- According to the Law on Bulgarian identity documents (LBID), which is in force in the Republic of Bulgaria, Bulgarian identity documents (BID) – passports, identity cards and driving licenses are issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, diplomatic and service passports – by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, seaman's passports – by the Ministry of Transport, and diplomatic and consular missions issue temporary passports for return to the Republic of Bulgaria only to Bulgarian citizens without valid passports.

The same law settles Bulgarian identity documents issuance refusal, their deprivation and imposing other restrictions relevant to their usage and safe-keeping.

- Identity card is the basic identity document valid at the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria or at the territory of another country according to international contracts. Depending on the age of their holder identity cards may be valid till a fixed date or to be termless.

Attention: Bulgarian citizens over the age of 14 who live abroad and do not have identity card issued are obliged to claim issuance of such document not later then 30 days after their get back to Bulgaria.

- Passport is the document used for crossing state border of the Republic of Bulgaria and for sojourn abroad. It is issued for a period of 5 years.

Term of validity of passports may me prolonged only once as an exception by diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Bulgaria abroad. Prolongation of passport validity shall be made after consultation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs for a period of 6 months to persons who are returning to Bulgaria. That is why it is necessary to submit a passport prolongation application in the consular section of the respective Bulgarian diplomatic or consular mission before the passport expires.

In cases when the passport is damaged, destroyed, lost, stolen or its pages are filled up, steps for issuance of new passport have to be taken.

Attention: In cases of lost, stolen or destroyed passport the person resident abroad have to submit immediately a written declaration regarding those circumstances in the respective Bulgarian diplomatic or consular mission. Along with that Bulgarian citizens who do not have a valid passport and wish to get back to Bulgaria have to submit applications for identity documents in person and after due check up shall receive temporary passports for return to the Republic of Bulgaria.

- Driving license is an individual certifying document for legal capacity for driving motor vehicles. It serves as an identity document at the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria when the person cannot present another identity document.

Attention: When changing name, personal number, sex, citizenship or when considerable and permanent changes in face occur, the person is obliged to obtain new identity documents in 30 days. Substitution of issued identity card, passport and driving license is made at the same time.

- Bulgarian identity documents shall be issued or changed on the grounds of submitted application forms for BID along with a picture after a pattern and relevant certifying documents depending on the type of required document.

Bulgarian citizens residing abroad submit applications in diplomatic or consular missions of the Republic of Bulgaria that forward them officially through the Consular Relations Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the respective Directorate of the National Bureau “Police” at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Attention: When submitting the application the applicant affixes his signature personally in the presence of an official. Signatures of both parents must be affixed in the presence of an official for issuance of passport of persons under the age of 18, besides, if the minor applicant is between 14 and 18, he should sign the application too. Signature only of one of the parents is enough when any of the documents hereby is submitted:

- certified by notary declaration from the second parent with his explicit consent for issuance of a passport to the child and his/her traveling abroad;

- explicit decision of the court for deprivation of parental rights of the parent who is away;

- court decision or ordinance in which it is explicitly written down that a passport of the child may be issued without the explicit permission of the missing parent;

- When the application is not forwarded officially through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and it is submitted by the applicant it has to have signatures and picture certified by a consulate official in the respective diplomatic or consular mission of the Republic of Bulgaria. In those cases application shall be submitted by an authorized person in the Regional Police Department or in the Regional Directorate of Internal Affairs according to the indicated in the application permanent address after presenting an explicit power of attorney certified by a diplomatic or a consular mission of the Republic of Bulgaria abroad.

Already made Bulgarian identity documents shall be received in person by the applicant after filling up the respective column for receiving the application, affixing the signature on page 3 of the passport, returning the previous identity document of the same kind, if there is such. In case that the person wishes to keep his/her previous passport because of affixed valid visa or in order to certify before respective bodies his/her sojourn, when submitting the application for a new passport he/she also submits a request. According to Article 10, Paragraph 4 of the Law on Bulgarian identity documents the citizen declares that after the reason for usage of the passport drops out he/she shall return it to the issuing authority. Bulgarian identity documents of under aged, minor or persons under judicial disability shall be received against a signature of their parents, guardians or trustees.

Attention: Bulgarian citizens who possess identity documents issued by another country are obliged to inform competent Bulgarian bodies not later then 60 days after their acquisition.

