# Bulgaria — records retrieval dossier > EasyPassport knowledge base for citizenship-by-descent record retrieval. **General > guidance to confirm on the official pages listed under Sources — not legal > advice.** Fees, URLs, offices, and processing times change; verify before quoting. ## Vital records (birth / marriage / death) - **Holding office:** Civil birth/marriage/death acts (акт за раждане / за граждански брак / за смърт) are held by the civil-registration department (отдел ГРАО / длъжностно лице по гражданското състояние) of the MUNICIPALITY (община) where the event was registered — the act stays with the municipality where it was drawn up. The nationwide coordinating body is the Civil Registration and Administrative Services General Directorate (ГД ГРАО / GRAO), a specialized administration of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (grao.bg). Older acts (roughly pre-1910s, and church-era registers) may instead sit in the relevant District State Archive. Duplicates issued are a 'препис-извлечение' (certified excerpt/extract) or 'дубликат' of the original act. - **How to request:** Request a certified duplicate/excerpt from the municipal civil-status office in person, by mail/authorized representative, or online. The official channel is the national e-government portal egov.bg (section 'Гражданско състояние'); many municipalities also accept requests through their own municipal e-service portals or via a Bulgarian consulate abroad. Non-residents typically use a power of attorney to a relative or lawyer in Bulgaria, or apply through the nearest Bulgarian embassy/consulate. - **Online portal:** https://egov.bg/wps/portal/egov/uslugi/grazhdansko%20sastoyanie,%20samolichnost,%20semeystvo - **Who may request:** Restricted by personal-data-protection rules: the person the act concerns, their spouse, direct ascendants and descendants (parents, children, grandchildren), legal heirs, or an explicitly authorized representative (notarized power of attorney). A descendant requesting an ancestor's record generally qualifies as a direct descendant, but must document the lineage. Third parties without a legal interest are refused. - **Cost:** A small municipal administrative fee, set per-municipality — typically on the order of a few to ~10 BGN per certificate (e.g., a standard excerpt is often ~5-10 BGN; express service costs more). Exact amount varies by municipality and is confirmed on the issuing município's fee schedule; I could not verify a single uniform national fee. - **Timeline:** Usually fast for records the municipality still holds locally — same day to a few working days for an in-person/express request; ordinary or mail/consular requests and archive-held records take longer (a week to several weeks). No verified fixed statutory maximum found. - **Language:** Bulgarian. Requests, forms and correspondence are in Bulgarian; records are in Bulgarian (Cyrillic). Older records may be in pre-1945 orthography. - **Notes:** Civil registration in Bulgaria began in 1893 and was patchy until ~1945 (only ~70% of the population covered early on, with many gaps); registration became comprehensive from 1945. Family registers were introduced ~1920. Pre-1893 vital events are documented only in church registers, not civil acts. FamilySearch has microfilmed/digitized some 1893-1912 civil registers, mainly for the Sofia and Plovdiv districts. ## Historical & church records (before civil registration) - **Parish / church:** Church registers (baptisms, marriages, burials) are the pre-1893 substitute for civil records. Bulgarian Orthodox and Roman Catholic registers mostly begin in the mid-1800s (some Catholic books to ~1797). They are held primarily in the local parish churches or monasteries — access depends on the individual clergy; a few have been gathered into the district State Archives or the national museum/library. Write (in Bulgarian) to the diocese/eparchy or local parish priest. Note: some pre-1872 Orthodox registers are physically in GREECE, because until 1872 the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was subordinate to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. - **National / state archive:** State Agency 'Archives' (Държавна агенция 'Архиви', archives.government.bg) operates a central archive plus a network of ~28 District/Regional State Archives (one per district) that hold older civil-registration books, church registers, census/tax and administrative records. Archive contacts are listed via the IISDA government service directory (iisda.government.bg) and the archives.government.bg regional-archive map. IMPORTANT caveat from the FamilySearch profile: there are NO vital records in the Central/National Historical Archive in Sofia — vital and church records are decentralized to the districts and parishes. - **Notes:** Records are decentralized and storage conditions vary; some have been lost to neglect or disaster. Jewish, Armenian Apostolic, Protestant (Methodist/Congregationalist/Adventist/Pentecostal) communities kept their own registers. Because ancestral villages may have shifted jurisdiction (Eastern Rumelia 1878-1885; Macedonia/Thrace population exchanges after the Balkan