Bulgarian pensioners who live outside the EU, in a country with no social security agreement with Bulgaria, must file a "proof of life" declaration between 1 November and 31 December 2026, the National Social Security Institute (NOI) said. Those who do not will stop getting their pension in 2027.
The form is called a declaration for continuing pension payments. Pensioners must file it once a year, in the same period every calendar year.
Before filing, they must have it certified by going in person to a consulate or another official body in the country where they live.
The certified declaration goes to the local NOI office that pays the pension. Pensioners can hand it in themselves, send someone with authority to do so, or post the original through a postal operator. They can also file it online through NOI's Single Portal for Electronic Services, using Service 52, "Submitting a declaration for continuing to receive a pension from the Republic of Bulgaria". This requires a qualified electronic signature (QES) or a personal identification code (PIK) from NOI.
Bilingual forms in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and Turkish are on the NOI website, under "Forms", in the section "Forms of declarations for payment of a Bulgarian pension – for countries to which regulations and international agreements do not apply".