Opening Bank Account - As non bulgarian speaker and no bulgarian ID

The problem is you need a Bulgaria address & ID card as well as your passport to open an account. With just a passport anyone could just open an account (lies down to stop money laundering). This is also the case in many other countries in Europe. Others might correct me, but you might although you dislike the idea just use your overseas account first to get rent paid. Then you will have a base and address to work from.

Basically they have followed internal procedure. But I think you canstill open a bank account if you present your passport + any residence permission document (short term or long term) issued by the Bulgarian authorities and containing your picture. Check at Postbank.

Alternatively, you can open a bank account online, provided you have a valid electronic signature. check at Bulbank/Unikredit website.

Where are you in Bulgaria?

Monday this week I opened a a personal account with only a British passport and a GB driving license. Was not easy, but I made it. Today opened a business one with more hassle and expense, but again without any Bulgarian Ids. If you are in or near Plovdiv, I can help you (for free) - in the bank where I opened my personal account they don't know English, but they do understand Russian, and they were extremely generous and helpful.

Yes, there is an address on the DL, but I don't think the EU had much to do with it.

They just wanted some official doc with an address anywhere.

This abomination started here (I was told) a few months ago, and some banks are still more lenient than others.

The bank I opened the account in is Texim, a smaller bank, but it only worked for me because I speak Russian.

Opening a bank account in Bulgaria will be easy for you. My advise is don't go with Reifesen, literally one of the worst banks and with awful customer service.
I can recommend going to UnicreditBulbank or First investment bank. If you are in Sofia try the unicredit branch on G.S.Rakowsky.
This is new branch an they have English speaking personnel. You'll need only your passport for opening a standart personal bank with debit cards.
Prove of address is not needed like in UK, you can give them the address in your home country. Also they will need a phone number if you want online and mobile banking with active rights.

Emanuela, unfortunately, things are changing. They do want something to prove address, and aren't entirely happy if you don't have an official document with you tax ID from the previous country. But the system has not universally hardened yet, so you can get away with a foreign address, and without Bulgarian residence documents or an ID card from your previous country (there is none in Britain) - at least in some banks.

The funniest thing was today at DSK: they demanded that I bring an official translator - then talked to me in English an gave me English forms to fill. ~Why they neeed a translator (which cost me a pretty penny) became clear only towards the end: they made her co-sign some of the papers

I had good experiences opening bank accounts at both SG Expressbank and OBB with just a passport and my visa, but this was several years ago.

Wow, thanks again everyone!

SimCityAT - Completely understand that (though I do believe if you are laundering money that these requirement are unlikely to alter anything!) but I do understand the reason they are doing it.

Kristiann - Yes it seems like Raiffeisen may have not been the best choice! Having only just arrived and being a UK (Currently still and EU one as well) citizen I don't yet have any official residence permission maybe that is something I will have to do sooner rather than later. Electronic signature sounds helpful but may be as complicated as getting residence document at this point.

Sogy - Thank you so much for the offer I may genuinely take you up on it. We aren't in Plovdiv but a couple of hours drive may be worth it if we can get this sorted. My Russian isn't great, in fact I know none, so I may be in contact if nothing else works and if you were willing to help that would be amazing! Shame that they only recently tightened the procedure, should have got here sooner. Did they demand the translator for a business account at DSK?

Emanuela - Point taken on Raiffeisen. We will go to Unicredit on G.S.Rakovsky today and try there, we may try every bank in the area in fact! Hopefully we can work something out, it seems like a lot of the information on the internet is outdated when it comes to the process of moving to Bulgaria. Definitely a niche market to be serviced by someone there!

Kojidae - Thanks for the pointers, we will try and find SG and OBB today and see if we get lucky.

I'll update this post later for anyone who may find it useful in future. Fingers crossed!

Thanks again everyone.

:-)

Laura,

If you have a UK driving license (Photo card) take it along with your passport to the bank and try your luck as Sogy did when he opened his account.

Good luck

Come back and let us know how you got on

I can assure you that everything will be fine at the unicredit branch on G.S. Rakovski. I was there last Friday with a Greek national who doesn't have any problems opening a bank account with only his Greek ID where is no address indicated.
If you have problems send me a msg, my office is nearby I'll accompany you at the branch /free of charge/

Laura, yes, they wanted a translator (and an official one - which is more expensive!) at DSK for a business account.

No such thing at Texim for a personal account. I'll gladly go there with you, if all else fails, but there may be no branch nearer to you, so an account with them won't be convenient for you.

For starters, I would do the following:

1. Avail yourself with any official document with you address - even if it's foreign, and, if possible, with something that shows your tax number in your previous country

2. With that and your passport, start "carpet bombing", going from bank to bank, until you find someone you can talk to and they accept your documents. They will likely copy your docs, make you fill a few forms, and then begin "clearing" you, which may last up to 3 business days, but was only 3 hours in my case. If you are successful, you'll get a call and can come and open your account.

Sogy DSK is in my top 5 useless banks in BG. They have not only strange policy, but also different policy in each and every different branch.
I had a court case against one of their branches who refused to recognise a power of attorney registered in one of our embassies.
The request from them for a translator was absolutely outrageous. If they don't have English speaking personnel its their fault not yours. If they want tobhave foreign clients they need to have the respective resources to provide such services.
Unfortunately in the smaller towns and branches the people who are working are not fit for that challenge.

