The documents for Bulgarian citizenship by origin application

Bulgarian origin is proven mainly by means of documentation

One of the most frequently asked question by our clients is:

Are my documents, proving my Bulgarian origin, sufficient? Will I be required to present more documents during the application?

frequent question from our clients

To answer this question, we will go to the roots of the problem with many of the Bulgarian origin supporting documents.

New wave of scammers in 2022

Bulgarian citizenship by origin is the hot-ticket in recent years. Many foreigners from Bulgarian origin have successfully obtained Bulgarian citizenship through this route. Unfortunately, many more have failed with their application. And frankly speaking, the vast majority of the failed applications were rejected purely, because the applicant had… no Bulgarian origin.

But why would someone who has nothing to do with Bulgaria be applying for citizenship by origin, you will ask? The reason is that there are countless fake “agents” on the internet. And they “push” these applications forward by doing two illegal things:

• Lure (very aggressively) clients by promising them that they will arrange them Bulgarian origin;
• Produce fake documents to justify the money received. These documents are most often fake birth certificate, stating Bulgarian origin of the applicant or of his ancestor (father, grand father, etc.).

The thing is that the more the scammers with fake documents are storming the Bulgarian authorities, the more the contra measures are. And no surprise that there are more and more criminal investigations under art. 308, 309, 313, etc. of the Bulgarian penal code.

The state protects itself from fake applications to combat Bulgarian citizenship scammers

The other contra measure is the legislative text in the Bulgarian citizenship law, voted by the Parliament in 2021. We are proud that we were among those who played major role for the adoption of this policy.

When it is necessary to clarify facts and circumstances regarding the documents submitted with the application under Art. 15 (2), the Minister of Justice may require the applicant to submit additional documents within 14 days of being notified. The Minister can also instruct the Advisory Council at the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad to establish whether the petitioner has Bulgarian origin.

Art. 29 (4) of the Bulgarian Citizenship Law, redacted. Art. 15 (2) refers to the application for Bulgarian citizenship by origin.

In other words, the Bulgarian authorities now have the legal instruments to double-check the legitimacy of the presented documents and to require additional paperwork.

What does it all mean for the applicant?

In a nutshell this means that the client may be asked to present additional documents at any time. The future is never certain, but there are certain things that indicate whether more documents will be required or not. The more “YES” answers to the questions below, the less the chance that you will need to present additional documentation.

• Have you received more than 65 points TOTAL SCORE from our Feasibility appraisal report?
• Is your DOCUMENTS score of the Feasibility appraisal report more than 5?
• Do you have more than one document showing your Bulgarian origin?
• Are you coming from a country that has good diplomatic relations with Bulgaria?
• Is your country well known for having Bulgarian minority (ie Macedonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Turkey)?

What now?

As we stated above, after 2021 it is possible that at any stage, you may be required to present more documents. Still, if that is something that may stop you from applying for citizenship by origin, then you will never get Bulgarian citizenship. The naturalization procedure becomes more difficult by the day. The sooner you apply, the greater your chances. If you are confident that your documents are genuine, have no fear and apply now. If you have doubts that your documents may not be genuine, then do yourself a favor and forget about applying for Bulgarian citizenship. You will save yourself not only the frustration of your application being rejected, but also potential criminal sentence.