Apply for Bulgarian citizenship

Hello shahparmar0,

Welcome to Expat.com

Please note that your post has been moved as it was off-topic in the previous thread.

I have created a new thread on the Bulgaria forum for better visibility.

Hopefully, someone can provide you with insights on the process of applying for Bulgarian citizenship.

Cheers,

Cheryl

Expat.com team

@shahparmar0Canadian how?

There are a few forum members with Bulgarian spouses who may be more aware of the process. My understanding is that if your wife moves back to Bulgaria, she can then apply for you to get a long-term visa and residency under family reunification. Then after five years you apply for citizenship.

I don't believe there's any process to get citizenship if you aren't intending to live in Bulgaria for a number of years, as they do have residency requirements.

I see @JimJ gave an informed and comprehensive reply on another thread about marrying a Bulgarian. So there's your answer.

Would be interested to get the answer here.

For a spouse of a Bulgarian is it 3 years (from first residence visa) to be eligible for permanent residence and then another 3 years (of holding permanent residence) before you can apply for citizenship?.

Do all the years have to be in Bulgaria or only part of the time?.

    @shahparmar0Canadian how?        -@sozopol

What do you mean Canadian how?

Is like asking How are you American?

@Zooldrool

My understanding is that Bulgaria now requires that holders of residency permits do have Bulgaria as their primary residence, so not necessarily full-time in Bulgaria but more than half the time living there.

I'm happy to be corrected if I am wrong! 

....and speaking of citizenship am I correct in finding information that said IF I apply for and take the language test, I have to forfeit my foreign citizenship (mine is USA).  I know that those marrying a Bulgarian citizen do not have to and also that those who are Bulgarian natives do not have to.

As far as I know, yes, that is the case, to get full Bulgarian citizenship one has to surrender other citizenships. It's possible to live there long term on permanent residency without ever becoming a citizen. It does mean one can't vote and doesn't have quite the same level of freedom of movement within the EU as a citizen would, but understandably even when committed to staying in Bulgaria, many wish to retain citizenship in their birth country.

EU citizens who are registered residents can vote in local elections here, but not in national ones.

@spacelizard68

Bulgaria is one of the countries that is a bit restrictive about dual citizenship.

However, the whole "dual citizenship not allowed" issue is quite a murky area. That's because no country can take away your first passport (e.g. USA)... even if they specifically and explicitly declare that giving it up is a condition of you gaining your 2nd (e.g. Bulgaria) one. Giving it up requires you to go through whatever process your home country requires for you to formally relinquish your citizenship and comply with any exit conditions (taxes, etc.).

Equally, country #2 can't demand you give up passport #1 (and show proof) before you go through your citizenship process. That's because it would leave you "stateless", even if only for a few days/few minutes.

This means (I believe), that you promise to do it... but they don't explicitly force you to do it.

However, I don't know if, in practice, they have ways of policing it... or if they check x months afterwards, and if you didn't do the relinquish step, they cancel your citizenship.

I suspect you and I, and many others, would feel extremely uncomfortable making a sworn declaration to do x... and then walking out and ignoring the oath. But whether it has real teeth, I really don't know.

Separately, as @janemulberry writes, your Permanent Residence is very nearly as good. You acquire this status after 5 years in Bulgaria, and it's quite hard to lose it once granted. PRs are issued for 10 years (on your card), but they're renewable indefinitely. Pretty much all you have to do is ask for a new one.

And it's not just a Bulgaria thing. The 5 years is the EU standard, and the EU advocates for the integration of TCNs (Third Country Nationals) when they become EU Long Term Residents. The implementation is currently a bit messy and inconsistent (hence the ongoing "recast" of the relevant Directives) but the EU states that Long Term EU residents should acquire rights broadly similar to those enjoyed by EU passport holders in terms of Freedom of Movement to live, work, study and retire anywhere in the EU (and not just the country where you became an EU LTR).

@gwynj

That sounds wonderful, but the crux of it is incorrect. 

Taking British nationality as an example: if you wish to become a Bulgarian citizen you will obtain a "Declaration of Renunciation" from HMG, which is valid for up to 6 months from the date of issue and bears an expiration date; it will automatically expire on that date if it is not used by then as part of the process of obtaining a new citizenship; it also bears the date on which your British citizenship lapses. You present the Declaration to the Bulgarian authorities as part of your application for Bulgarian citizenship.  On becoming a Bulgarian citizen, the Bulgarian authorities inform HMG that your British citizenship has lapsed.  If you request re-registration after renouncing your British citizenship, the request has to be personally considered by the Home Secretary; if you renounced your citizenship to obtain citizenship of another country, you're unlikely to be successful in your request.  If your request is granted, this decision will be conveyed to the country of your other citizenship; in the case of Bulgaria, you'll automatically and immediately lose your Bulgarian citizenship and your Bulgarian passport/ID card will be cancelled.  The chances of you getting a residence permit after this will probably be nil, although I've never heard of such a case actually occurring. Note also that while you're a Bulgarian citizen, you have no right to appeal to the UK government for any consular protection or services.  Obviously, what happens with other countries' citizens in these cases may differ, but playing fast and loose with any citizenship would be a VERY stupid thing to do.

