Bulgaria

No, it was abolished. The National Assembly voted unanimously on 24 March 2022 (218-0) to repeal Articles 12a and 14a of the Bulgarian Citizenship Act, promulgated in State Gazette No. 26/2022 and in force from 5 April 2022. The Act also terminated pending proceedings. Bulgaria acted pre-emptively after the European Parliament's 9 March 2022 resolution against golden passports. Contrary to common belief, there was no infringement procedure against Bulgaria. The Commission's action ran against Malta instead. Anyone marketing Bulgarian citizenship by investment in 2026 is selling something that does not exist, and DANS has since re-investigated prior grantees and revoked 17 passports.

It is materially different from what most sources describe. The government bond route, the EUR 512,000 in government bonds figure still quoted everywhere, was abolished by the March 2021 amendments to the Foreigners Act, a year before the citizenship repeal. The BGN 1,000,000 threshold now survives mainly through units in an alternative investment fund or a collective investment scheme, and there is no real estate route at all. The permit requires no minimum stay to maintain, which is genuinely rare in the EU. But only about two fully compliant AIF funds reportedly operate, so the main route carries real concentration risk.

Only through ordinary naturalisation, which is the decisive fact promoters tend to bury. With the fast-track Article 14a repealed in 2022, an investor is on the ordinary track. That means five years of permanent residence, then a Bulgarian language test AND renunciation of your existing citizenship under Article 12(1)(5). For a UHNW client who will not give up their current passport, the investor route cannot deliver Bulgarian citizenship at all. It buys permanent residence in a Schengen and eurozone state with a 10% flat tax, which is a real product, just not a passport. EU/EEA nationals and spouses of Bulgarian citizens are exempt from the renunciation requirement.

Yes, and it is far better than the investor track for anyone who qualifies. Naturalisation on the basis of Bulgarian origin under Article 15 reaches back to a great-grandparent, the third degree, and waives the residence period, the language test AND the renunciation requirement. It was tightened by the March 2021 amendments after the 2018 SABA scandal, in which the head of the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad was arrested over a ring selling fake ancestry certificates. So evidence must now be official state-issued documents naming the ascendant and the relationship, not family testimony. If there is a Bulgarian great-grandparent, this, not the EUR 511,000 fund, is the conversation to have.

Bulgaria has the lowest headline combination in the EU. A 10% flat income tax unchanged since 2008, 5% dividend tax and 0% capital gains. But the 0% CGT is EU/EEA-only. It applies to shares, collective investment scheme units and government securities traded on a regulated market in Bulgaria, the EU or the EEA. Directly-held US-listed stock is taxed at 10%, so a US-heavy portfolio gets no headline benefit without restructuring into EU/EEA-listed vehicles. Bulgaria also opted for the aggressive ATAD CFC variant, attributing all CFC profits rather than just passive income, and is a full CRS participant. This is a low-rate jurisdiction, not an opaque one.

It stands as of July 2026, but it is dormant rather than dead. A draft 2026 budget proposing to double the dividend tax from 5% to 10% was withdrawn on 27 November 2025, after roughly 20,000 people protested in Sofia, and the coalition formally dropped the hike. But a new package passed its first reading on 15 July 2026, carrying a record 5.7%-of-GDP deficit, the highest in the eurozone. With a deficit that size and no finally-adopted budget, the dividend rise keeps resurfacing. Check again before year-end.

Yes to both, and it repriced the country. Bulgaria became a full Schengen member on 1 January 2025 (air and sea from 31 March 2024, land from 1 January 2025). It adopted the euro on 1 January 2026 as the 21st euro-area member, at the locked rate of 1.95583 BGN to the euro. The lev stopped being legal tender on 1 February 2026. A 10% flat tax inside both Schengen and the eurozone, with no currency risk and no border friction, is a very different proposition from the pre-2025 country most published material describes.

This route is new and already live. It was introduced by amendments in State Gazette No. 52 of 27 June 2025, and applications have been open since 22 December 2025 under Article 24k of the Foreigners Act. It requires income of at least 50x the Bulgarian monthly minimum wage, averaged over the preceding calendar year. That works out to roughly EUR 31,000 on the 2026 wage, and the figure floats as the minimum wage moves. This makes it one of the most accessible routes in the EU, roughly half Romania's threshold. But it is a hard two-year dead end, one year plus a single renewal, that expressly does not lead to permanent residence. You may not work for, or provide services to, persons in Bulgaria. Family eligibility is not clarified in any verifiable source.