School

Steps

1. Register your residence (see BG-SEJOUR-TOUS-001) and your address: the local school depends on your address.
2. Kindergarten (детска градина, from 3 to 7 years, from 2 years if there is a shortage of places in nurseries): enrol your child with the municipality or the institution. Each municipality organises its own enrolments: many big cities use an online system. Find out from your municipality or the chosen kindergarten. Kindergarten is compulsory from the school year that begins in the year the child turns 4 (ЗПУО, art. 8).
3. School: the child enters grade 1 at the start of the year in which they turn 7, or at 6 at the parents' request if their school readiness is certified. A one-year deferral is possible for health reasons.
4. Choice of school: in municipalities with several schools, the main criterion is proximity to the child's address, with neighbouring catchment areas defined by the municipality. Places follow the school's admission plan.
5. Child already in school abroad: grades completed in a foreign school are recognised (признаване) according to the national standard for assessing pupils, and the marks converted into the Bulgarian system (ЗПУО, art. 165). For grades 1 to 6, you submit the application to the school that will take your child, and its head decides (Ordinance No. 11, art. 109, para. 4, according to the service sheet of the РУО of Shumen). For grades 7 to 12, a stage of secondary education or completed basic education, it is a committee of experts of the regional education administration (РУО, регионално управление на образованието) that decides, within one month of submission of the complete file (rules of the РУО of Montana, 2025); each РУО publishes its own rules, find out from the one in your region. Recognition fees go to the РУО or the school; they are not charged when the person is of compulsory school age (ЗПУО, art. 300, para. 3 and 4). For a secondary school leaving diploma for higher education, a permit or a job, also contact the НАЦИД (electronic application possible).
6. For a course in French: look for approved establishments in Bulgaria in the AEFE's official list (not checked here).

Documents

• Identity documents of the child and parents, residence certificate, proof of address.
• Reports and certificates from the last school, with an official translation into Bulgarian (the РУО of Montana asks for a translation certified by a notary for grades 7 to 12); legalisation requirements by country on the НАЦИД's "document certification" page.
• Vaccination record (requirements to be confirmed with the school).

Costs and timelines

• Public and municipal school: free (Eurydice).
• Compulsory pre-school (from age 4): free in public and municipal kindergartens (ЗПУО, art. 9). Fees for nurseries and non-compulsory years: to be confirmed with the municipality.
• School year: it starts on 15 September (1 September in sports schools). The dates of holidays (except summer), days without lessons and the second term are set each year by an order of the Minister of Education (ЗПУО, art. 104), published on mon.bg: check the 2026-2027 one before booking.
• Recognition by the НАЦИД: certificate (higher education, permit, employment) or verification letter (permit, employment); fees in the НАЦИД's official scale; the committee of experts decides within one month of submission of the complete file, with the deadline suspended while a document is missing (НАЦИД).

Common pitfalls

• Enrolling at 6 without a certificate. Early entry assumes that school readiness is certified.
• Forgetting compulsory pre-school. The last years of kindergarten are not optional.
• Arriving without papers from the last school. The equivalence and the choice of grade depend on them.
• Not asking for Bulgarian lessons. The law guarantees free Bulgarian lessons to every resident child of compulsory school age (ЗПУО, art. 17): ask the school how they are organised.

What changes by country of origin

• EU, EEA and Swiss citizens: same rights as Bulgarians: free public school, including after age 16 (ЗПУО, art. 9, para. 2, the law treating the EEA and Switzerland as Member States). Every child who resides in Bulgaria at compulsory school age is entitled to free Bulgarian lessons; if a parent works in Bulgaria, the child can also follow lessons in their mother tongue and culture, organised with their country of origin (art. 17).
• British citizens (Scots included): compulsory school (up to age 16) and Bulgarian lessons are free whatever the nationality (ЗПУО, art. 9, para. 1, and art. 17). After age 16, public school remains free if you have an extended, long-term or permanent residence permit; otherwise, it is paid according to a government tariff (art. 9, para. 2 and 5).
• French citizens: if your child, who is French, attends an establishment on the official list of French education establishments abroad, you can apply for a school grant depending on the family's resources. Conditions: living with them in the school's consular district and being registered on the Register of French Nationals Established Outside France. The application is made online on the Scolaide portal, then goes through the consulate and the grants committee; the AEFE decides (AEFE, page updated on 17/06/2025).