2953 Foreigners Granted Bulgarian Citizenship Since Start of 2015

A total of 2953 foreign citizens were granted Bulgarian citizenship in the first five months of the year.

Traditionally, the largest number of Bulgarian passports were granted to Macedonian citizens, daily Sega reports.

Since the beginning of the year, 1174 Macedonians have been granted Bulgarian identity documents on the basis of their Bulgarian origin.

In the same period, 517 Ukrainian and 435 Moldovan citizens were granted Bulgarian identity documents.

All holders of Bulgarian citizenship have the right to travel in the member states of the EU without having to be issued with a visa.

The Council on Bulgarian citizenship to the Justice Ministry notes that the trend for decrease in the number of Bulgarian passports issued to foreigners is sustained.

In 2014, 5429 foreigners were granted Bulgarian citizenship, their number was 7954 in 2013, while the figure stood at 17 329 in 2012.

The peak was in 2011, when 18 473 foreign citizens were issued with Bulgarian identity documents.