Financing Govt bonds
Bulgaria has an investor program which came into force in 2009, for foreign investors who invest significant amount of money in the economy of Bulgaria.
Bulgaria offers fast track citizenship by investment scheme to foreign investors. This scheme is strictly a residence scheme for which permanent residence is issued first which then later converted to citizenship after two years.
Note: Effective from 2021, the Bulgarian state issued government bonds have been cancelled for citizenship purpose.
Under this program, minimum investment of of BGN 2 million BGN (approx EUR 1 million) which is to be invested in in a Bulgaria bonds or in a business venture. The govt bonds portfolio is a secure investment and is guaranteed by the Bulgarian govt and is returned without any interest after 5 years. In return a permanent residence permit is issued to investors which allows stay in Bulgaria for an indefinite period of time.
After one year of legally living in Bulgaria, it is possible to register for citizenship through investment. In 2018 Bulgaria has amended and tightened citizenship rules (see below)
The program exempts investors from physical residence and is free to leave the country anytime. The whole processing time is 2-3 months.
The investor has to demonstrate that he/she has made a significant contribution to Bulgaria such as business activities creating jobs, sports, culture or bringing new science and technology to the country. Bulgaria allows dual nationality
The minimum eligibility criteria and documents needed are..
The Ministry of Justice of Bulgaria has announced new changes for obtaining Bulgarian citizenship through investment. The new changes effective from Jan 1, 2019. Bulgaria’s citizenship by investment programme was introduced with amended rules in late 2013.
In 2019, the Bulgarian passport ranked 16th powerful passport in the world with visa free travel to 169 countries. In 2017, Bulgaria along with Romania received electronic visa waiver with Canada. Bulgaria is not a part of US visa waiver program (VWP).