Consular Information

Airport Transit Visa (Type “A” Visa)

An Airport transit visa is issued to an alien who travels by aircraft, changes planes in the Republic of Bulgaria and proceeds with the journey by the next earliest connecting flight on the route.

An airport transit visa may be a single, double or, in exceptional cases, multiple visa with a period of validity not exceeding 3 months reckoned from the date of issue, which entitles the alien to disembark the aircraft during a stopover or change of planes in connection with a further section of the journey to a third State to be performed by the next earliest connecting flight, allowing the alien to stay in the transit zone for international flights for a duration not exceeding 24 hours.

An alien possessing an airport transit visa is treated as not cleared for entry into the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria and has no right to leave the transit zone for international flights. The border passport control authorities retain the foreign-travel documents of any such alien until his or her exit from Bulgaria.

Citizens of the following States are subject to an airport transit visa requirement: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Congo (former Zaire), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan.

Upon submission of an application for an airport transit visa, the applicant must present:

• a foreign-travel document issued in good and due form;

• a photocopy of the pages of the foreign-travel document containing the personal data and the visas affixed and/or a photocopy of the residence permits held for the States of onward transit and for the State of final destination, should such permits be necessary;

• an application completed in a standard form and 1 colour photograph (passport size (3.5 by 4.5 cm), glued to the application form);

• a flight reservation, and a copy of the reservation.