Health Ministry announces rules on entry to Bulgaria as of May 1
Bulgaria’s Health Minister Kostadin Angelov issued on April 29 an order on the rules for entering Bulgaria as of May 1, along with a ban on entry from certain countries.
As of May 1, arrivals from India, Bangladesh, Brazil and many countries in Africa are temporarily prohibited, including among others, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Namibia.
Exceptions to this apply to Bulgarian citizens and those with long-term or permanent residence in Bulgaria who must, however, on arrival from these places, go into mandatory 10-day quarantine.
With regard to African countries, the ban does not apply to those arriving from Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, the Central African Republic, Gabon, Congo (the order, in Bulgarian, did not make clear whether this refers to Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo, or both), Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Guinea-Bissau and Madagascar.
However, arrivals from these countries are subject to the same rules as those allowed in from other countries.
These include having to show a completed course of vaccination against Covid-19, with 14 days having passed since the last dose; a certificate of a negative PCR test or antigen test; or a certificate of having passed through Covid-19, more than 15 to 180 days before arrival.
If meeting one of these conditions, those who will be allowed to enter Bulgaria include:
Bulgarian citizens, citizens of EU member states, Schengen countries and their family members, citizens of the UK, Australia, Canada, the United States, Japan, New Zealand, China, Rwanda, Korea, Thailand, Tunisia, Uruguay, United Arab Emirates , North Macedonia, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Moldova,Russia, Israel, Kuwait, Belarus and Turkey.
Permanent or long-term residents of Bulgaria and members of their families, those who have a residence permit in an EU country or a Schengen country (including San Marino, Andorra, Monaco and Vatican City State) and members of their families may enter Bulgaria on submission of a certificate showing a negative PCR test done no more than 72 hours before arrival, or a negative antigen test done no more than 48 hours before arrival.
Angelov’s order says that Bulgarian citizens, long-term and permanent residents and their families who do not present such certificates are subject to 10-day quarantine after arrival in the country.
This quarantine may be revoked if a negative result from a PCR test or antigen test done within 24 hours after entry into the country is shown.
Angelov’s order, in Bulgarian, may be found at this link.
(Photo: Margarita kiril86)
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