Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2025 All Rights Reserved

Interest of foreign citizens in Bulgarian passports is growing

Photo: library

The number of applications for obtaining Bulgarian citizenship has doubled for 3 years, according to data by the Ministry of Justice. In 2020, there were 11,447 applications, in 2021 - 20,094, in 2022 – 20,825. Until November 24, 2023, a total of 23,439 applications were submitted.

There is also a drastic rise in the number of citizens of Turkey who want Bulgarian passports. For 3 years, their number has grown nearly 10 tenfold. In 2020, 660 Turks applied for citizenship. In 2023, their number already reached 5,935.

Many naturalization applicants file forged or false documents, the Ministry of Justice reports. This leads to great delays in processing, as the Citizenship Council assigns additional checks taking about 8-9 months, BGNES reports.



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Vice President Iotova

Bulgaria not invited to Paris for the European forum on Ukraine

A surprising meeting, personally I think it should take place with all leaders within the EU and the UK. This was commented to BTA by Vice President Iliana Iotova on the occasion of the meeting of European leaders on Ukraine convened by French..

published on 2/17/25 9:05 AM
Temenuzhka Petkova

Finance Minister to present Bulgaria's euro area readiness in Brussels

Bulgarian Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova will travel to Brussels to provide an update on Bulgaria’s progress towards euro area accession. The Finance Ministry has confirmed that Minister Petkova will participate in the Eurogroup meeting on 17..

published on 2/17/25 7:40 AM

Snow, rain and freezing temperatures

Minimum temperatures on Monday will be between minus 4 and 1°C. In Sofia it will be around minus 3°C. The mercury will hover between -3 and 0 °C in the north. Maximum temperatures in southern Bulgaria will be between 2 and 7°C. In the capital it will..

published on 2/16/25 7:05 PM