Similar to Hungary, now Bulgaria offers simplified naturalization to everyone who can prove that their parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were Bulgarian citizens. In turn, Bulgarian citizenship lets you live and work anywhere in the EU, and grants you visa-free access to more than 170 countries around the world.
Citizenship by ancestry means that if one or more of your ancestors were citizens of a given country, you automatically become eligible to citizenship. You just have to prove your relation to your ancestors, and submit an application that complies with a few requirements.
Thanks to the latest modification to the Bulgarian Citizenship Act (Section 15), now you are eligible for Bulgarian citizenship already if at least one of your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents were citizens or Bulgaria. Moreover, you are also eligible if you were adopted, but one of your parents is / was a citizen.
The greatest benefit of the new law is that you are no longer required to get a certificate of Bulgarian origin from the Agency from Bulgarians Abroad, which usually took 2-3 months. Once you have your documents that prove your relation to your ancestors as well as their Bulgarian citizenship (most commonly birth and marriage certificates), you can go to the authorities directly. The application procedure itself takes 12-24 month, but this time is still significantly less than what you have to spend as a resident of Bulgaria before you can apply for citizenship.
Once you are a citizen, your children become eligible too. However, your spouse will not become eligible automatically – they may become a citizen based on the time spent as a resident of Bulgaria.
While Helpers Hungary has the most expertise in immigration to Hungary (including applying for Hungarian citizenship based on ancestry), our international partners also excel in taking care of immigration related tasks in other countries, including Bulgaria.
We would be happy to help you take the first steps towards acquiring Bulgarian citizenship, and accompany you right till the end of your citizenship journey. Fill in the form below to contact us!
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