Renouncing citizenship of one's birth country is quite a big thing to do. My personal feeling is that unless things change and one is forced to become a Bulgarian citizen to stay there (unlikely, but not completely impossible), when the time comes I'll just keep renewing my PR, rather than give up my other nationalities (Australian by birth, British through my Liverpudlian dad).

@JimJ

That's very interesting info, and thank you for the correction. I was certainly not aware that the UK did post-dated renunciations. Did you spot that the UK allows you to un-renounce if you gave it up to "keep or acquire" a 2nd citizenship? :-)

However, the poster is American, and I'm not aware that the USA has the equivalent document. Do you happen to know whether it does? It was my understanding that it works as I described, and one must go to a US embassy and formally renounce one's citizenship.

I agree with you that it's a very big step that should be carefully considered. And that's why I emphasized the PR, as I think the benefit of a passport over this is very marginal.

If you renounce  your US citizenship there is an exit tax.  A big wad of dough. Not advisable.

It is best to keep it. Bulgaria recognizes dual citizenship only if one is born in Bulgaria.

@gwynj

You can indeed apply to resume your British nationality (once) after renouncing it, and your application will be considered - with a host of attached conditions. However, in the context of the present discussion it would be a strange course of action, as you'd then lose the Bulgarian citizenship that you'd presumably renounced your UK one to acquire (EU/EEA citizens and spouses of Bulgarians can retain theirs IIRC). I suspect that both countries would take a rather dim view of such shenanigans, especially if the person concerned subsequently decided that they wanted a second bite at the cherry.

Nationality questions can be a tricky subject here: you may recall the cases where government ministers were appointed in breach of the then requirement that holders of dual nationality were required to renounce all but their Bulgarian citizenship before taking office. The culprits professed that they'd "forgotten" that they held other passports...

That law has now been changed, subject to various ongoing appeals to the Constitutional Court. Bizarrely, MPs are required to have resided in Bulgaria for the 18 months immediately preceding their election, but there is no such requirement for government ministers......"Тук е България!"

    Bulgaria recognizes dual citizenship only if one is born in Bulgaria.
   

    -@TonyFF

It's not that simple, but let's not get bogged down in the niceties of BG nationality law, especially - as is so often the case here - it's so badly drafted as to open itself to various interpretations.....

@JimJ

I don't want to be argumentative, but I'm curious how do we *know* that it works as you describe?

I can't find any of this information online that you refer to in terms of the back-and-forth communication regarding the acquisition/renunciation.

And I'm guessing you still have your UK citizenship, so it's not from personal experience.

I'm not saying it does not work as you say. Maybe it does. It just surprises me. There are many countries which have a rule against dual citizenship. Spain is another one. As I understand, there are Americans who have obtained their Spanish citizenship, and then simply decided not to go to a nearby US embassy and renounce their US citizenship. There is no back-and-forth between the countries to confirm the renunciation. If it works this way for Americans, it seems unlikely that Spain would go to greater lengths to ensure that Brits can't do what Americans do. And if Spain, a wealthy country, does it this way... I'd be mystified by why Bulgaria, a poorer one, would go to much more effort than Spain to ensure the integrity of its dual citizenship rule.

The issue of dual citizenship of politicians is a bit of red herring, I suspect. It has no bearing on the process for obtaining said dual citizenship.

Of course, none of the  foregoing goes against your main point that renouncing is a big deal, and you need to think carefully before doing it. And maybe you shouldn't do it.

@gwynj

I do indeed still have UK citizenship, but it's not the only one I hold; I keep toying with the notion of adding a Bulgarian passport to my collection, but have yet to convince myself that either of the parties would gain much from the deal.

In addition to having more than one nationality, I've dabbled in several professions in my quest for discovering what I wanted to be when I eventually grew up (in case you're wondering, the jury's still debating the verdict on both counts) but one of them involved soliciting in London, where I specialised in nationality matters and the purchase of overseas property - along with the more boring, but virtually inescapable, bread and butter stuff.  Things have certainly changed since those days, but the internet's a great place to keep up to date with the latest information on almost any topic, and the nationality rules of pretty much every country are out there for those who care to look in the right places. There's also a wealth of misinformation available, added to by AI chatbots keen to invent "facts" that might appeal to unwary seekers after the truth. 

I do try to ensure that whatever I say on a given subject is correct, but free advice is only worth what you pay for it - and my PI insurance expired many decades ago - so Caveat lector......