Thailand to Bulgaria visa requirements

Thai ordinary passport holders need a visa to visit Bulgaria. Bulgaria became a full Schengen Area member on 1 January 2025, and Thailand is not on the EU visa-exempt list, so a Schengen short-stay (Type C) visa is required before travel. Bulgaria is a full member of the Schengen Area as of 1 January 2025 (air and sea internal borders were lifted in March 2024; land borders followed in January 2025). Because Thailand is NOT on the EU's visa-exempt list, Thai ordinary passport holders cannot enter Bulgaria visa-free and cannot use ETIAS (ETIAS only applies to visa-exempt nationalities). Instead, a Thai national must obtain a uniform Schengen short-stay visa (Type C) before travel, which permits stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day period across the entire Schengen Area, including Bulgaria. The standard adult Schengen visa fee is EUR 90 (raised from EUR 80 on 11 June 2024), plus a VFS/TLS service-centre fee and mandatory travel medical insurance of at least EUR 30,000 coverage. Because Bulgaria has no functioning visa-issuing embassy in Bangkok, Thai applicants generally apply either through a Schengen partner state that represents Bulgaria in Thailand, through the Bulgarian Embassy in Hanoi (Vietnam), or simply travel on a valid Schengen visa issued by another Schengen state. In May 2026 the EU approved a more favourable visa-cascade regime for Thai nationals, granting longer multiple-entry visas (1, 2, and 5 years) to applicants with a clean prior Schengen travel record, but a visa is still mandatory. Given Bulgaria's full Schengen status and Thailand's non-exempt status, the conservative and correct verdict is visa-required.