Bulgarian citizenship for those who lived in Bulgaria a long, long time ago
Is it possible for a foreigner, who has previously had permanent residence permit in Bulgaria, to obtain Bulgarian citizenship? The foreigner’s residence permit, which he previously held, has been revoked long ago. So is it possible for this foreigner to obtain Bulgarian citizenship, based on his long ago expired (cancelled) permanent residence permit? And what if the foreigner is still (or again) living in Bulgaria, but this time illegally, without any residence permit. Let’s dive in the legislation and see what the options are.
How to get Bulgarian passport – the power of the permanent residence permit, even the cancelled one
The above scenario seems hopeless. Imagine that the foreigner had a Bulgarian permanent residence permit 20 years ago, which was only valid for a few months. It was then revoked and since then the foreigner does not have any legal Bulgarian documents. And worst of all, he may be even illegally living in Bulgaria now. And we are suddenly considering his chances to obtain Bulgarian citizenship? Doesn’t that sound too optimistic, to put it mildly…
The “flaws” of the Bulgarian citizenship law – used to your advantage
Let’s see what article 12 of the Bulgarian citizenship law is saying about the conditions for general naturalisation:
Art. 12. A person who is not a Bulgarian citizen may obtain Bulgarian citizenship if, on the date of submission of the application for naturalisation:
- is an adult;
- has obtained a permanent or prolonged-term residence permit in the Republic of Bulgaria not less than 5 years ago;
- has not been convicted of a general intentional offence by a Bulgarian court and no criminal proceedings have been instituted against him for such an offence, unless he has been rehabilitated;
- has an income or occupation which enables him to support himself in the Republic of Bulgaria;
- is proficient in the Bulgarian language, which shall be established in accordance with a procedure established by an ordinance of the Minister of Education and Science, and
- is released from his/her previous citizenship or will be released from it at the time of acquiring Bulgarian citizenship.
Above are the most general conditions for obtaining Bulgarian citizenship through standard naturalisation. Many of the conditions can be forfeited, ie the release of previous citizenship. We will be not discussing these options today though. We will be focusing on the most important – the condition of p.2 (in bold), namely the permanent residence requirement.
Art. 12, par. 1, p. 2 of the Bulgarian citizenship law
The wording of the law is that the citizenship candidate should have obtained permanent residence in Bulgaria not less than 5 years ago. It doesn’t mean that the permanent residence must be valid at the moment. Neither that the residence permit should have been valid for 5 years, let alone consecutive years. The only legal condition is that the date on which the permanent residence permit has been granted should be at least 5 years back in time. What has happened after the permanent residence permit has been granted seems to be irrelevant.
So theoretically, if a foreigner lived in Bulgaria for 3 months in 1950 with a permanent residence permit that was revoked in 1951, he should meet the requirements of Art. 12, par. 1, p. 3 of the Bulgarian citizenship law. Sounds crazy, right? Let’s dive even deeper in the legislation to see if we are not missing something.
The Bulgarian citizenship ordinance
The Bulgarian citizenship ordinance is a regulatory act that supplements the citizenship Law. Please note that if there are discrepancies between the ordinance and the law, then these particular rulings of the ordinance should not be applied. This is so, because they contradict with a Law of a higher rank.
Article 4 of the citizenship ordinance
So what is the citizenship ordinance stipulating with regard to the standard naturalisation. According to art. 4 of the citizenship ordinance, the applicant must submit the following documents in order to obtain Bulgarian citizenship by standard naturalisation.
- a copy of the birth certificate or a duplicate birth certificate issued by the relevant Bulgarian or foreign competent authority;
- a criminal record certificate from the country of which the applicant is a national. If he is a permanent or long-term resident of Bulgaria or of a third country, he shall also produce a criminal record certificate from the local competent authorities. The criminal record certificate shall state that it is issued for the purposes of Bulgarian citizenship proceedings;
- a document from the public prosecutor’s office stating that no criminal proceedings have been initiated against the applicant for an intentional offence of a general nature, if the person is a permanent or long-term resident of the Republic of Bulgaria;
- a certificate from the employer that the person works under an employment or service relationship, or from the relevant tax office for declared income for the previous year;
- proof of Bulgarian language proficiency;
- a medical document certifying that the person does not suffer from certain diseases;
- declarations in accordance with Annexes 4 and 4a;
- a recent passport-size photograph;
- a photocopy of the applicant’s identity document;
- proof of payment of the state fee;
- a document from the relevant foreign authorities to the effect that the applicant has renounced his/her former citizenship; if no such document is available, it shall be submitted within three years of receipt of the notification that the Citizenship Council of the Ministry of Justice has approved the applicant for granting Bulgarian citizenship.
The criminal conviction flaw
The first “flaw” in the ordinance is the requirement in p.2, requiring a foreign criminal record certificate from a foreign country, if the applicant is residing in such. This contradicts the citizenship law, which requires only that the applicant is not sentenced by Bulgarian court (art. 12, par. 1, p.3). So why would the applicant be submitting foreign criminal record if by the law, this is not a requirement for the naturalisation. But again, this is only as a side note, as this is not the subject of this article. You can read more about this issue in our article unclean criminal record and Bulgarian citizenship.
No permanent residence requirement in art. 4 of the citizenship ordinance
What we are focusing on is the permanent residence requirement. It is obvious that in art. 4 of the ordinance there is no requirement far any proof or permanent residence. So let’s see further in the ordinance, what does it say about the most fundamental requirements for the standard naturalisation route.
Article 13a of the citizenship ordinance
The Bulgarian Citizenship Directorate carries out an official check on the existence of a permanent or long-term residence permit in Bulgaria, respectively the date of the residence permit and the legal basis.
This is foreseen in article 13a of the citizenship ordinance. Reading carefully the wording in Bulgarian, as well as in English, it appears that the authorities are somehow “expecting” from the applicant to be in possession of permanent residence permit. However, the wording is unclear and most importantly, this is not a requirement of the law.
Conclusion
By all logic, a foreigner must be in possession of a valid permanent residence permit in order to apply for Bulgarian citizenship by standard naturalisation. The definition in the Bulgarian citizenship law however is quite clear – the only condition is that the permanent residence permit has been obtained at least 5 years prior to the submission of the citizenship application. No requirement for the current validity of the residence permit exists. The citizenship ordinance however is in a way suggesting that the permanent residence permit should be still valid. The text however is unclear and even if it wasn’t, it would be contradicting the law, where no such requirement exists.
All in all, the law is formal and should be applied as such. It means that as per the current Bulgarian citizenship law, foreigners with old expired (or cancelled) permanent residence permits should be able to obtain Bulgarian citizenship. Speaking from experience however, the reality may differ from the legal definitions. If you are in a similar situation, you can contact us at your earliest convenience for professional assistance.