Recently, we were explaining the controversial grandfather clause in the Law for the foreigners. Today, we will explain the other, more important exception, that is foreseen in the New Law for the Bulgarian citizenship.
What is the grandfather clause stipulating?
The legal text of the new citizenship law of March 2021 is pretty clear and straightforward. It stipulates that:
The applications submitted before the entry into force of this law shall be considered and decided under the current conditions and order, with the exception of the requirements1 of Art. 22, Art. 32a and Art. 35, para. 4, which shall also apply to the existing proceedings in connection with Bulgarian citizenship.
§ 13 of the 2021 Law for the Bulgarian Citizenship
1 Art. 22, Art. 32a and Art. 35, para. 4 are related mostly to cancelation of naturalization and reporting of changed conditions, so they are irrelevant for the purposes of this article.
The legal meaning
The legal text should be obvious, even to those without any legal background. What it basically says is that if your citizenship application has been submitted before March 15th, 2021 (the day when the Law is enforced), it will be considered and decided under the conditions of the old citizenship law.
More questions ahead
As you saw, the second grandfather clause is quite clear, as opposed to the first one. Besides the two clauses, there are still many other questions that will need careful legal analysis and interpretation. For example, what should the second investment be for an applicant who has already obtained permanent residence under the old program, but will be applying for citizenship under the new law?
Please stay tuned for these and many other answers relating to the new Bulgarian citizenship law.