Bulgaria ended the “golden passport” practice.
The Bulgarian parliament has ended the practice of granting citizenship for investment, known as the “golden passport”, which has been going on for nearly 9 years.
Deputies in the Bulgarian Parliament approved the cancellation of citizenship and passport privileges, which have been granted since 2013 in return for an investment of approximately 500 thousand euros, on the grounds that they do not benefit the country’s economy.
According to the information obtained from the Ministry of Justice, 103 people have benefited from this procedure so far.
While the passports of 7 people have been canceled in the last 2 years due to various criminal complaints received by the State National Security Agency (DANS), investigations continue against 6 people whose situation seems suspicious.
These people, mostly Russian and Chinese citizens, bought government bonds with the money they showed as investments in their applications and sold these bonds after obtaining a passport.
The said practice continued until 2021, despite the warnings of the European Union (EU).
The government of Prime Minister Kiril Petkov, who has been in power since the beginning of the year, has prepared a draft amendment to the Law on Foreigners in order to end this procedure that ensures free movement in the EU, of which Bulgaria has been a member since 2007.
Cyprus and Malta, which are EU members, continue to issue passports in exchange for investment. nonstop news