Are those who were born in Bulgaria – Bulgarian citizens?
Today we will shed some light on one of the most often confused topics in the Bulgarian citizenship legislation. Namely, the Bulgarian citizenship by place of birth.

The two most common misconceptions about Bulgarian citizenship are that foreigners born in Bulgaria and those who marry a Bulgarian, automatically become Bulgarian citizens. Both statements are false. Neither foreigners born in Bulgaria become Bulgarian citizens automatically, nor those who marry Bulgarian citizens. Another misconception is that citizenship by place of birth is the same as citizenship by origin. Nothing can be further from the truth. But first things first, let’s see what really citizenship by place of birth is.
In this paper, we will analyse some very important points concerning the children born in Bulgaria to foreign parents. What rights do they have and under what circumstances do they become Bulgarian citizens?
Obtaining Bulgarian citizenship by place of birth
The principle of Bulgarian citizenship by place of birth is regulated in Art. 25, par. 1 of the Bulgarian Constitution and Article 10 of the Bulgarian Citizenship Law. The formulations are almost identical, namely:
According to the Constitution
Bulgarian citizen is anyone at least one of whose parents is a Bulgarian citizen or who was born on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, if he does not acquire another citizenship by origin.
Art. 25, par. 1 of the Bulgarian Constitution
According to the Citizenship Law
Bulgarian citizen by place of birth is any person born on the territory of the Republic of Bulgaria, if he does not acquire another citizenship by origin.
Art. 10 of the Bulgarian Citizenship Law
The only difference is that the Citizenship Law specifies those born in Bulgaria (not acquiring another citizenship by origin) as citizens by place of birth. As per the Constitution they are defined more general – simply as citizens. However, that is not the important part of the definition.
What matters is that in order for a child born in Bulgaria to be considered a Bulgarian citizen by place of birth, the child should not acquire another citizenship by origin. The problem is that it is not at all clear which foreigners, born in Bulgaria, acquire foreign (non-Bulgarian) citizenship by origin. However, the practice in Bulgaria is nevertheless consistent. Namely, that children born in Bulgaria of two foreign parents are not Bulgarian citizens. But is this correct?

Who acquires foreign (non-Bulgarian) citizenship by origin (descent)
Every child born in Bulgaria is considered a Bulgarian citizen. On condition, however, that the child does not acquire another citizenship by origin. For this reason it is extremely important to know which children acquire foreign citizenship by origin and which do not. Because those who do not become foreign citizens, and necessarily by origin, they should automatically become Bulgarian citizens.
A bit of grammar
First, it is important to analyze the term “acquire.” According to the online dictionary of the Bulgarian language of the Institute of the Bulgarian Language “Professor Lyubomir Andreichin” at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the most relevant definition of “acquire” is:
It is important to note that the legislation does not use terms such as “will acquire” or “is entitled to acquire”. The legislator has used “acquires” in the present tense.
Conclusion
That is, in order NOT to obtain Bulgarian citizenship, the child of foreigners born in Bulgaria should immediately acquire foreign citizenship upon birth. Moreover, it must be namely by descent (origin). Accordingly, the child must “begin to enjoy” his right of the foreign citizenship immediately, namely immediately after the birth. Otherwise, the child will not “acquire foreign citizenship by origin” and must accordingly be considered a Bulgarian citizen. The practice in Bulgaria, however, is different and, in our opinion, incorrect.
Let’s continue with the grammar a bit more. Is there a difference between “being a citizen” and “acquiring citizenship”? Under Bulgarian law:
Bulgarian citizen by origin is anyone of whom at least one parent is a Bulgarian citizen.
Art. 8 of the Bulgarian Citizenship Law
Although the above provision is found in Section I – “Acquisition of Bulgarian Citizenship by Origin”, the statutory text itself states that the person IS a Bulgarian citizen, not that he ACQUIRES citizenship. We believe that in order to acquire citizenship (or indeed anything) the person must at one point not be in possession of it and at a subsequent point to acquire it. In this case, citizenship by origin has not been present before the birth of the child (ante partum). We consider that, for example, a child of Bulgarian parents never acquires Bulgarian citizenship. He is a Bulgarian citizen already at birth. The child has never been (post partum) a non-Bulgarian citizen and therefore cannot acquire Bulgarian citizenship by definition.
If we were to apply the norms of the Bulgarian citizenship
From the above grammatical analysis it can be concluded that if we assume that the laws of other countries are similar to the Bulgarian laws, citizenship by origin can never be acquired. And this means that every child born in Bulgaria, whether by Bulgarians or foreigners, should also be a Bulgarian citizen by birth. This would mean that the condition of “not acquiring another citizenship by origin” is not applicable at all. However, the actual practice is different. And the problems with the interpretation of the law continue.

