Bulgaria to cease issuing visas from August 9 to 18 due to implementation of new visa information system

Sofia: The Bulgarian consular authorities abroad will cease issuing visas on August 9, and up until August 18, due to the implementation of a new version of the National Visa Information System (NVIS), that will take place throughout those dates.

In a press release, the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that the same is in the process of implementing the national VIS, which is a large-scale project, previously agreed between the Bulgarian and European Union institutions.

It has also noted that throughout this period, aside from visa processing and issuance, applications for Bulgarian passports and identity cards will no longer be admitted either, while the country will also stop issuing visas at its borders too.

The technological implementation of the activities necessitates a temporary suspension of work with the current system in the period August 9-18 of this year. Therefore, in this period, the consular offices of the Bulgarian diplomatic and consular missions will stop accepting applications for visas and for Bulgarian identity documents – passport and identity card.

However, temporary passports will still be issued to people in extraordinary situations during this period, like force majeure and natural disasters, as well as urgent travel related to the illness or death of a close family member.

Applicants of other categories have been asked to reschedule their appointments with the relevant consular office.

Bulgaria has had read-only access to the Visa Information System since July 21, 2021, along with Romania. This means that while both countries have been able to review visa applications and access e-mail services, they could not have entered information on the same.

Once the NVIS implementation period ends on August 18, relevant Bulgarian authorities will gain full access and will be able to use and import data from the system, entered by other Schengen states.

During a parliamentary questioning session on Friday, Bulgaria’s Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev has said that people with Bulgarian Schengen visas have been removed from planes, due to Bulgaria being unable to enter their data in the VIS.

The unified European visa issuance system is currently not functioning and is not connected to the systems of other countries in the European Union. According to news reports, people with Schengen visas issued by the Bulgarian government have been removed from planes.

Once Bulgaria gains complete access to the VIS, such problems will become part of the past.

Questioned by MPs about the removal of land borders between Bulgaria and the rest of Schengen, the acting Prime Minister said that incoming elections are the reason why the country has not made any advancements in this regard.

He, however, told MPs that the EU has assured the Bulgarian authorities that the removal of land borders will take place by the end of 2024.

After the country joined the Schengen Area on March 31, and removed its air and sea borders with the rest of the Schengen Member States, the Bulgarian consular authorities abroad started accepting applications for Schengen visas on the same day.