Interior Minister Roumen Petkov voiced hope that the price of the new Bulgarian passports with an in-built chip will not be higher than the EU average. Currently, a passport having such features costs some 50 euro. In Bulgaria the issuing of a passport currently costs 35 to 150 leva depending on the term of issuance.

The issuing of new passports will begin some six months after the naming of the contractor-company. Yet, every Bulgarian would be able to travel using his/her old passport until its expiry.
About 50 EU and US companies have shown interest in the production of the new passports. The contractor is expected to be selected by end-2007.

The chip will be the only feature distinguishing the new passports from the old ones. Applications for the new passports will be filed with the respective regional police department by place of residence.

The Bulgarian ID Documents Department voiced concerns that they would probably have difficulties in issuing a passport within a single day. The application could be submitted by domicile but the ready passport would be received in Sofia. The National Centre of Personalization with the Police Force General Directorate is the only body authorized to issue the passports.