Dear Editor,

As a British or Irish national, I can spend up to 30 days in Bulgaria without obtaining a visa. This is nice if I want to visit Bulgaria for a holiday, view some property, or just spend some time with close friends.

However, there is a severe additional restriction of 30 days in any 6 month period, starting from the date of first entry into Bulgaria.

Oddly, if I were a national of another EU state, such as Germany, France, Italy or Spain. I would be able to visit for up to 90 days in any 6 month period! Clearly, this doesn't seem very consistent or intelligent, that nationals from different EU member states are treated differently.

Furthermore, it would surely be of great benefit to the Bulgarian economy if, for example, British and Irish nationals were allowed to stay in Bulgaria for up to 90 days without needing a visa, as per other EU member states. Especially, since many British and Irish people are key to the construction and tourism boom, which must be of great benefit to the Bulgarian economy.

Actually, one possible way for a British or Irish national to obtain a 90- day, multiple entry visa is to invest at least EUR 50,000 in some kind of Bulgarian business approved by the InvestBulgaria agency. In my humble opinion, this is a distasteful proposition and doesn't help to instil trust in the integrity of the Bulgarian government's administration. Imagine the scenario in which something went wrong with a new business venture, and you ran out of time you could spend in Bulgaria trying to sort it out.

In writing this letter to the editor, I would hope that these issues (seen from a British national's perspective) are brought to the attention of officials with sufficient authority to re-appraise the existing visa regime and hopefully raise the limit to 90 days for all EU nationals, including Irish and British. I'm sure that the current visa regime is actually harming the Bulgarian economy.

Paul R. Querelle

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