Easier gain of Bulgarian citizenship
The process of granting citizenship for foreign investors will be much easier when the law comes into force. Bulgaria is expected passing this law will boost the country’s ailing economy.All foreigners, who come from non EU countries, ready to invest at least 500 000BGN, will be offering citizenship. This is under amendments to the Investment Encouragement Act proposed in response to the presidential veto at the end of last year.
The amendment was scheduled to be put on vote at the economic parliamentary committee on today 6th of February , but the meeting was failed because of unexpected situations. The meeting was postponing for the following weeks.
The candidates for Bulgarian citizenship would have to invest in a Bulgarian company involved in a high-priority investment project in infrastructure, tourism, transport or industry, according to the new amendment.
There is also a require – the investor to have had residence status in the country for at least one year.
Another proposal is lowering the investment amount threshold for foreigners to be granted Bulgarian residence and permanent residency status down to 250 000BGN, when the money are invested in regions with high unemployment.
Another way to gain permanent residency status according to the new proposals is to purchase a real estate property, worth at least 600 000BGN.
According to the current legislation, foreigners gain permanent residency if they invested over 1 Million in public companies or joint ventures or has deposited the money at a Bulgarian bank for a period of five years.
Being an American, I want to write a review that is specific for US buyers, it’s going to be as long as the review from the gentleman from the UK. :) The process for purchasing property in Bulgaria requires the assistance of lawyers. Because we are not in the E.U. there will be additional steps to take that require a visit to the Embassy in the US or if that is not possible, some extra steps to officiate paperwork in Bulgaria. For these reasons you must work with someone very professional, knowledgeable, and of course, trustworthy. I can tell you that Kiki is all of those things and right to the point: she is an expert. For Kiki, she makes the process as easy as breathing. She’s extremely knowledgeable about purchasing property under any circumstance, for any nationality, and even during a global health scare. Nothing whatsoever was any hurdle or issue. Because of the different issues US citizens face, I will be quite lengthy in this review, to review Kiki’s expertise and professionalism, and review the process of investing in Bulgarian property using bulgarianhouse.com.??I chose to purchase property online, totally remotely due to the health crisis. I am located in NY and it was not possible to travel during the restrictions. I have lived in Europe before, I am familiar with the lifestyle, the land, and country villages, so I personally had no hesitation about wanting to invest in a Bulgarian country home, having never been there. For those considering buying remotely I will say that the village is as important as the house. You can use Google earth, research the village names, and watch videos and video travel vlogs about all of them on Youtube. Kiki has dozens-hundreds of listings, she works very fast and you will have many excellent options. From start to finish it was only a few steps of getting documents officiated at the Embassy. I made a mistake and didn’t get the right stamp at the NY Bulgarian Embassy, and within one hour of us realizing it, Kiki had emailed the Embassy, and texted me the agent’s personal phone number -so that I could get a new appointment, first thing the next morning. Which I did.Can you even imagine anything like that in America? This is how Kiki works. Everything is taken care of by Kiki, the expert. This extended everywhere I went. Bulgarian people working at the Embassy: they will treat you like royalty. At every step of the way, I became more sure and more excited about every aspect of this process, and my investment.? There are (minor) extra legal steps taken in Bulgaria to complete the process and all of it must be done in Bulgarian and with the help of a lawyer. Here Kiki being an expert and having everything worked out professionally, means this will also go quickly and easily. I feel like I snapped my fingers and it was over because of Kiki making everything so easy for me. I now own my dream country home that my family and I will love to fix up and enjoy. Kiki went an extra step to send updated photographs to me, and I was so pleased to see there were extra rooms in the house that I had not seen in the listing, and lovely buildings on the edge of the property which I am thrilled about. From this process I feel like I got more than I paid for because of the extra service that Kiki offers her clients. It would be unthinkable for me to buy from anyone else and we are already looking at other properties for the extended family.??A note about buying remotely: times have changed. Because of the health scare, many businesses went exclusively online. I work in renovation, design and construction, so I feel ok sizing up properties from images, knowing I have the experience to handle it. For those that don’t, I think you can rely on Kiki to make excellent recommendations for what you need, and she will be honest about every condition of every home, and she’s very good at this type of help as well. For me, because of what it would cost for airlines and hotels to visit first before purchase, I decided I would rather put that money in the purchase of the property itself, and I’m so glad I did. For other Americans considering investing in homes and property in Bulgaria, I can’t say enough positive things about my experience and how happy this has been for me, and I would not even consider working with another agent than Kiki and bulgarianhouse.com. To any American reading this with any hesitation about the ease of this process, don’t have any stress or concerns whatsoever. I was told exactly what would happen, and then it did exactly as explained. Incredibly, even with me not speaking Bulgarian and a major time difference, it literally could not have gone any better, there was no stress whatsoever, and it has made me and my family very happy.
— Kim Holleman, United States