Does Bulgaria Allow Dual Citizenship? Origin Route and Restrictions

Yes, Bulgaria does allow dual citizenship, but whether you personally get to keep both passports depends on how you become Bulgarian and, in some cases, where else you hold nationality. Anyone born a Bulgarian citizen can acquire a second nationality without losing the first. For people naturalizing, the default is that you must give up your previous citizenship, though the Citizenship Act carves out four significant exemptions that cover a large share of applicants.¹

Who Can Hold Two Passports Freely

Born Bulgarians face no restriction at all. If you were a Bulgarian citizen at birth, whether because you were born on Bulgarian territory to Bulgarian parents or because at least one parent was Bulgarian regardless of where you were born, you can acquire any other nationality you qualify for and keep your Bulgarian one. When Bulgarian law applies to you, the state treats you as Bulgarian first, whatever other passports you carry.

For naturalized citizens, four categories are exempt from the requirement to renounce a prior nationality:

Spouses of Bulgarian citizens who naturalize through marriage.
Nationals of any European Union member state, any European Economic Area country, or Switzerland.
Nationals of countries that have a bilateral reciprocity agreement with Bulgaria on citizenship matters.
People naturalizing on the basis of Bulgarian origin.

If you fall into any of these groups, you can become Bulgarian while keeping the passport you already hold. If you don’t, the law puts you to a choice.¹

When You Have To Give Up Your Current Citizenship

The general naturalization rule under Article 12 of the Citizenship Act requires you either to have been released from your previous citizenship or to commit to being released once you acquire Bulgarian nationality. That condition applies to everyone taking the standard naturalization route who doesn’t fit one of the four exemptions above.

The standard route also carries the other Article 12 conditions: you must be at least 18, have held a permanent or long-term Bulgarian residence permit for at least five years, have no convictions for intentional crimes and no pending proceedings for such offenses in Bulgaria (unless rehabilitated), show income or an occupation sufficient to support yourself, and pass a Bulgarian language exam overseen by the Ministry of Education. The exam has 20 multiple-choice questions and requires 12 correct answers to pass at roughly an A1 level.¹

Marriage-based naturalization softens two of these conditions. The residency requirement drops from five years to three, provided the marriage has lasted at least three years at the time of application, and you don’t need to renounce your prior citizenship. The language, criminal record, and financial requirements still apply.

One boundary worth naming: Bulgaria no longer offers a direct citizenship-by-investment route. The “golden passport” scheme was abolished in 2022. The current Golden Visa program leads to permanent residency, not citizenship, and after five years of residency you still have to meet the normal naturalization conditions, language exam included, before applying for citizenship. Investment does not shortcut the renunciation rule.

The Bulgarian Origin Route

For most diaspora readers asking whether they can add a Bulgarian passport to the one they already hold, the answer runs through Article 15. Anyone of Bulgarian origin can naturalize without meeting the residency, income, language, or renunciation conditions that apply to other applicants. That means no five-year wait, no language exam, and no requirement to give up your existing nationality.¹

Eligibility generally reaches back three degrees of kinship, meaning a Bulgarian parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent. You prove the link with official civil records: your own birth certificate plus birth or death certificates of the ancestor who establishes the connection. Foreign-language documents must be translated into Bulgarian. Because Bulgaria is party to the 1961 Hague Convention, documents from other member countries carry an apostille rather than going through full consular legalization; documents from non-member countries still require traditional diplomatic legalization.

When the paper trail is thin, a Consultative Council under the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad can assess your claim on other grounds: whether you speak Bulgarian, identify as Bulgarian, belong to a recognized Bulgarian community abroad, or come from a place that was historically part of the Bulgarian state or the Bulgarian Exarchate.¹

What Dual Citizens Should Know Once They Hold Both Passports

Public Sector Roles Are Off Limits

Dual citizens holding Bulgarian nationality alongside another passport generally cannot serve in the Bulgarian military, civil service, judiciary, or prosecution service. For most people living abroad this never comes up, but if you plan to build a career in the Bulgarian public sector, a second citizenship is a real obstacle.

Tax Residency Is Separate From Citizenship

Carrying a Bulgarian passport does not on its own make you a Bulgarian tax resident. Time in the country does. Under the Personal Income Tax Act, staying in Bulgaria for more than 183 days in any 12-month period makes you a tax resident, and every day of entry and departure counts. Time spent abroad for medical treatment or education does not reduce the total.

Even below 183 days, Bulgaria can treat you as a tax resident if your “center of vital interests” is there. Authorities weigh where your family lives, where your property and bank accounts sit, where you work, and where your social ties are strongest. A permanent address registration in Bulgaria can also trigger tax residency, though you can rebut it by showing your center of vital interests lies elsewhere. Bulgarian tax residents owe tax on their worldwide income, so anyone splitting time between countries should track this carefully.

How Bulgarian Citizenship Can End

Bulgarian nationality is not indefinite in every case. The law recognizes three ways it can end:

Voluntary release. A Bulgarian citizen who lives permanently abroad can request release from citizenship if they have acquired, or are acquiring, foreign citizenship. Children under 14 are released only if a separate request is filed for them, and those aged 14 to 18 must consent.
Cancellation of naturalization. If your naturalization was based on false information, concealed facts, or a failure to report certain changes, it can be revoked for up to 10 years after you acquired citizenship, with no time limit in terrorism-related cases. Revocation applies only to the individual, not automatically to a spouse or children whose own naturalizations were legitimate.
Deprivation. A naturalized citizen can be stripped of citizenship after conviction for a serious crime against the Bulgarian state, but only if the person is abroad and would not become stateless. Born citizens cannot be deprived of their citizenship under any circumstances.¹

The practical takeaway: if you were born Bulgarian, dual citizenship is essentially unconditional and secure. If you are naturalizing, your ability to keep a second passport turns on which category you fit into, and the strongest protections go to spouses, EU/EEA/Swiss nationals, treaty-country nationals, and people of Bulgarian descent.

1
Legislationline. Bulgarian Citizenship Law