What the programme was
Bulgaria offered permanent residence in exchange for an investment held in government securities, with citizenship available after a qualifying period of residence. A fast-track option doubled the investment and compressed that timeline to roughly a year.
Because the capital sat in government bonds rather than being donated, it was marketed as a refundable route to an EU passport. That framing did a lot of work: the money was returnable, but the opportunity cost over five years was real, and the practical success rate was far lower than the brochures implied.
Why it was abolished
The European Commission had been pressing member states on investor citizenship since its 2019 report on golden passports and golden visas, and the European Parliament followed with a resolution calling for schemes of this kind to be phased out across the bloc.
Domestically, an audit found the programme had attracted a small number of applicants while carrying meaningful reputational and security exposure. Parliament repealed the investor citizenship provisions in 2022. Unlike Cyprus, this was a legislative decision rather than a response to a scandal, and it has not been revisited.
What this means if you were considering it
There is no residual pathway. Applications in progress at the time of repeal were handled under transitional arrangements, but the route itself no longer exists in Bulgarian law.
Bulgaria retains ordinary naturalisation, which requires a sustained period of permanent residence, Bulgarian language competence, and genuine ties to the country. Investment does not accelerate it. There is also a citizenship by descent route for people with Bulgarian ancestry, which is entirely separate from investment and has its own evidentiary requirements.
What to look at instead
Bulgaria’s appeal was EU citizenship at a lower price point than Cyprus or Malta, with the capital returnable. Nothing on the market reproduces that specific combination.
For EU residence with a light presence requirement: the Portugal Golden Visa is the closest functional equivalent, and it leads to naturalisation rather than stopping at residence.
For an EU passport by entitlement rather than purchase: if you have European ancestry, citizenship by descent is dramatically cheaper and confers identical rights. It is chronically underexplored by people who arrive looking for investment routes.
For speed and mobility without EU rights: the Caribbean programmes issue passports in months.
Our EU citizenship by investment overview sets out what genuinely remains available across the bloc.