Wars/WWI), the holding archive is the modern district covering the village, which may differ from historical province names. ## Apostille / legalization - **Competent authority:** THIS IS THE ERROR-PRONE FACT — Bulgaria has FOUR different apostille competent authorities split by document type, and civil-status certificates are NOT apostilled by the Ministry of Justice. Per the HCCH designation: (1) MINISTRY OF JUSTICE — ONLY for acts of the courts and notaries; (2) NACID (National Centre for Information and Documentation) — educational/qualification documents; (3) THE REGIONAL (DISTRICT) ADMINISTRATIONS (областни администрации) — for documents issued by MAYORS and MUNICIPAL administrations, i.e. birth/marriage/death certificates and other civil-status/municipal documents — this is the correct office for genealogy/descent vital records; (4) MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS — all other (residual) acts. So a Bulgarian birth/marriage/death certificate is apostilled by the REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION (областна администрация) of the district, verified at apostille.gov.bg — never by the Ministry of Justice. - **URL:** https://www.hcch.net/en/states/authorities/details3/?aid=312 - **Process:** Apostilles are affixed on paper (no e-apostille for civil/court/MFA channels — only NACID issues e-Apostilles). For a municipal civil-status certificate: obtain the certified certificate from the municipality, then submit it to the competent DISTRICT/REGIONAL administration for the apostille; the issued apostille is recorded and can be checked in the online register at https://apostille.gov.bg (integrated IISDA system, service ref iisda.government.bg/adm_services/services/service/5290). Ministry of Justice apostilles (court/notarial docs only) are checked at apostil.mjs.bg/ApostilleEN.aspx; MFA at apostille.mfa.bg; NACID e-apostilles at apostille.bg. NOTE: for a descent application submitted IN Bulgaria to the Ministry of Justice, Bulgarian-issued records are used domestically and generally do NOT need an apostille — the apostille matters for Bulgarian records used ABROAD and for FOREIGN records brought into the Bulgarian file. - **Cost:** Apostille fee is 5 BGN (~EUR 2.56) at the regional administrations, the Ministry of Justice and the MFA; NACID charges 15 BGN paper / 7.50 BGN e-Apostille. (Per HCCH practical-information tables.) - **Notes:** Bulgaria is a Hague Apostille Convention party (in force since 2001). Additional wrinkle: Bulgaria has Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements (bilateral treaties) with ~20 countries — including Russia, Ukraine, France, Austria — under which documents need NO apostille at all, only certified translation. For non-Hague, non-treaty countries, full dual/consular legalization is required instead. > **Apostille authority — verification (✓ confirmed against HCCH, 2026-07):** No corrections — the researched authority holds. ## Translation - **Requirement:** Yes. Foreign-language documents used in the Bulgarian citizenship file must be translated INTO BULGARIAN. Bulgarian records used abroad are translated into the destination language. Translation must be done by a translator/agency recognized/registered with the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the translator's signature certified. - **Notes:** The translator's signature must be certified by a Bulgarian notary or by a Bulgarian consular official (the MFA Consular Relations Directorate historically performed this certification of translations). If translating abroad, use an agency accredited by the Bulgarian embassy/consulate so the certification is accepted. Practitioner pricing seen: ~EUR 50 per document for certified translation + certified copy. Sequence for a foreign document: legalize/apostille FIRST in the country of origin, THEN translate and certify the translation. ## Emigration & naturalization (the chain-break) - **Emigrant / exit records:** Bulgaria's own systematic emigration/exit records are thin. Practical sources: departure-port passenger lists (Hamburg Auswandererlisten 1850-1934 via FamilySearch/Ancestry), Ellis Island/New York arrivals 1892-1924, UK incoming/outgoing passenger lists 1878-1960, and displaced-persons lists 1946-1971. Diplomatic-legation registers (e.g., Spanish Legation in Sofia / Consulate in Ruse) hold some passport/identity records. For ethnic Bulgarian Turks who left for Turkey there is a specific 'Passeport d'Émigration' plus Turkish migration/name-identification/family-tree certificates (apostilled in Turkey). - **Destination naturalization:** The chain-break check is done in the DESTINATION country's naturalization records, not in Bulgaria — e.g., US naturalization (USCIS Genealogy Program / NARA / county-court petitions), Canadian, Argentine, Brazilian, etc. records showing when/whether the ancestor naturalized abroad. This matters DIFFERENTLY for Bulgaria than for strict jus-sanguinis countries: Bulgarian citizenship by ORIGIN (Art. 15, ethnicity-based up to the 3rd generation) does NOT require the ancestor to have retained Bulgarian citizenship — proving ethnic Bulgarian descent is the core test, so an ancestor's foreign