How early should I apply for a Bulgarian D visa? We are moving from Manchester in March

Work backwards from your March arrival. D visa applications are generally accepted up to three months before your planned travel date, so for early March you can lodge the file from early December. The decision officially takes up to 35 working days, and in practice most London applicants see 4 to 8 weeks, so applying in early-to-mid December is about right. The real bottleneck is the appointment itself. London slots are released in batches and often book out 4 to 8 weeks ahead, so start checking the booking system in October and grab the first date inside your three-month window. Use the waiting time to gather documents, several of which have a shelf life: your criminal record certificate must usually be under six months old and apostilled, and bank statements should be recent. Translations into Bulgarian by a certified translator are needed for most supporting documents. Two practical points. First, the consulate keeps your passport while the visa is processed, so plan any winter travel around that gap. Second, make sure the core of your file is airtight before the appointment: proof of the grounds you are applying under (pension, property, trade registration and so on), accommodation in Bulgaria, means of subsistence and health insurance. Incomplete files are the number one cause of delays and refusals, and a rejection costs you far more time than any queue. We walk through the full document list and the category-specific requirements in our D visa guide at /guides/bulgaria-d-visa-guide.