Several days after being registered as an asylum-seeker you will receive your registration card which look like that:
The card contains the following data:
- name and a photograph
- date of birth
- sex (man or woman)
- place of birth
- nationality (citizenship)
- accompanying children aged under 14
- your personal number in Bulgaria
- the address of your accommodation in Bulgaria – a refugee camp or accommodation outside the camps
- the area surrounding the camp in which you are allowed to move without the explicit permission of the Agency for Refugees
This card serves to certify before the Bulgarian authorities that you are an asylum-seeker and are entitled to stay in Bulgaria till your procedure is completed with a decision on your case.
The registration card is a temporary document. The card usually has a 3-month term of validity which can be renewed without any problems while the procedure is still underway and till the decision on your case becomes final. This means that the registration card can also be renewed during court procedures.
You have to regularly renew the validity of your registration card at the Agency for Refugees, as when it expires the card is no longer valid and the police has the right to detain you.
If you lose your card, the Agency for Refugees will sanction you for your negligence with a fine in the amount of 50 up to 200 BGN before issuing a new registration card.
If, however, you have already lodged an application which was examined and a decision was issued by the Bulgarian authorities, and you lodge a second or another repeated application, you will not be entitled to a registration card unless the Agency for Refugees makes a decision to open a new procedure for you.