naturalization is generally not fatal. Ancestor citizenship-loss timing IS decisive on the separate RESTORATION track (Art. based on a person who LOST Bulgarian citizenship, e.g. migrated Bulgarian Turks) — that track requires documenting the loss and typically 3 years' prior permanent residence in Bulgaria. - **Notes:** Historic Bulgarian nationality law did contain loss-of-citizenship-on-foreign-naturalization provisions, so for restoration/retention arguments the ancestor's date of foreign naturalization vs. the law in force at the time should be checked. For pure origin (Art. 15) claims, focus effort on ethnicity evidence rather than the naturalization chain. ## Gotchas - APOSTILLE OFFICE TRAP: civil-status certificates (birth/marriage/death) are apostilled by the district/REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION (областна администрация), verified at apostille.gov.bg — NOT by the Ministry of Justice (which apostilles only court and notarial acts). Sending a birth certificate to the MoJ for an apostille is the classic mistake. - ETHNICITY vs NATIONALITY: Bulgarian birth/death certificates record citizenship/nationality, NOT ethnic origin. An Art. 15 'by origin' claim needs the ancestor's ETHNIC Bulgarian status proven — often via old school diplomas, military-service records, or church records; if none exist the applicant is typically rejected by the Ministry of Justice within ~2 months and must then establish Bulgarian origin through a special COURT procedure. - SOVIET-ERA DOCUMENT FORMAT: for ethnic Bulgarians born in the former USSR, the Ministry of Justice accepts the ORIGINAL-format birth certificate ('Свидетельство о рождении') and REJECTS the modern reissued 'Справка о рождении' / newly-issued replacement certificates. Obtain a duplicate of the original act, not a fresh reprint; the older record may also carry the crucial 'болгарин/болгарка' ethnicity notation. - REGISTRATION GAPS: civil registration only starts in 1893 and was incomplete (~70% coverage) until 1945 — expect missing acts for late-19th/early-20th-century ancestors and fall back to church parish registers (mid-1800s onward), which are held locally and unevenly. - NAME/CYRILLIC TRANSLITERATION DRIFT: names shift between Cyrillic and Latin (and Russian↔Bulgarian spellings for USSR-born ancestors); inconsistent transliteration across birth/marriage/passenger records forces a 'certificate of name identification' and can stall matching — carry every spelling variant. - JURISDICTION/BORDER CHANGES: ancestral villages may have moved between administrations (Eastern Rumelia 1878-1885; Macedonia/Thrace population exchanges after the Balkan Wars & WWI), so the holding archive is today's district covering the village — and some pre-1872 Orthodox registers are in GREECE (Patriarchate of Constantinople). Records are decentralized across ~28 district archives plus parishes; there are NO vital records in the central National Historical Archive in Sofia. ## Sources - [HCCH — Bulgaria Competent Authorities (Art. 6, Apostille): the four designated authorities, fees, e-registers](https://www.hcch.net/en/states/authorities/details3/?aid=312) - [GRAO — Civil Registration and Administrative Services General Directorate (Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works)](https://www.grao.bg/en/esgraon.html) - [FamilySearch Wiki — Bulgaria Civil Registration (1893 start, coverage gaps, district holdings, egov.bg pointer)](https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Bulgaria_Civil_Registration) - [FamilySearch Wiki — Bulgaria Church Records (parish/diocese access, pre-1872 registers in Greece, State Archives links)](https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Bulgaria_Church_Records) - [FamilySearch Wiki — Bulgaria Emigration and Immigration (passenger lists, destination-country records)](https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Bulgaria_Emigration_and_Immigration) - [Bulgarian State Agency 'Archives' — regional/district archive directory](https://www.archives.government.bg/) - [State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad (ДАБЧ) — certificate of Bulgarian origin authority](https://www.aba.government.bg/) - [Ministry of Justice — apostille register (court/notarial acts) and citizenship submission portal](https://apostil.mjs.bg/ApostilleEN.aspx) - [Ministry of Justice — Bulgarian citizenship application/status (publicbg)](http://publicbg.mjs.bg/BgInfo) - [egov.bg — civil-status (гражданско състояние) online services](https://egov.bg/wps/portal/egov/uslugi/grazhdansko%20sastoyanie,%20samolichnost,%20semeystvo) - [New Balkans Law Office (Lexology) — document legalization & certified-translation requirements for Bulgaria](https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=c9fe2cc6-2aa5-46d4-8678-fe7c4f880d73) - [Bulgarian Citizenship Act — English (GLOBALCIT / legislationline) incl. certificate of Bulgarian origin](https://legislationline.org/sites/default/files/2025-02/BULGARIAN%20CITIZENSHIP%20LAW.pdf) --- General guidance, not legal advice. EasyPassport is a document-organization tool, not a law firm. Confirm your own case with the relevant authority or a qualified professional.