A double increase in applications for obtaining Bulgarian citizenship in the last three years, reported BGNES, referring to data from the Ministry of Justice.
Thus, according to Art. 29, para. 1 of the Law on Bulgarian Citizenship for the acquisition of Bulgarian citizenship in the period from the beginning of January to November 24 of this year. 75,805 applications were submitted.
A reference by the ministry on the new files for changing citizenship in the period from January 2020 to the end of November this year, indicates a double growth of applications for citizenship: in 2020 they totaled 11,447, in 2021 - 20,094 units, in 2022 20,825, and in this year – 23,439 in total.
The largest number of applications for obtaining Bulgarian citizenship come from citizens of the Republic of Macedonia. In the pandemic covid year 2020, they were 2551, in 2021 – 3428, in 2022 2051 Macedonians asked to become Bulgarians, and in 2023 – 2990.
Citizens of Ukraine logically rank second in terms of influx for Bulgarian citizenship, with their number doubling in two years, right after the war with Russia. Thus, in 2020, 1,886 Ukrainians are seeking Bulgarian citizenship, in 2021 – 3,133, in 2022 – 4,508, and in 2023 – 3,141.
A drastic increase is also noticed by the citizens of the Republic of Turkey who want to become Bulgarian citizens, and in three years their number has jumped nearly tenfold. In 2020, 660 citizens of our southeastern neighbor applied for citizenship in our country, and in 2023 their number increased to 5,935 people.
Citizens of Moldova, Albania and Serbia, where there are Bulgarian minorities, also show constant interest in acquiring Bulgarian citizenship, and in three years the number of Moldovans has decreased - from 2,068 in 2020 to 1,518 in 2023; of Albanians has doubled – from 1,022 in 2020 to 2,992 in 2023; and of Serbs – from 800 in 2020 to 1151 this year.
The growth of citizens of the Russian Federation who want to become Bulgarian citizens is also obvious - from 279 in 2020 to 2,261 people this year.
Bulgaria has proved attractive to 361 people from Israel this year, with traditionally between 200 and 300 Israelis annually applying for Bulgarian citizenship.
Many applicants for Bulgarian citizenship by naturalization submit forged and frankly false documents, reports the Ministry of Justice. This leads to the biggest delay in deciding the files for Bulgarian citizenship, as the Citizenship Council assigns a number of additional checks on the files of applicants based on Bulgarian origin, in order to prevent the naturalization of foreigners with forged or false documents. The period in which the document checks are carried out is about 8-9 months, as it is related to sending requests for checks through the consular services of the Bulgarian diplomatic missions abroad to the relevant foreign authorities, as well as to the NIK-MIA.
The ministry still remembers a case in which a person who used forged documents of Bulgarian origin and obtained Bulgarian citizenship by naturalization, appealed the fact that the Minister of Justice did not issue a ruling on his citizenship in a timely manner. The fraud was turned over to the prosecutor's office, and the naturalization citizenship granted was revoked by the court.
The applications considered by the Citizenship Council at the Ministry of Justice have also seen a double increase: in 2021 they were 10,889, in 2022 – 13,004, and this year – 23,3066. /BGNES
