Updated October 8, 2026

BG-CBD

Citizenship by descent

Bulgarian citizenship by descent

We help descendants of Bulgarians confirm their right to Bulgarian citizenship - we rebuild the family line from the archives, prepare the application and see the case through to the Bulgarian passport.

Get a preliminary assessment

We check the ground before the contract
We handle the archives and translations
We support you through to the passport

An EU passportBulgaria is a member of the European Union and the Schengen Area

No relocationLiving in Bulgaria is not a requirement

Residence in parallelResident status can be arranged while the citizenship application is under review

01 / The mechanism

What this programme is

Bulgaria grants citizenship to descendants of Bulgarians under a simplified procedure. The right comes from a Bulgarian ancestor in the direct ascending line - a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent. Residence in the country, income and a language examination are not required.

EU citizenship by descent

Bulgaria closed its citizenship-by-investment programme in 2022. For families with a Bulgarian line, the ground that remains is descent: the status is granted for proven kinship with a Bulgarian ancestor.

No relocation, income or examinations

On this ground the requirements of a period of residence, proof of income and a Bulgarian language examination do not apply. The family stays where it lives now, and the case is handled in Bulgaria.

An ancestor up to a great-grandparent

The right comes from a Bulgarian in the direct ascending line: a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent. Every link of kinship is confirmed by a document - a certificate, a parish register entry or an archive record.

Resident status while you wait

The review of a citizenship case takes a long time. For this period the family can arrange permanent residence in Bulgaria on the same ground and live in the country with the status of an EU resident.

The ground is the Bulgarian Citizenship Act. BRIDGES rebuilds the family line, gathers the evidence, prepares the application and supports the filing in Sofia. The decision is taken by the competent Bulgarian authority.

02 / Checks

What a Bulgarian passport gives you

A full European Union passport with all the rights of an EU citizen.

Life in 27 countries

The right to live, work, study and run a business in any EU country, and in Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Switzerland - with no permits and no quotas.

Schengen and visa-free travel

Bulgaria is part of the Schengen Area. The passport gives travel across Europe without border checks, and to most countries of the world without a visa or on simplified rules.

European universities

Children enter European universities on the terms of EU citizens: tuition at local rates and access to scholarship programmes.

Healthcare and social protection

The European Health Insurance Card and the social rights of an EU citizen in the EU country where the family lives.

It passes to the next generations

Children born after you become a Bulgarian citizen receive citizenship by birth - whichever country they are born in.

You keep your citizenship

On this ground Bulgaria does not require you to give up your current passport. We check whether your own country allows dual citizenship.

A preliminary assessment

Find out whether your family has a ground

The fee for our support is agreed individually: it depends on the family composition and the scope of the archive search. Leave a request - we will go through the family line, assess the ground and prepare a calculation for your situation.

Who is applying for citizenship?

Request a calculation

about 1 minuteno obligationsconfidential

An assessment of the ground for your family line
An estimate of the support for your family composition
A work plan and the first step

Documents for a Bulgarian citizenship-by-descent case

03 / Why it is needed

Why people obtain a Bulgarian passport

Every family has its own motive, but most often there are four.

The reason 01

Life in the European Union

A Bulgarian passport gives the family the same rights as citizens of any EU country. Work, your own business and study - with no visas, permits or quotas across the whole union.

The reason 02

Education and a start for the children

European universities at local rates and an open labour market after graduation. Citizenship passes to the next generations by birth.

The reason 03

Family memory

Descendants of settlers from Bessarabia and Taurida restore a status lost through shifting borders and resettlement. For many families this is the main reason.

The reason 04

A reserve status

Citizenship is for life: it does not need to be renewed or confirmed by residence. The decision is made once and serves every generation of the family.

Rights in the European Union follow from citizenship. Entry rules for third countries are set by those states themselves - check them before you travel.

04 / Grounds

Who can obtain citizenship

The evidence on the ancestor is gathered once and serves the whole family. Even so, every adult files their own application, and we arrange the order of filing so that the cases support one another.

