Many countries in Europe including Bulgaria offer to foreigner investors the opportunity to participate in fast-track citizenship programs (Bulgaria citizenship by investment), let’s be clear that this program is not buying the Bulgarian citizenship, it’s obtaining the Bulgarian citizenship by investment in the country.
Why choose Bulgaria?
Bulgaria is a mid-sized Easter European country with a beautiful nature, and a wonderful coast in the black sea, a long history and delicious food, its economy offers continuing opportunities as it expands faster than the rest of Europe.
A stable education system with a high literacy rate, local universities are attractive to international students in a number of areas of study and Bulgarian qualifications are automatically recognized across Europe and beyond.
Bulgarian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 154 countries and territories, ranking the Bulgarian passport 20th in terms of travel freedom.
The program Its called fast-track because is a faster way to get Bulgarian citizenship compare to citizenship by other methods, like the EU Blue card or citizenship by Naturalization which is one of the most common and well know ways to get a citizenship in any country, Naturalization means basically if you spend a certain amount of years living legally in a country and fulfil other requisites you can apply to get the citizenship by naturalization.
In this case, The Investment Immigration opportunities in Bulgaria are regulated by Bulgarian law: The Foreigners in the Republic of Bulgaria Act, the Bulgarian Citizenship Act, and the Investment Promotion Act.
What are the differences between Bulgaria and other Citizenship by Investment Programs in Europe?
Bulgaria is not the only country offering eventual citizenship in Europe through investment. It is possible to obtain EU citizenship and a second passport through a €2,000,000 real estate investment in Cyprus and Malta through different types of investment and donation worth €1.300,000.
While Cyprus is faster than Bulgaria, the amount of investment is more important and at risk. The process for Malta is similar to Bulgaria (Permanent Residence then citizenship), but the cost to the investor is significantly lower bearing in mind that Malta includes a donation of €650,000 to the Government.
Bulgarian citizenship by investment
When you get the Bulgarian citizenship, it’s an EU passport and anywhere in the European Union, you can settle down…When you become a Bulgarian citizen, then you have all the rights of an EU citizen, you live, study, work, anywhere within the European Union.
Requirements
- Be able to invest 512,000 euro into government bonds and pay the administration fee
- Have a clear criminal record obtained in your country of residence.
- Be a person not sanctioned by the EU.
Advantages
- the lowest cost routes to the citizenship of the EU
- No staying requirement in Bulgaria
- No language, education level, and working experience requirement
- No age limits
- Dual citizenship allowed
- Most favorable tax regime in EU at 10% corporate income tax rate and 10% personal income tax rate
- Visa-free access to Schengen Agreement countries
- You and your spouse and all of your children without age limit will also obtain citizenship under one application.
Processing time
Receive permanent residency status within 9 months
Receive citizenship status within 2 years (Fast-Track)
Bulgarian Residency through bond investment step by step.
First, you become a permanent resident in 6-9 months from submission. You will have to make two trips to a Bulgarian Consulate in your home country, and two trips to Bulgaria in the process. After your file has been prepared, you will have to sign it at a Bulgarian consulate, then transfer the first investment amount of BGN 1 million (EUR 512,000). Once your investment certificate is issued, you visit the Consulate a second time to apply for a D-type visa. With the visa granted, you make your first trip to Bulgaria to submit your permanent resident application. Finally, you make your second trip to Bulgarian to obtain your permanent resident card.
After one year as a permanent resident, you can apply for fast-track citizenship by making an additional investment of BGN 1 million (EUR 512,000), either as a deposit in government bonds or by investing in a government-approved business. This second investment will also cover your spouse and children. The total time from the residency application to citizenship is under 2 years.
