Bulgaria Abolishes Entry Ban for EU and Schengen Countries Citizens

Bulgarian authorities have decided to lift the entry ban for European Union and Schengen area countries starting from May 22, which has been imposed due to Coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19), the Health Ministry announced.

The lifting of the imposed entry ban includes San Marino, the Principality of Andorra, Vatican City State and Monaco, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The Health Ministry’s earlier clarified that the ban on the entry of the country has not been applied to Bulgarian citizens, as well as to “persons who are in de facto cohabitation with a Bulgarian citizen”. Persons who have permanent or long-term residence status in Bulgaria, as well as their family members, have been also excluded from the country’s entry ban.

Medical professionals, staff delivering medical supplies, social workers “as well as diplomats, employees of international organisations, military personnel, members of the security and public order services and humanitarian workers in the performance of their duties,” the Health Ministry pointed out.

Persons travelling to Bulgaria for humanitarian reasons will be exempted from the imposed entry ban, together with some other categories.

“Representatives of trade, economic and investment activities directly related to construction, maintenance, operation and ensuring the safety of the strategic and critical infrastructure of Bulgaria, implementation of projects certified under the Investment Promotion Act, analysis of projects of potential investors and other activities relevant to the country’s economy, including persons engaged in shipbuilding and ship repair, certified by a letter from the Minister of Economy or another minister responsible for the respective activity”, the statement reads.

The ban also does not apply to the seasonal agricultural workers and tourism employees and those working in border areas.

According to the Health Ministry the two weeks mandatory quarantine will no longer be applied to Bulgarian citizens and citizens of other EU countries who are travelling for humanitarian reasons and the above mentioned reasons.

The Health Ministry statement clarifies that members of the families of Bulgarian citizens, as well as those in actual cohabitation with a Bulgarian citizen, are not required to go through the 14-days mandatory quarantine if the term of their stay in Bulgaria is up to seven days.

On March 20, Bulgaria decided to close the external Schengen borders for all non-EU/EEA nationals, except for emergency cases, following the example of a large share of European Union countries.

In April Bulgaria temporarily prohibited the entry for citizens of 13 countries located in the EU and the Schengen Area, as part of the country’s efforts to stop the further step of the Coronavirus pandemic.