registration. For this purpose, the owner of the apartment must go to the police, together with the persons accommodated by him, and carry his title deed (notary deed).

If the owner is unable to go to the police, he can sign and notarize a declaration (a declaration form can be downloaded here).

With this declaration and a copy of his title deed, the people who are accommodated in his home can go to the police on their own and register their address.

The police issue an address card to a foreigner.

The address registration may be changed by the same procedure an unlimited number of times when the place of residence is changed. It is recommended to bring the old address card to the police when changing the address.