A draft of the amending and supplementing the Bulgarian Citizenship Act has been submitted to the National Assembly, with the aim of clarifying and supplementing the procedures regarding the change of citizenship.
The draft law foresees supplementing the conditions for the acquisition of Bulgarian citizenship by persons of Bulgarian origin, as well as by persons with a parent who has acquired Bulgarian citizenship, as proficiency in the Bulgarian language is introduced as a mandatory condition. The motives of the legislators in this regard are that the lack of knowledge of the Bulgarian language on the part of the persons who acquired Bulgarian citizenship by naturalization would create serious and difficult obstacles for their integration into the Bulgarian society.
The requirement for proficiency in the Bulgarian language does not apply to persons who acquire Bulgarian citizenship on the basis of adoption by a Bulgarian citizen under the conditions of full adoption, because placing such a requirement by the adopted person would create an obstacle to finalizing the adoption procedure.
The draft law also provides for the creation of a provision regarding the impossibility of persons against whom criminal proceedings have been instituted by a competent authority, as well as persons who have unpaid financial obligations to the Bulgarian state or to a Bulgarian natural person or entity, established by an effective act of competent authority, to be released from Bulgarian citizenship. This provision aims to prevent cases of unscrupulousness on the part of those persons, who are released from Bulgarian citizenship in the presence of criminal prosecution against them and in the presence of obligations towards other persons. The procedure for releasing from Bulgarian citizenship should not be used as a tool to avoid criminal liability, as well as for avoiding the liability for the collection of owed to the state, the natural and legal persons obligations.
An essential point in the draft law is the creation of a provision that provides for the possibility of canceling naturalization in cases where a person systematically and intentionally through speech, print and other means publicly preaches or incites violence or hatred, or has committed an act of hateful violence aimed at against the Republic of Bulgaria, the Bulgarian nation or the symbols of Bulgarian state system. It is proposed that the Citizenship Board makes hearing for the person proposed to revoke naturalization to ensure that the decision to deprive them of citizenship was not arbitrary.
The draft law proposes to suspend the existence of the Advisory Council at the Executive Agency for Bulgarians abroad. It was established in 2021 as an auxiliary body to the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad. The activities that were attributed to this body were, until now, carried out and continue to be carried out by the Ministry of Justice, and therefore the existence of a second additional body, carrying out activities in the process of acquiring Bulgarian citizenship on the basis of Bulgarian origin, is currently considered inexpedient.
In the Act on Bulgarians living outside the Republic of Bulgaria a change is also proposed – a creation of a Council for the coordination of policies for Bulgarians outside the Republic of Bulgaria (the Council). It is proposed that the Council issues guidelines and recommends actions for the reintegration of Bulgarian citizens returning to the Republic of Bulgaria; protects the rights and interests of Bulgarians abroad; synchronizes the activities of programs and projects aimed at the Bulgarian communities and their organizations abroad and coordinates the work of the central government bodies in the implementation of the policy related to Bulgarians abroad.
