A total of 98 foreigners have received Bulgarian citizenship for investments in the country, according to the new public information request by Euractiv. The most popular investments for Bulgaria CIP are government securities and bank deposits, it was revealed.
The Bulgaria citizenship by investment program is active and running and the government has committed to preserve this program alive to attract investment into the country, during covid pandemic. According to EC spring report, the investment is projected to fall sharply in 2020 and to recover partially in 2021. Bulgaria’s real GDP is projected to contract by over 7% in 2020 due to Covid measures.
Bulgaria grants citizenship after 2 years for 1 million euro invested in government bonds or bank deposits. In case of buying securities, the half a million euro invested for first year and another half a million for the second year.
In 2019, Bulgaria government proposed a draft to suspend the scheme for investments but it was not approved into a law. Bulgaria is very strict with requirements for investors to maintain their investments for 2 years. A number of investors have been revoked citizenships in the past for not maintaing investments
According to the data received by Euractiv, 78 out of these 98 foreigners have bought government securities, received Bulgarian citizenship. 6 investors have deposited money in the banks.
With Cyprus closing doors for investors, Malta and Bulgaria are the only two countries in the European Union that have official CBI programs.
The official website of Ministry of Justice is available here
The factual analysis of Bulgarian investor citizenship program published by the European commission is available here
