Refusal to use temporary protection in Bulgaria

Persons displaced from Ukraine registered under temporary protection in Bulgaria may be transferred to another EU Member State to enjoy the same protection.

For this purpose, it is not necessary to perform any formal actions, to submit applications for waiver of temporary protection, or to return the registration card issued by the Bulgarian state.

Displaced persons from Ukraine enjoy temporary protection throughout the European Union. Since its introduction, the EU has explicitly stated that refugees from Ukraine will not be restricted from leaving the country in which they originally registered as persons under temporary protection, but will be able to move to other Member States without a time limit. However, the trip itself will only be possible if the Schengen rules are complied with, ie without a visa with a valid biometric passport, or with a Schengen visa with a simple, non-biometric passport for travel abroad.

Upon arrival in the other EU Member State, IDPs from Ukraine – during their visa-free stay (90 days in total for 6 months) or during their visa – will be able to decide whether they wish to stay and enjoy their rights there as persons under temporary protection in the EU.

If they decide to stay in the other EU Member State, IDPs must re-register for temporary protection with the relevant local office or authority. Only then should the registration card issued in Bulgaria be handed over to the authorities in the other Member State in order to obtain from them a new local document as a person under temporary protection.

If they decide to return to Bulgaria, the displaced persons from Ukraine have the right to do so, and upon their return to the Bulgarian border they will have to present both their Ukrainian passport and the registration card issued by the Bulgarian authorities. After their return to Bulgaria, they continue to exercise their rights as persons under temporary protection until the expiration of its term.

If, however, a Ukrainian refugee insists on returning his “registration card to a foreigner granted temporary protection in the Republic of Bulgaria” at the moment, this can only be done in the territorial offices of the State Agency for Refugees in Sofia and Harmanli. Upon return of the card, a handover protocol is drawn up, from which the Ukrainian citizen receives a copy for himself.