In total, about 98 foreigners obtained Bulgarian citizenship by investment. Interestingly, the most popular investment options are government securities and bank deposits.
According to Euractiv, 78 out of these 98 foreigners bought government securities and received Bulgarian citizenship. 6 depositors have placed their money in banks.
The Bulgarian Citizenship by Investment Program was in place in 2020 to attract foreign direct investment during the pandemic. Investment is projected to decline sharply in 2020 and will partially recover in 2021, according to an EU spring report.
An investor can obtain citizenship in 2 years by investing 1 million euros in government bonds and bank deposits. In the case of buying securities, half a million euros must be invested in the first year and another half a million in the second year.
In 2019, the Bulgarian government proposed a bill to suspend the investment scheme, but it was not approved as law. Bulgaria has very strict requirements for investors to keep their investments for 2 years. Some investors were previously denied citizenship for not using investments.
As Cyprus shuts its doors to investors, Malta and Bulgaria are the only two countries in the European Union to have official CBI programs.