Legislation on citizenship of other countries
The biggest problem in the discussed legal norms is that when a child is born in Bulgaria to foreign parents, in order to determine whether the child is a Bulgarian citizen by place of birth, it must be examined whether the child “acquires” foreign citizenship by origin. But is this even possible. Can we know in detail hundreds of legal frameworks concerning who is a “citizen by descent (origin)”. Especially in situations of mixed marriages.
In some countries there may be no concept of “citizenship by origin” at all. In others, citizenship may be “acquired” conditionally. This is why we believe that Bulgarian law should be applied formally. Namely that in order for a child not to acquire Bulgarian citizenship by place of birth, he must have foreign citizenship at birth. That is to say, it must be a de facto citizen of a foreign country, and we must not presume that it has the right to be such.
Conclusion
In order to deny Bulgarian citizenship to a child born in Bulgaria to foreigners, it must be proven that the child has acquired de facto foreign citizenship at birth. Moreover, the foreign citizenship must be precisely “by origin”. We believe that it is not possible to examine all the hypotheses of the national legislation of hundreds of countries, which makes the applicability of the norm problematic enough. In other words, contrary to established practice, any child of foreigners born in Bulgaria is most likely a Bulgarian citizen by place of birth.
The story of Martin again
It’s a good moment to remind about the story of Martin, a German citizen, born to Bulgarian mother and German father. Is he considered to have “acquired” Bulgarian citizenship by origin at the moment of his birth?
Bulgarian legislation through the years and current case law
Because of the ambiguities that we believe exist in the current legislation, it is interesting to analyse the previous constitutions and citizenship laws. For example, in the Bulgarian Citizenship Law of 1948 (repealed in 1968):
Bulgarian citizen by place of birth is any person who was born or found within the borders of the country and whose parents are unknown or of unknown citizenship or are stateless.
Compared to the current definition, the text of the old law is considerably clearer. This is because it is extremely easy to determine with certainty whether the parents of a child born in Bulgaria are known or not. As well as whether they are of unknown citizenship or have no citizenship at all.
If we go back even earlier in the years, the Bulgarian Citizenship Law of 1940 (repealed in 1948) states that:
A Bulgarian subject (citizen) by place of birth is any person:
1) born in the Kingdom of unknown parents or of parents without citizenship;
2) born in the Kingdom of Bulgaria of foreign parents, if he or she has been continuously domiciled in Bulgaria and if he or she has not claimed foreign citizenship within one year after reaching the age of majority.
This text is again clearer than the current one. The hypothesis in p. 2 is interesting. The law at the time provided that citizenship by place of birth would also be recognised to adults, not just at the time of birth, as is the case now.

Case law
There is practically no case law on the discussed subject. At present, children born in Bulgaria to foreigners are generally not granted Bulgarian citizenship. However, it is “unclear” whether and how all the circumstances and national legislations of the foreign parents are examined.
The only interesting decision is the Constitutional Court’s decision No. 12 of 1996. In it, the court concluded (decided) that:
Bulgarian citizenship by birth (by origin or birthplace) is acquired by right at the time of birth and is not preceded by any other citizenship.
With this decision, albeit made regarding a completely different case, things get even more confusing for us. First of all, the Constitutional Court considers that “citizenship by birth is acquired”. But the court also equates, by putting in brackets, citizenship by birthplace and by origin. And under the current Citizenship Law, Bulgarian citizenship by origin is acquired through naturalisation and is even subject to proving. And that certainly does not happen at the time of birth.
Given the other ambiguities in the legislation on Bulgarian citizenship, we should not expect much logic. We encourage you to read our articles on who is a Bulgarian citizen and who is a Bulgarian (by origin), as well as how to prove Bulgarian origin. Finally, you can read about the controversial translation of Article 25 of the Bulgarian Constitution regarding Bulgarian citizenship and our opinion to the Bulgarian National Assembly and the Constitutional Court.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us.