Since January 1, 2006 the General Consulate of the Republic of Bulgaria in Dubai collects fees for consulate services as follows:

				in dirhams
1.		for an application of general matter		40
2.		for an application for searching and sending belongings		40
3.		for an application for searching, determining and realizing inheritance abroad		50
4.		for an application for searching Bulgarian citizen or foreigner residing abroad		30
5.		for an application for contracting marriage		50
6.		for issuance duplicates of civil status certificates		30
7			for acquisition and restoring Bulgarian citizenship	50
8 .			for release from Bulgarian citizenship	60
9 .			for certificates issued in connection with determining Bulgarian citizenship	50
10			For issuance of certificates and other documents a fee is collected to the amount of	40
	Fees for translations
1.	from old Turkish, Arabian, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, old Hebrew, Hebrew, Farsi, Hindi, Swahili or another rare language to Bulgarian and vice versa – for each page			70
2.	from foreign language out of the listed in p.1 to Bulgarian – for each page			70
3.	from Bulgarian to foreign language out of the listed in p. 1 – for each page			70
			Fees for authentication of signatures
			For authentication of signatures affixed upon private documents (powers of attorney, invitations, declarations, etc.) a fee is collected to the amount of	50
			For authentication of signature of translator of documents and other securities a fee is collected to the amount of	70
			For legalization and certification of documents and translations by putting a sticker with hologram protection a fee is collected to the amount of	10

			Passport fees under Tariff 3 For filing in and processing applications and documents under the Law on Bulgarian identity documents, diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Bulgaria collect fees as follows :
			For processing documents for issuance and re-issuance of a passport
1			Filing in and processing applications for issuance and re-issuance of a passport	20
2			Authentication of signature on page 3 of the application	50
			For processing documents for issuance and re-issuance of a passport
1			Fee for an application of general matter	40
2			For processing an application for prolongation the term of validity of a passport	60
			for issuance of a temporary passport for return in the Republic of Bulgaria of a Bulgarian citizen or of a certificate for return in the Republic of Bulgaria of a foreigner	40
			Application form for issuance of Bulgarian identity documents	10
			Protecting folio for prolongation and temporary passports	10

INFORMATION
ON THE REGISTRATION IN BULGARIA OF CIVIL MARRIAGES CONTRACTED IN THE UAE

I . When the marriage is contracted before the local administrative authorities .

• Legalization of the local marriage certificate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the UAE
• Legalization or certification at the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria in Dubai
• When both spouses are Bulgarian citizens and whenever necessary the document must be sent to Bulgaria together with a power of attorney in order to be presented at the city hall where the spouse is registered as resident.

If one of the future spouses is a foreigner the documents must be submitted at the city hall where the Bulgarian spouse is registered as resident.

II. Contracting marriages at the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria in Dubai

Another option is to contract marriage at the Consulate General (CG) in Dubai , which in turn issues a Marriage Act and a Bulgarian Certificate of Contracted Civil Marriage Abroad . The original of the Act issued by the CG must compulsorily be presented to the Bulgarian city hall where the spouse is registered in order to complete the process of registering and reissuing the Act in Bulgaria .

For the purposes of contracting civil marriage at the Consulate General of the Republic of Bulgaria in Dubai it is necessary to submit in advance a set of documents whose validity needs to be verified. This is followed by certain technical procedures after which the date for signing the issued Civil Marriage Act is specified . Only original documents are accepted and they are kept at the civil register of the General Consulate .

• Personal identity documents;
• Declarations (the forms are available at the CG) – filled and certified at the CG (2 pcs. ) ;
• Application forms for contracting a civil marriage - filled and certified at the CG (2 pcs. ) ;
• Medical certificates confirming the eligibility of the spouses to contract marriage as well as the lack of any health disorders.

When one of the spouses is a foreigner in addition to the abovementioned documents he/she must present a certificate issued by the respective diplomatic mission and certifying that :

• he/she has no other valid marriages ;
• the legislature of the respective country permits its citizens to contract marriages at a Bulgarian mission in a third country .

In order to register your child in Bulgaria you need to go through the following procedures :

1. To obtain a Full Birth Certificate
2. To legalize the Full Birth Certificate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the UAE by affixing an ?postil l e at the Department of Foreign Affairs
3. Translation of the Apostille and its certification by the Consulate General - 60.00 Dirhams .
4. The parents must send the translated and certified Apostille to Bulgaria to be submitted to the city hall where the mother is registered as resident, so that the child can obtain a PIN (EGN) .

• 5. Application for issuing a new passport - ( 1 piece – purchased at the Consulate General for 10 .00 Dirhams ) , filled and signed by the mother and father .
6. A power of attorney on behalf of both parents and in favor of the person who will submit the passport application in Bulgaria . The signatures are certified by an officer of the Consulate General . Exceptions are acceptable only in extraordinary circumstances subject to prior notification and approval by the Consul General . The certification fee of the Consulate General for each signature is 50.00 Dirhams ( a total of 4 signatures of the parents – two on the application and two on the power of attorney ) .
7. Three photos – passport size - on matted paper , at a light background .
8 . Once the child has obtained the Bulgarian Birth Certificate and PIN his/her documents ( filled and certified by the Consulate General – passport application , power of attorney by the parents and Bulgarian Birth Certificate ) are submitted by the individual empowered by the parents to the Police Authorities in Bulgaria for the purposes of obtaining a traveling passport .