A total of 10,720 people were granted Bulgarian citizenship in 2015, which is close to double the number in 2014 (5,999), according to the presidential administration’s commission on citizenship’s annual report.

The largest number of naturalised were from Macedonia (4,315) which a sharp increase from the 1,874 who were granted Bulgarian citizenship in 2014. Apart from Macedonians, the rest in the top 10 were from Ukraine (1,456), Moldova (1,453), Serbia (580), Russia (551), Israel (395), Albania (331), Turkey (281), Vietnam (73) and Lebanon (45).

According to the presidential administration’s report, most of those who were granted Bulgarian citizenship got it on the grounds of having Bulgarian ancestries, 5,682 people. People who got Bulgarian citizenship on the based on the fact that one of their parents was Bulgarian or they had been adopted in the country added up to 3,627. Five people were given citizenship on the basis of a legal provision allowing for “special contributions to the development of Bulgarian sport”. Two people were given Bulgarian citizenship for “special contributions in the field of the Bulgarian economy and high-tech manufacturing”. This was a drop from the nine in 2014 and 17 in 2013.

A total of 866 regained Bulgarian citizenship. 538 people became Bulgarian citizens through naturalisation. This latter granting of citizenship requires five years of residence, ability to speak Bulgarian, having been married to a Bulgarian for at least three years or having had refugee status for at least three years.

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