1,402 Macedonian citizens received Bulgarian citizenship in 2018


2,098 people have received Bulgarian citizenship by origin since the beginning of the year, Bulgarian Deputy Chairperson Iliana Jotova said. She specified that the largest number of them, 1,402 persons are from Macedonia.
In 2017, a total of 1,436 people acquired Bulgarian citizenship.
She clarified that most people acquired Bulgarian citizenship on the basis of documents of Bulgarian origin, and the figure on other grounds, for example with naturalization, is much smaller.
She pointed out that it was not a matter of stricter rules on other grounds, but that there was no way to accept the requirements as credible of candidates for Bulgarian citizenship who do not have any document of origin.
She stressed that there are no cases of trade with citizenship.