Bulgaria Minister: Most Citizenship Requests from Macedonia, Moldova

The latest figures were announced today by Bozhidar Dimitrov, Minister without portfolio responsible for Bulgarians abroad, Novinite reports.

Dimitrov said that the majority of the approved applications came from people from Macedonia and Moldova (over 4,000). About 1,000 of those who obtained citizenship over the past year came from Serbia, Ukraine and Israel.

“Recently, there’s also been an increase in the number of candidates from Armenia, the USA and Great Britain,” said Dimitrov. “The most exotic application we’ve received so far is from the Republic of Guinea.”

The ability to travel freely throughout the European Union without a passport is not believed to be what is driving the boost in applications for Bulgarian citizenship, he said.

“We have many US applicants who have asked to be granted Bulgarian citizenship because they’re married to Bulgarians and their spouse has insisted on it. UK-born permanent Bulgarian residents also number 7,000,” Dimitrov said.

Dimitrov has already introduced amendments to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act in parliament, claiming
”it is natural to give citizenship to those who wish to participate in the life of the country.”

Amendments to the Act include granting citizenship within three months to applicants who received a bachelor’s degree in Bulgaria. In addition, individuals who lost citizenship due to historic events that changed the country’s borders would have their citizenship reinstated within six months.

Also, under the new Act the Agency for Bulgarians Abroad will be the sole provider of certificates of Bulgarian origin as a counter action to the number of fake documents in circulation.

249 of the 250 applications for certificates of Bulgarian origin coming from Moldova were not legitimate, said Dimitrov. He said that those applicants had gone through sketchy business channels and become victims of fraud during their application process. He added, however, that the numbers did not mean that the applicants are not Bulgarians.

According to Dimitrov, in the past 20 years more than 75,000 foreigners have been granted Bulgarian citizenship.