Company ownership and the right to reside are separate legal questions - and the business-activity route is far more demanding than an EUR 1 incorporation
YARD Law Co. · Legal status checked 31 August 2026
No. Registering or owning a Bulgarian company does not, by itself, give a non-EU national the right to reside in Bulgaria. This is one of the most important distinctions for foreign entrepreneurs planning to establish a business here.
Bulgarian company law and Bulgarian immigration law answer different questions. A company registration establishes a legal entity. A residence permit authorises a foreign national to reside in Bulgaria on a specific statutory ground. The same business project may be relevant to both, but the company is not itself the residence permit.
Bulgaria allows foreign entrepreneurs to establish and own Bulgarian companies, so it is easy to assume that becoming the shareholder and manager of an EOOD produces a corresponding immigration right. It does not.
A person can own a Bulgarian company while living permanently outside Bulgaria. Conversely, someone can hold a Bulgarian residence permit on a ground entirely unrelated to owning a Bulgarian company. Where a non-EU founder wants both a Bulgarian business and the right to live here, the two workstreams need planning together.
The Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act provides various statutory grounds on which third-country nationals may obtain prolonged residence. The procedure depends on the particular ground, and many routes require a long-stay Visa D before the residence application.
Long-term residence under Article 24g of the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act is a separate status which, subject to the statutory conditions and rules for calculating periods of residence, may be acquired after five years of lawful and uninterrupted residence in Bulgaria before the application. Some periods are excluded or counted differently, and statutory rules also apply to absences.
Our guide to prolonged residence for non-EU citizens covers the grounds and procedure in more detail.
There is a specific business-activity route in Article 24(1)(2) of the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act. It is considerably more demanding than owning an EOOD.
The provision applies to foreigners carrying out commercial activity in Bulgaria where, as a result of that activity, at least 10 full-time jobs for Bulgarian citizens have been created and are maintained for the period of residence.
"Register a Bulgarian company for EUR 1 and receive Bulgarian residence" is wrong. Registration alone does not satisfy Article 24(1)(2). If that is the ground being relied on, the business must actually meet the statutory employment condition.
This matters in structures with several foreign shareholders or managers. The current wording of Article 24(1)(2) provides that the requirement is valid for each partner separately, and that the same conditions apply to each manager separately.
A structure should therefore not be planned on the assumption that one set of 10 positions automatically supports an unlimited number of foreign shareholders and managers seeking residence on that provision. The facts and the proposed applicants should be reviewed before the company is structured.
No. Bulgarian administrative-court reasoning has drawn this distinction: registration of a company does not itself prove that the foreign national is actually carrying on the commercial activity required by Article 24(1)(2), nor does it prove creation of the required jobs.
That is a practical distinction worth holding on to. The authorities examine whether the statutory residence ground actually exists, not merely whether the applicant can produce a company extract.
No. The 10-employee requirement relates to the specific commercial-activity ground in Article 24(1)(2). It is not a universal immigration rule for every foreign person connected with a Bulgarian company.
A founder may qualify on another statutory ground depending on the facts - through employment, family circumstances or another specifically regulated route. That is why the analysis begins with "what is this person's actual residence ground?" rather than "how do we make the company create a visa?".
Owning shares, managing a company and being employed are legally distinct relationships. If a foreign national intends to work in Bulgaria, employment and labour-market-access rules may become relevant separately from corporate ownership. Owning the company does not automatically resolve the right-to-work question.
This matters particularly where the plan is: "I will register an EOOD, appoint myself manager and then work from Bulgaria." That structure should be checked under both immigration and employment rules before it is implemented.
For a founder who genuinely intends to relocate, the immigration analysis should happen before the corporate documents are finalised. The useful questions:
The answers can change both the sensible corporate structure and the order in which applications should be made.
The company formation file and the founder's immigration file are separate. Depending on the statutory route, the immigration process may require evidence concerning the residence ground, accommodation, sufficient resources, insurance, criminal-record documentation, a Visa D where required, and company or employment evidence relevant to the chosen ground.
A company-registration lawyer who treats immigration as an automatic consequence of incorporation can create a serious planning problem.
Assume an entrepreneur from outside the EU wants to open a convenience store in Sofia. The commercial side may involve an EOOD, a lease of premises, banking, accounting, permits or registrations relevant to the goods sold, employees and supplier contracts.
None of that automatically answers the immigration question. If the entrepreneur intends to rely specifically on Article 24(1)(2), the statutory employment requirement has to be satisfied. If another ground is contemplated, that route is analysed on its own requirements.
The correct project is not "company first, residence later". It is corporate structure, banking, operational plan and immigration ground, designed together.
For non-EU founders, we can coordinate the Bulgarian corporate and immigration sides of the project: company structure and incorporation; analysis of whether company ownership is actually relevant to the intended residence route; Visa D and residence-document planning where applicable; review of the Article 24(1)(2) commercial-activity route; corporate documents required for the immigration file; coordination of foreign documents, Apostille or legalisation and Bulgarian translations; banking and KYC preparation; and employment-law coordination where the founder or employees will work in Bulgaria.
The objective is to avoid creating a company that works on paper but does not achieve the founder's actual immigration or business objective.
See also our guides to opening a Bulgarian company bank account as a foreign founder, company formation for foreigners and prolonged residence in Bulgaria.
No. Company ownership and the right to reside are separate legal questions. A person can own a Bulgarian company while living permanently outside Bulgaria.
Yes. Corporate ownership does not itself require the owner to obtain Bulgarian residence.
No. The 10-job requirement belongs to the specific residence ground under Article 24(1)(2) of the Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act, not to company ownership itself.
If you rely on the commercial-activity ground under Article 24(1)(2), the law requires at least 10 full-time positions for Bulgarian citizens, created as a result of that activity and maintained for the period of residence, subject to the statutory wording and any applicable treaty exception.
You can, but if relocation is part of the plan it is usually better to analyse the residence route before finalising the corporate structure, because the structure may need to support it.
No. They are separate statuses. Long-term residence under Article 24g is connected, subject to the statutory conditions and counting rules, with five years of lawful and uninterrupted residence in Bulgaria before the application.
We can coordinate both Bulgarian workstreams where the facts support an available residence route. The first step is identifying the lawful immigration ground rather than assuming the company creates one.
This article is general information as at 31 August 2026 and is not legal advice on a specific case. Bulgarian immigration outcomes depend on the applicant's nationality, current status, intended activity and the specific statutory residence ground relied upon, and the operative statutory text should be checked at the time of acting. Prepared by the legal team at YARD Law Co., a law firm based in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Planning a Bulgarian company and a move to Bulgaria?
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