Are foreign investors being chased out of Bulgaria on purpose?
To recap briefly. In 2021, with unprecedented Euro-Atlantic enthusiasm, Bulgaria amended its investment citizenship programme, and in 2022 it ended it completely. Investment citizenship was denounced as being against our values, and foreigners who had invested millions in Bulgaria were deceived. As a small consolation to some of the defrauded investors, our members of parliament provided a special provision in the Bulgarian citizenship law, namely:
A person who, prior to the entry into force of this Law, has obtained a permanent residence permit in the Republic of Bulgaria on the basis of Art. 25, par. 1, p. 6 and 7 of the Law on Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria in accordance with the provisions of the law in force at the time of the application, shall be entitled to apply for acquisition of Bulgarian citizenship if he meets the conditions under Art. 12, par. 1, p. 1, 2, 3 and 4 and provided that the investment made by him has been maintained for a period of not less than 5 years.
§ 14. (1) from the Transitional and Final Provisions to the Law on the Amendment and Supplementation of the Law on the Bulgarian Citizenship (Official Gazette – SG 21 OF 2021)
Landmark Opinion of the Advocate General of the CJEU
Recently, however, the Advocate General of the CJEU published an official opinion on the EC v Malta case. In short, the Advocate General of the CJEU is of the opinion that citizenship for investment is not contrary to EU principles and law. If this opinion is confirmed in the CJEU’s judgment in the Malta case, what the politicians who so confidently slammed Bulgarian citizenship for investment will have to say…
In short, the lawmakers allowed the deceived investors to get Bulgarian citizenship without passing a Bulgarian language exam and without renouncing their previous citizenship. Unfortunately, this parliamentary decision did not seem to please the Ministry of Justice.
ORDINANCE NO 1 OF 19 FEBRUARY 1999 ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF CHAPTER FIVE OF THE LAW ON BULGARIAN CITIZENSHIP
This is the ordinance that regulates the procedures related to Bulgarian citizenship, including its acquisition. The Ordinance is issued by the Minister of Justice and Legal Eurointegration, and the provisions of the Ordinance must be fully compliant with the Citizenship Law. Accordingly, following the Parliament’s decision, as enshrined in § 14. (1) of the law, the Ministry of Justice had to provide for a procedure in the Ordinance whereby the defrauded investors could still obtain Bulgarian citizenship under a preferential regime.
Changes in Regulation No. 1 after the creation of § 14. (1) in the Bulgarian Citizenship Law (SG No. 21 OF 2021)
The analysis of the changes in the texts of the Ordinance shows that those adopted after SG No. 21 of 2021 were published in SG No. 50 of 15 June 2021, SG No. 57 of 9 July 2021 and SG No. 10 of 4 February 2022.
The only provision that is relevant to § 14 (1) of the Bulgarian Citizenship Law is promulgated in SG No. 10 of February 4, 2022:
The certifying documents for the investments and the accompanying documents and statements that served as the basis for their issuance, which are submitted in the proceedings for acquisition of citizenship on the basis of § 14 of the Transitional and Final Provisions to the Act on Amendments and Supplements to the Bulgarian Citizenship Law ( SG 21 of 2021), shall meet the requirements of Article 4a, paragraph 2.
§ 2c. of Regulation 1 for the implementation of Chapter Five of the Citizenship Law
In other words, this is a technical rule that sets out the requirements for the documents to be submitted under the special provision. Nothing more. The Ordinance does not lay down any special rules for applying for Bulgarian citizenship under § 14 of the Citizenship Law.
Applying as for general naturalisation under Article 12 of the Bulgarian Citizenship Law
Since the Ordinance does not provide for a specific procedure for applying under § 14 of the Citizenship Law, the foreigner should apply under the general procedure under Article 12 of the law, invoking the benefits provided for in § 14 of the law. This is exactly what our client has done by applying under Art. 12 par. 1, p. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the Citizenship Law. That is, in his application for Bulgarian citizenship, our client quite correctly stated the basis on which he was applying for citizenship, in accordance with the benefits of § 14 of the law.
But, as you may have already guessed, the Bulgarian authorities have their own interpretation of the law. Our client received instructions for “identified irregularities”, the main one being:
No document has been submitted for the knowledge of Bulgarian language, as required by Art. 12, par. 1, p. 5 of the Citizenship Law, in conjunction with Art. 4. par. 1, p. 6 of Regulation No 1. In accordance with the requirement of Art. 12 par. 1, p. 5 of the Bulgarian Citizenship Law, proficiency in the Bulgarian language is established in accordance with the procedure laid down in Ordinance No 5 of 03.09.1999 of the Minister of Education and Science.
What knowledge of the Bulgarian language? What Art. 12, par. 1, p. 5 of the law? The client, a foreign investor, who has invested millions in the Bulgarian economy, applies under the special provisions of § 14 of the law in conjunction with Art. 12, which exclude the requirement of Bulgarian language knowledge.
The fight goes on
What can we do in this case? To fight by all legal means. And hope that one day the Bulgarian authorities will read the laws and apply them correctly. In fact, it is possible that we may be wrong in this case, but that will ultimately be decided by the Bulgarian courts, in another case that we will obviously have to file.