To a dear friend

During the years, I have dealt with hundreds, probably even thousands of clients from around the world. Whether for a business project or to help them with their immigration and citizenship needs, the interaction with them has almost always been a pleasure for me. Many of these clients have become my friends, some even very good ones. With many of them I have been travelling the world around, for both business and fun, many years after we have met for first time.

But it is very, very rare when I have met someone to touch me in a way so I am sitting in the middle of the night thinking about his, in this case about her, citizenship interview later in the day.

A special lady’s Bulgarian citizenship interview today

Today, the fifth day of February 2021, a very special lady will have her Bulgarian citizenship interview in Sofia. A Bulgarian official will be talking to her in order to find out whether she should be granted Bulgarian citizenship or not. Not that this interview will have any impact on her application, as she has otherwise fulfilled all legal formalities, but undergoing a citizenship interview is always a thrill. Probably for first time ever I feel sorry that this interview is such a lame formality. And no, not because the lady is of deep Bulgarian origin. Neither her great-grandfather is Bulgarian king nor is her grandmother a friend of Raina princess.

A privilege for Bulgaria

Its just that I sincerely believe that it should be a privilege for my country to have such a person as a citizen. I believe it should be any country’s privilege to have as citizen a person with the personality of this special, very special woman. Because the power of her positivity can move mountains. Because if friendliness could speak, the deaf would hear her song.

The rough route to citizenship

The citizenship application took probably about two years in her particular case. And with the last year in the claws of the covid, things were not always easy and super smooth. Many small hurdles made me and my colleagues mad. The bureaucracy was striking full speed and we had moments when we had to communicate all these difficulties with her as we needed her support.

But nothing was too bad for her. Not that she didn’t worry, she certainly did. I even think she is the one of the worrying type. But despite that, she was just always ultra positive, full of energy and always friendly. After her usual “OMG” (which I really love now), she was always again in the mood and ready to help.

In fact, in times I was intentionally leaving my younger colleagues to communicate with her, because she was cheering them up. They were learning, they were seeing what a “good person” should be like. And when they were coming back to me to let me know how things are going, they were always kind of reloaded and optimistic too.

A privilege for me personally

At the end of the day, I am not writing this article for her. Rather, I am writing it, because of her. And I feel privileged to know her and to have her as a friend.

Good luck with the Bulgarian citizenship interview later today

I wish a good friend a lot of luck with her citizenship interview later today. It may be a formality, but it is the first step of the last stage into becoming Bulgarian. And I hope we will all welcome one very special woman as Bulgarian citizen very soon. And I want her to know that even though the difficult covid situation now hinders me from meeting her personally, I will be always overseeing her case and will support her through all (final) stages, no matter what. And once the skies are clear of covid again, we will have much more time to enjoy life.

Thank you for being such a wonderful person!

Alexander Dobrinov