9 500 Foreigners Granted Bulgarian Citizenship in 2009
Domestic | December 18, 2009, Friday // 17:36| views
Bulgaria's Diaspora Minister Dimitrov announced some 9 500 foreigners were naturalized in 2009. Photo by BGNES
Bulgaria’s Citizenship Council approved Friday the applications of 233 foreigners, mostly from Macedonia and Moldova, which amounts to granting them Bulgarian passports.
The news was announced by the Minister without a portfolio, Bozhidar Dimitrov, who is in charge of Bulgarians abroad.
Thus, a total of 9 440 foreigners have been granted Bulgarian citizenship in 2009 so far. Bulgaria’s Vice-President has already signed decrees for 7 987 of them, and is expected to sing the rest by the end of the year.
In comparison, 7 110 foreigners were granted Bulgarian citizenship in 2008. A total of 47 000 applications some submitted as far back as 2005 are still awaiting a decision by the Citizenship Council.
Of the 9 400 foreigners granted Bulgarian citizenship, about 4 000 are from Macedonia, 2 600 are from Moldova, 530 – from Serbia, 435 – from Israel, 212 – from Ukraine, 146 from Russia, 108 from Albania. 126 had no citizenship before being granted a Bulgarian one.
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