The right comes from a Bulgarian ancestor: a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent
Kinship is confirmed by documents for each generation
Collateral kinship - an uncle, an aunt, cousins - gives no ground
Residence in Bulgaria and a language examination are not required

Most of our cases are families of Bulgarians who resettled in the 19th century
Descent is proven with parish records, church registers and settler lists
An entry of the ancestor’s Bulgarian nationality in Soviet documents strengthens the case
We review whether the ground applies at the preliminary assessment

The parents file the application for the child
The child’s set of documents goes with the family case
The documents on the ancestor do not have to be gathered again

Adult children have their own applications
Their cases are prepared at the same time as their parents’
The shared archive base for the family line is used

Every direct descendant of a qualifying ancestor has the right
A separate application is prepared for each adult
A parent’s ground is usually one generation closer to the ancestor

A spouse’s descent through this line gives no right
A spouse has a separate route - through residence in marriage to a Bulgarian citizen
Once you receive your passport, your spouse can arrange residence with you in any EU country

05 / Evidence

Which documents are needed

We gather the full set for a Bulgarian citizenship case. Some documents the family already has, the rest we find in the archives - this is usually where the search begins.

01You gather these

From you

A valid passport and photographs
A birth certificate
Marriage, divorce or change of name
The consent of both parents for a child

02We gather these together

The line of kinship

Birth certificates for each generation
Certificates of marriage and change of surname
Documents linking different spellings of names
Records on the ancestor: birth, marriage, nationality

03We do it for you

We prepare these

The application and annexes in Bulgarian
Certified translations and legalisation
Evidence of descent for the case
Booking the filing and support in Sofia

04We do this work

Where we search

The state and regional archives of Bulgaria
Church registers of Bulgarian parishes
Archives of the Odesa region and Moldova - Bessarabia
Archives of Zaporizhzhia and the Azov region - Taurida

06 / How we work

How the work on Bulgarian citizenship goes

We handle the whole path - from reviewing the family line to the passport. Everything that can be done without you, we do ourselves.

STEP 1

Review of the family line - 1-2 weeks

You tell us about the family and pass on what has survived: certificates, old documents, letters, photographs. If you have almost nothing, surnames, dates and village names are enough.

We assess the ground and tell you straight away if it is weak. At this step the scope of the archive search and the estimate also become clear.

STEP 2

Contract and work plan - 1-2 days

We agree the family composition, the scope of archive and legal work, the stages and the agreed fee.

Once the contract is signed, a lawyer, an archive specialist and a family coordinator are assigned to the case.

STEP 3

Archive search and evidence - 2-10 months

Requests to archives in Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova, church registers and settler lists, restoring parish records and resolving discrepancies in surnames.

The least predictable stage: one record is found within a month, another register is lost, and the line is proven through alternative documents.

STEP 4

The set, translations, booking the filing - 1-2 months

We prepare the application and annexes in Bulgarian, certified translations and legalisation, and check names and dates across the whole set.

At this stage we also book the filing date and prepare the applicants for the interview.

STEP 5

Filing in Sofia and review - from a year

The application is filed in person in Sofia, and the interview takes place on the day of filing. We arrange the trip and accompany you with an interpreter.

The case then goes through state checks. After a positive decision we support the oath and the issue of citizen documents.

In our practice the full path to the passport takes two to three years. Families who need a status sooner arrange permanent residence in Bulgaria in parallel - in about a year.

A case like this rests on a proven family line: an archive record of the ancestor carries more weight than any family story.

BulgariaIn the EU since 2007In Schengen since 2025

Check the ground

07 / After the decision

What happens after the decision

After a positive decision, what remains is the oath and the citizen documents. You do not need to move to Bulgaria for this.

The oath

It is scheduled after a positive decision. Citizenship arises when the oath is taken - we support this step as well.

EGN and identity card

We arrange the unified civil number (EGN) and the identity card - the domestic documents of a Bulgarian citizen.

The Bulgarian passport

The passport for travel abroad is issued after the identity card. We book the application and monitor the issue.

Documents for the whole family

We see every family member whose application was part of the shared case through to their passport.

Children born afterwards

They receive Bulgarian citizenship by birth regardless of the country of birth - nothing more needs to be proven.

Your current passport

Bulgaria does not require you to give it up. We only check how the law of your country treats dual citizenship.

08 / Our role

Why families handle their Bulgarian case with us

Cases like these are decided by the archives: the ancestor has to be found, every link of kinship proven and a set prepared that leaves no questions.

The ground - before the contract

First we go through the family line and give an assessment: there is a right, there is none, or a search with an uncertain outcome is needed. We do not take on work with no prospect.

Archives in several countries

We work with archives in Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova: parish records, church registers, settler lists, and surname discrepancies caused by changes of alphabet and language.

Both routes at once

We handle the citizenship case and, when the family needs a status sooner, arrange permanent residence in parallel. Both routes rest on the same set of evidence.

Honest timelines

The decision is taken by the state, and we do not promise it. We give the timelines that practice confirms and show the risks of the case before the contract is signed.

