Bulgaria granted fast track citizenships to 29 investors in 2018 in exchange for investment according to the presidential decree published by Bulgarian citizenship commission.
Between the period Jan 1 to Dec 31 2018 , the Bulgarian citizenship has been granted permission for this reason permanent residence on the territory of the country before no less than one year since:
-  Made an investment of over BGN 1 000 000 in bonds and bonds treasury bills, as well as derivatives derived from them, issued by the State or municipalities with a residual maturity of not less than 6 months or
-  Have invested more than BGN 1 000 000 in a licensed credit institution in Bulgaria under a trust contract with a term of at least 5 years, and for the same period the deposit is not used to secure others cash loans from a credit institution in Bulgaria and Bulgaria
- Have increased their investment under the same terms of the law as value of at least BGN 2 million (Article 14a (1) (1) of the Law on Banks)
In 2017, a small number of 12 investors also received fast track citizenship by investment. There is a possibility of investors receiving citizenship through ordinary naturalization (after living five years). There is no specific data available specific for investors in terms of ordinary naturalization
| Bulgarian citizenship | 2017 | 2018 |
| Fast track citizenship for investment | 12 | 29 |
| Ordinary naturalization | 307 | 307 |
| Special interest or merits | 12 (8 sports, 2 culture, 1 science, 1 public sphere) | 16 (11 sports, 4 cultural) |
This goes on to show, despite low numbers, Bulgarian citizenship by investment program is still alive and running despite concerns of closing the scheme.
Bulgaria issued citizenship grants to a total of 9 159Â persons in 2018 and majority of those come from
- Republic of Macedonia 3619
- Ukraine 1422
- Republic of Moldova 663
- The State of Israel 654
- Republic of Serbia 491
- Republic of Albania 472
- Republic of Turkey 444
- Russian Federation 290
- Republic of Armenia 44
- Socialist Republic of Vietnam 38
- Republic of Iraq 32
- Syrian Arab Republic 23
- Lebanese Republic 19
Bulgaria also issued a total of 407 golden visas between 2012 and 2017 for economic investment
Citizenship by Investment
There are two investors’ citizenship schemes in Bulgaria:
- Ordinary investors citizenship scheme (Article 12a BCA) and
- Fast-track investors citizenship scheme (Article 14a BCA).
While the former entails obtaining citizenship by virtue of waiving some of the naturalisation conditions in exchange of an economic disbursement but still requiring the investor to hold a permanent residence permit issued at least 5 years ago, in the latter, the length of residence is reduced to one year if the investment requirement (to increase the investment) has been fulfilled.
To apply for Bulgarian citizenship, either through the ordinary or fast-track investors’ citizenship scheme, the foreign investor has to carry out an investment which is regulated in Article 25, paragraph 1, items 6, 7, 8, 13 and 16 of the FNA. The types of investment and their minimum financial threshold are shown in 1 below. It should be noted that under the fast-track scheme only the investment under items 6, 7 and 13 with the corresponding increase are eligible.
There is no limitation on the number of admissions to citizenship by investment in Bulgaria.
Table 1 Types of investment to obtain citizenship
|
Investment |
Type of scheme |
|
|
Type of investment |
Ordinary |
Fast-track |
|
Art. 25(1) item 6 FNA: Investment in shares, OR bonds and treasury bills, OR, ownership of company owned in more 50% by State/municipality under the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Act, OR units or shares owned by State/municipality under the Privatization and Post-Privatization Control Act, OR Bulgarian intellectual property OR acquisition of rights under concession contracts |
EUR 500,000 |
Increase to EUR 1 million OR invested in the capital of a Bulgarian commercial company no less than EUR 500,000 for a priority investment project |
|
Art. 25(1) item 7 FNA: Investment in a licensed credit institution under trustee agreement |
EUR 500,000 |
|
|
Art. 25(1) item 8 FNA: Investment in the capital of a Bulgarian trading company |
EUR 3 million |
N/A |
|
Art. 25(1) item 13 FNA: Bulgarian commercial company awarded Class A, B1 or priority investment project |
Depends on type of company |
Have maintained, for at least one year since receipt of permanent residence permit on grounds of such investment, investments made and put into operation at above the minimum threshold for issuance of a Class A investment certificate under the Investments Promotion Act |
|
Art. 25(1) item 16 FNA: Bulgarian commercial company owned in no less 50% by investor |
EUR 250,000 |
N/A |
Golden Visa
There are two types of residence permits for third-country nationals in Bulgaria to obtain via investors’ schemes depending on the investment they make:
-
Article 24 FNA: Extended residence permit – with a term of validity of up to one year
-
Article 25 FNA: Permanent residence permit – for an indefinite period of time,
Table 2 Types of investment to obtain an extended residence permit
| Extended residence permit (Art. 24, par. 1 FNA) | Type of investment | Amount of the investment |
| Item 19: the investor makes the investment:
a) directly; or b) through a company in which s/he owns more than 50% of the capital |
Investment in real estate | EUR 300,000
|
| Item 20: the investor is a partner or shareholder and owns 50% of the company’s capital | Investment in a company that operates in economically disadvantaged region2 in which at least five job positions for Bulgarian citizens have been created and will be maintained for the duration of the intended stay (6 to 12 months). | EUR 125, 000 (acquisition of tangible and intangible assets) |
Apart from the investment requirement, the investor must be physically in Bulgaria when applying for the appropriate residence permit.
Bulgaria Golden Visa Statistics
Table –Â Number of successful applications for extended residence (Article 24(1)(19 and 20) and permanent residence (Article 25(1), 6, 7, ,8, 13 and 16) and the income generated (2012 – 2017)
|
Art. 24(1)19 |
Art. 24(1)20 |
Art. 25(1)6 |
Art. 25(1)7 |
Art. 25(1)8 |
Art. 25(1)13 |
Art. 25(1)16 |
|
|
2012 |
0 |
0 |
18 |
31 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
|
2013 |
0 |
1 |
31 |
15 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
|
2014 |
1 |
0 |
37 |
4 |
0 |
9 |
3 |
|
2015 |
3 |
0 |
23 |
8 |
1 |
4 |
6 |
|
2016 |
5 |
0 |
58 |
4 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
|
2017 |
11 |
1 |
55 |
1 |
0 |
13 |
7 |
|
TOTAL |
20 |
2 |
222 |
63 |
3 |
34 |
19 |
|
Total income |
EUR 6 million |
EUR 250 000 |
EUR 111 million |
EUR 31,5 million |
EUR 9 million |
*no minimum amount |
EUR 4,75 million |
Source: EU commission report
The EU report further said Bulgarian investors’ residence and citizenship schemes have been criticised for being slow and with a lot of administrative burden, and Bulgarian authorities are working towards making them more efficient – recently amendments to the BCA
The Ministry of Justice of Bulgaria in 2019 proposed simplification of citizenship matters and also tightening the citizenship regulations with the changes such as
- Implementing quality control over institutions responsible for providing Bulgarian citizenship in order to comply with legal procedures and deadlines;
- Abolishing the requirement to submit certain official documentary evidence in paper form;
- Simplifying procedures and improving the efficiency of the processes of giving Bulgarian citizenship.
Bulgaria last month announced plans for closing the citizenship and golden visa scheme due to low volume of applications and economic objective not received.
The Ministry of Justice further said objective of increasing the attracting real foreign investments and economic development has not been achieved through investor residence and citizenship scheme. As a result, new job creation and economic growth have not been achieved.
A working group was formed by order of the Minister of Justice Tsetska Tsacheva on 15 February 2018. And the Commissioner for Justice, Defense and Justice Consumers and Gender Equality Vera Yourova.
