Bulgaria · Tax regime
Bulgaria Schengen and Eurozone Membership
Bulgaria has been a full Schengen member since 1 January 2025, with air and sea borders opening from 31 March 2024 and land borders following on 1 January 2025 under the JHA Council decision of 12 December 2024. It adopted the euro on 1 January 2026 as the 21st euro-area member, at the locked currency-board rate of 1.95583 BGN to the euro.
This is the change that repriced Bulgaria. A 10% flat tax inside Schengen was already interesting. A 10% flat tax inside Schengen and the eurozone, with no currency risk and no border friction, is a different proposition entirely. Most published material on Bulgaria predates both events and understates the country badly.
Qualifying routes
Air and sea internal border controls were lifted 31 March 2024. Land border controls were lifted 1 January 2025.
The euro was adopted 1 January 2026 at a conversion rate of 1.95583 BGN to EUR 1. It became the sole legal tender from 1 February 2026.
The facts
- Total landed cost
- Not applicable
- Route type
- Tax regime, not a visa
- Physical presence
- Not applicable
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable
- Citizenship
- Not applicable
- Language test
- Not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Euro adoption has been inflationary in public perception and politically contested. The accession coincided with the largest deficit in the eurozone, which constrains future tax policy.
- Bulgaria's convergence was assessed off-cycle in June 2025 and approved unusually quickly. Fiscal discipline post-accession is the open question, and it is the reason the dividend-tax rise keeps resurfacing.