Might you find the younger the bank teller is the better English they know?

Emanuela, Plovdiv is not that small And the clerk did speak English to me - and the "screening" forms were mostly in English - as to the others, my ability to read in Bulgarian is pretty good (I speak Russian natively, know quite some Polish, and have already learned some Bulgarian). The purpose of this demand was apparently not to enable communication with me, but to have the interpreter to-sign a couple  forms, with wording to the effect that everything has been translated to me and I am aware of all the conditions. That's why they needed an official interpreter! And yes, it is outrageous - but beggars are not choosers, and there's apparently a an entire industry growing in Bulgaria, preying on the "chuzhdenci" - EU citizens and others treated the same way. When I am standing firmly on my own two feet, I will retaliate, as I have usually done before. Not against all Bulgarians (so far I love the country and the people), but against specific institutions.

Emanuela, The attitude, by the way, was entirely different at the Texim branch - they very sincerely and generously tried to help me, spent a lot of time doing it (calling the central office, etc), and I do appreciate it.

This is the difference between "well established" bank, who inherit 80% of its customers from the state bank back in the days and new relatively smaller bank who can anything to win and keep the client.
Unfortunately its common thing in BG, most of the business does not know what is customer care.
In our line of work we have the same problems dealing with incompetent administration, banks, courts etc.

Just don't think there's great customer care elsewhere

If the salary is connected to the results, there is satisfactory customer care, otherwise the employees just don't give a .... about their job

Just a quick update for everyone!

Got it sorted, we went to the Bulbank on G.S. Rakovsky as Emanuela suggested and we had no problem opening an account there. We also wanted spoke to another helpful english speaking member of staff and the Bulbank in Paradise Centre. So I would suggest that you would have no problem opening an account there either. One point to mention is when you enter you get a ticket from a machine upon which you can choose to have the instruction in English, however that does not mean you will get an assistant who can speak English.

They only needed a passport and no other documents and the process seemed rather simply we simply sat and waited while they did it all. We filled in some details (on an English language form) and signed where needed (on a Bulgarian/English form) we may have been signing away ownership of our kidney however we walked out with a BGN account and online banking. They were helpful and efficient. Thanks to everyone here especially Emanuela for pointing us to Bulbank.

For those trying in future, Unicredit Bulbank as of May 2018 only need a passport and seem to have some English speaking staff as well.

Thanks everyone!!!

Hello everyone,
I have been in sofia about 4 months with bulgarian ID card and I am a student in here.
I have gone to different banks but they don't accept that I open account.I don't really know what to do.please help me😢

I opened an account at Unicredit Bulbank in Sofia with no problem.  (I went to the branch closest to the Serdika Metro stop).

I did not at the time have a Bulgarian address (I was staying with a friend) and I do not have a Bulgarian ID, but  that was not a problem. They wanted my passport and U.S. address. The staff were very helpful.

Maybe you could go to a bigger city to open your account, and just make sure it's a bank that has a branch near where you'll be living.  I did all this in October, 2018, on my own. 

The person who helped me also helped me get the Bulbank app on my phone, and changed the settings so I could use the phone app in English. I'm studying Bulgarian, but I'm still a beginner, and bank forms are mostly beyond me at this point.
I hope this helps.
Ginny Hench

Thanks for the response but maybe because you are from US,you didn't have problem.

Yes opening an account is very easy, pasport was enough. I took Piraeus bank in Varna.

Thanks for the respose but I am in Sofia,is it possible to open account in another city while I am living in sofia?

Yes ofcourse if the bank has an office in another place. Piraeus has: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Photos/Pira … 438782.htm

Yes it is. But why would you like to open an account from another city, when living in Sofia? Better do it in Sofia.

Check the following banks:

Unikredit Bulbank
First Investment Bank
Postbank
CCB
Societe generale
Allianz Bank

You can write them an e-mail, and ask for their requirements to open a bank account for a foreigner, and also in which branch you can do it with an English speaker.

Yes you are right. Ofcourse almost every bank has an office so it is easy. I have Piraeus and no problem at all to get an bank account. I am a Dutchman so from an EU country, but my wife from the Ukraine had also no problem at all.

If you're in Sofia, I really suggest you at least stop by the Unicredit Bulbank branch closest to the Serdika stop. When you go in, there's a guard, and he speaks enough English to direct you to where you open accounts.  You take a number, and when your number is called, you go to the desk shown on the sign. It is possible that because I'm from the US that it might be different, but you won't know unless you try. I hope it works out for you.
Ginny Hench

Ok thanks alot.

HI i opened a bank account without owning a property or rental contract, what they needed was my passport but also my NI insurance number from my country (the UK) this i imagine is for taxation purposes and they can find me in the UK etc etc.

i was with an agent but people in this bank did speak basic English, i also transferred money over to pay for the house and it took 2 days, 48 hours even. i had my bank card within two days although i paid 10 lev for the pleasure.

teh bank was Bulbank and it is a Lev account, as thats what i will be using my card to pay with, as long as you use the bank card and there own cash machines its free - ish banking. I am also online with my account and its in english as well as BG.

it was pretty straight forward for me - i guess id just go with the biggest bank that offers online banking and debit cards to boot.

cheers.

because we work here and live in Malysia, but we are British.