09 / Team

Who handles the Bulgarian case

A permanent team works on the family case: a citizenship lawyer, an archive specialist and a family coordinator. You know everyone by name from day one.

Irena SokolovskaHead of European PracticeCase strategy and complex situations

Karim NaserHead of Istanbul OfficeLegal handling, documents and filing

Martina VeberHead of Case ProcessingThe Bulgarian route, archives and translations

Sofia MendesInvestment Migration ExpertFamily coordination and contact at every stage

10 / Questions

Answers to common questions

No. The citizenship-by-investment programme was closed in 2022. For foreigners with a Bulgarian line, the ground that remains is descent.

A Bulgarian in the direct ascending line: a parent, grandparent or great-grandparent. Collateral kinship - an uncle, an aunt, a great-uncle - gives no ground.

Yes, this is most of our cases. Descendants of 19th-century Bulgarian settlers prove their descent with parish records, church registers and settler lists - an entry of the ancestor’s Bulgarian nationality strengthens the case.

No. A period of residence is not required on this ground. The family stays where it lives now, and the case is handled in Bulgaria.

There is no language examination on this ground. An interview takes place on the day of filing - we prepare you for it in advance and accompany you with an interpreter.

This is a common situation. The search starts from surnames, given names, approximate dates and village names - we rebuild the line from archive records, and having no papers at home almost never means there are no records in the archives.

In our practice the full path to the passport takes two to three years: the archive search, preparing the set, filing in Sofia and the review of the case by state bodies.

Yes. On the same ground the family can arrange permanent residence - a Bulgarian residence card. In practice this takes about a year and runs in parallel with the citizenship case.

No. On this ground Bulgaria does not require it. What needs checking is the reverse: whether the law of the country of your current passport allows dual citizenship.

Yes. The evidence on the ancestor is gathered once and serves everyone. Each adult still files their own application, and children under 18 go together with a parent.

The fee is agreed individually: it depends on the number of applicants, the depth of the archive search and the volume of translations. The estimate is fixed in the contract after the family line has been reviewed. Leave a request for a calculation - we will prepare it for your family composition.

Not by descent. A spouse has a separate route through residence in marriage to a Bulgarian citizen. Once you receive your passport, your spouse can arrange residence with you in any EU country.

11 / Materials

Useful materials on Bulgaria

Conditions, documents and the order of work on Bulgarian citizenship. The materials are written both for families who know their ancestor and for those who are only starting to look into their origins.

Main materialPresentation

Bulgarian citizenship by descent

The key information for descendants of Bulgarians: the ground, the family, the archive search and the path to the passport.

Inside:

who can obtain citizenship
which family members apply together
what to do if the ancestor or the documents are unknown
which archives are checked for your territories
which documents will be needed
how the work with BRIDGES goes
what happens after the decision and the oath

PDF · free · current as of September 2026

A short check of the family tree: which details about your ancestors point to Bulgarian origin and when an archive search is needed.

A list of documents on the applicant, the line of kinship and the ancestor, with notes on what to translate and legalise.

We explain how the search starts from surnames, villages and family stories, and which archives are checked for Bulgarian settlers.

12 / Timeline

How this right came about

The right of descendants of Bulgarians to citizenship has existed for a long time, and in recent years the procedure has become simpler.

2007

Bulgaria joins the European Union.

From this point Bulgarian citizenship gives the rights of an EU citizen in every country of the union.

2021

The procedure for descendants is simplified: descent is confirmed directly by documents on the ancestor.

A preliminary certificate from a separate agency is no longer required for the citizenship application.

2025

Bulgaria becomes a full member of the Schengen Area.

Checks at the borders with EU neighbours are lifted, and the Bulgarian passport works as a Schengen document.

2026

The descent ground remains in force unchanged.

We follow the law and the practice of the authorities and inform clients of any changes.

Worth having

Get the checklist on Bulgarian citizenship by descent

We have set out the documents and the order for checking the family line - from the record of the ancestor to the application and the oath.

Inside the document

Which documents confirm the link to the ancestor
Where to look for archive and church records
How to close the chain of kinship with no gaps
What will be needed for the application and the oath

Get the Bulgaria checklist

After a short form - no call and no obligations

13 / Sources

Official sources

The information on this page is checked against materials of the Bulgarian state authorities as of the date of updating.

INITIAL ASSESSMENT

Tell us what outcome your family needs

We will design a solution for your case, choose the country and the right status, and take the whole process through to the result.

Or message us on WhatsApp or Telegram

Anna Kovalevskaya, lead lawyer at BRIDGES GLOBAL

Anna KovalevskayaLead lawyer, citizenship and residency, 12 years of practice