Dummy ticket (flight reservation) for Bulgaria visa from India

What the Bulgaria checklist asks for

• A return flight, bus or sea booking, or a ticket, in each traveller’s name.
• Hotel bookings covering your stay in Bulgaria and in any other Schengen country on the route.
• A cover letter explaining the purpose of the trip, with your itinerary.
• Proof of funds of at least €50 per day of the stay, and no less than €500 in total.
• Travel medical insurance of at least €30,000 for the whole trip.

Bulgaria visa checklist: every item as printed, flight and hotel lines highlighted · A real order: flight reservation and hotel bookings matched date by date

Bulgaria’s 2025 refusal jump

Bulgaria refused 37.0% of Indian applications in 2025, up from 15.5% a year earlier. That made it the second-hardest Schengen state for Indians, behind only Slovenia. Applications fell at the same time, from 4,889 to 3,435, and only about one visa in ten was multiple-entry.

The European Commission’s data does not say why. What you can control is a file without loose ends: an itinerary that names the cities and dates, transport bookings that match it, hotel nights that add up, and funds that clear Bulgaria’s daily minimum for the length of stay your reservation shows.

What “confirmed booking” means for your reservation

The tourist checklist on the VFS Bulgaria page, dated May 2022, asks for a “return travel ticket or confirmed booking (for air/surface/sea transport)”. It does not require payment. A held reservation is a booking made with the airline in your name, without payment, and each airline decides how long it holds one.

That last point is the one to plan around. Bulgaria says you can only ask about your application once the processing time has passed, and the decision can take up to 15 calendar days or longer, well past any hold an airline gives an unpaid booking. Order the Sofia reservation for the day of your VFS appointment, or the evening before, and compare the names and dates with your passport and form when it arrives. The checklist is several years old, so look for a newer version on the VFS page before you apply.

Funds are counted against your dates

Bulgaria sets a figure most checklists leave vague: “a minimum of EUR 50 per day of the stay … but at least EUR 500”. The days are the ones on your itinerary, so a 12-day trip needs at least €600 in demonstrable funds, and even a four-day visit needs €500.

This is one more reason to make the reservation match the real plan. If your flights show 14 days while your cover letter describes a week, the officer has two different trips and two different fund calculations to reconcile.

Bulgaria with Romania and Greece

With Bulgaria and Romania both full members since 1 January 2025, a Sofia and Bucharest trip, or a loop that takes in northern Greece, needs only one Schengen visa. Apply to the country where you spend the most nights, or, if nights are equal, the one you enter first. Show the bus, train or flight between countries and a hotel in each.

No airline flies non-stop from India to Sofia, Varna or Burgas. Most routings connect in Istanbul, Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi, or through a European hub, so choose one you would actually fly and keep the arrival date consistent with your first hotel night.

Flying from India to Bulgaria

Your reservation should follow a route you could realistically fly. These are common options; schedules change, so the desk confirms what is bookable for your dates.

Mistakes to avoid with a Bulgaria application

• Funds that fall short of €50 per day for the number of days on the reservation.
• A cover letter with no itinerary, when Bulgaria asks for one explaining the trip.
• Applying to Bulgaria when Greece or Romania gets more nights on the plan.
• Following an old guide that treats Bulgaria as a separate national visa.
• Chasing the Embassy for a status update before the processing time is over.

Dummy ticket and hotel bookings, matched to your itinerary

We do not send one loose document. The desk matches the flight reservation and every hotel booking to your itinerary: the same dates, the same cities, and no night left uncovered. These are the real documents of one order for a Switzerland visa file, issued on 5 November 2026: one flight reservation and four hotel bookings that cover all 9 nights between the two flights. Personal details are blacked out; everything else is as issued.

• Flight reservationEtihad, Hyderabad (HYD) to Zurich (ZRH), status Confirmed
• Hotel booking, ZurichMEININGER Hotel Zürich Greencity, 3 nights
• Hotel booking, GenevaB&B HOTEL Geneva Airport, 3 nights
• Hotel booking, LucerneSeminarhotel Romerohaus, 2 nights
• Hotel booking, Zurich AirportLeonardo Hotel Zurich Airport, 1 night

Open the full documents and the day-by-day table: flight and hotels matched date by date

How to get your Bulgaria flight reservation

Bulgaria questions, answered