The consular service of Bulgaria has indefinitely suspended the acceptance of documents for tourist visas and visas for property owners. The decision is positioned as temporary, Russian media reports.
According to tour operators, the Bulgarian consulate in Moscow has notified them of the temporary suspension of accepting documents for tourist visas and visas for property owners “due to the current emergency situation”. The Consulate General of Bulgaria in Yekaterinburg is temporarily closed.
The occasion is the announcement today of the announcement of 14 employees of the Bulgarian diplomatic missions and consular services as persona non grata. This step by the Russian side is a response to the decision of the Bulgarian authorities to expel from the country 70 Russian diplomats and technical employees of the Russian diplomatic departments, including the Russian consuls general in Varna and Ruse.
The Russian consular services in Varna partially suspended their work, and the Russian consulate in Ruse stopped working.
The Bulgarian visa centers in Moscow, Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg (including the regional visa centers) due to “technical reasons” do not accept applications with payment of consular fee from March 25. However, Russians could obtain visas for tourist trips to Bulgaria from the consulates general of Bulgaria in these three cities.
It is this option that has now been discontinued.
Even without a Bulgarian visa, Russians can travel to Bulgaria – this is possible if they hold a multiple-entry Schengen visa or a multiple-entry national visa of Croatia, Romania or Cyprus. Bulgaria and these countries recognize the visas of third countries on the basis of agreements.
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