Traveling to Bulgaria

Good to know

 

You need a valid travel document, which means a passport or a Belgian identity card, to travel abroad. It is not permitted to travel abroad with an expired travel document. Even when you use the document as identification, you need to show a valid travel document. Either a passport or a Belgian identity card is permissible.

 

From 2006, your travel document contains a (contactless) chip. With the introduction of the generation of electronic travel documents, Belgium complies with the EU-regulations regarding the standards for safety requirements of and biometric information in passports and travel documents issued by member states (EU no. 2252/2004 of 13 December 2004).

 

The e-symbol shows whether a travel document contains a chip.
There is an international agreement that all travel documents containing a chip have this symbol.

 

The chip contains the following:

 

·         You colour photograph, the so-called facial image. In order to include the passport photo in the chip, in the format required by the facial image, the photo needs to meet the requirements stated in appendix L of the passport regulations, the Fotomatrix Model 2007.

·         Your name (given names, family names and any possible titles), document number, nationality, date of birth, gender, expiry date, country of issue and personal identifier (in this case the national register number) and type of document. The same information is also on the holder’s page and the machine readable strip of the travel document.

 

Careful use of the travel document

The passport and the Belgian identity card are the property of the Belgian State.

Travel documents are valuable documents. They enable you to travel and they are your means of identification. It is of paramount importance that you take great care of these documents.

Never part with your documents, unless a competent authority or department demands it. This prevents others from improper use of your document.

Any changes you make to the document will render the document invalid and is illegal.

 

Continuous or frequent bending of the document may cause damage to the synthetic page and/or chip. Please keep this in mind when storing the travel document, so do not keep it or store it in a back trouser pocket or on any other flexible surface.