Unless your past is such of an Al Capone, you are shocked as to why this has happened. You have supplied all relevant documents and even certificate for lack or criminal convictions from your home country. You even got Bulgarian certificate from the prosecutor’s office that there are no ongoing cases against you.
And now what? The Bulgarian State Agency for National Security has stopped your citizenship procedure, because you are threat to the national security, so they think? What the heck? How can this be possible? You are angry and most probably you have all reason to be upset. After having spent time and money to comply with all regulations in order to get hold of Bulgarian citizenship, your application is now at dead end. Someone believes you are a criminal, though you are by all means a law abiding citizen.
The Bulgarian Citizenship Law
The application of a person who meets the conditions for acquiring Bulgarian citizenship by naturalization shall be rejected if, in view of his conduct, there are serious reasons to believe that the applicant poses a threat to public order, public morals, public health or national security. security.
Art.19 of the Bulgarian Citizenship Law
The law says it all. But it is subjective, subjective to the bones. And this subjectivity is both your curse and your opportunity to rectify the situation.
So why was your application stopped and why are you now considered a thread to the national security?
As we already stated above, we will presume that you have no criminal past. After all, you have been able to submit certificate for lack of criminal convictions. So leaving that aside, the most common reason for your rejection by the national security agency is… your agent or a lawyer
Your lawyer (or citizenship agent)
No, don’t put the blame on your agent yet. It is quite possible that the agent who assisted you with your documents has done his job perfectly fine. It is just that the Bulgarian national security services prefer to play it safe. Very safe. For them it is much better to reject 1000 eligible candidates than to approve only one who may even theoretically pose a thread to the national security. Only one single such person, approved by the security services, will immediately result in massive layoffs in the Agency and resignations on all levels in the administration. Only one such case may trigger political turmoil, beyond imagination. And the authorities want to avoid that, at all cost.
But what if after all official checks of the background of the applicant, all turns out to be fine. Is that a guarantee for the good future conduct of this person? Is that a clear green light for the authorities to approve the application? Absolutely not. So what on earth can then convince the national security services to take the risk and approve the application?
The safety net for the authorities – your agent’s reputation
Your agent is the first safety net for the authorities. If your application has been submitted through a trusted entity that is well known to the authorities, the chances of approval will skyrocket. Even more, if your agent has been proactive and has contacted the authorities to put their mind at rest and convince them about your good character, the chances or approval may go to 100%.
But if your agent has simply acted like a post box to submit your documents, then the rejection comes quite logical, as far as us is concerned.
In general, the national security services prefer working with agents they know well and can trust. Lawyers, even licensed for the purpose, who process citizenship applications just occasionally, don’t have good chances to have their client’s documents approved.
The way your documents have been submitted
The other possibility for the rejection of your application may be any irregularities in the provided documents. And here we don’t talk about false documents or declaring untrue facts, which are by itself punishable by the penal code. We talk about anything that may look suspicious, no matter how innocent it may look to you.
For instance, if you are from certain countries, ie Iran, North Korea, even Russia or Saudi Arabia, you may be subject of additional scrutiny. If you are applying for citizenship by investment and you have declared that you are an engineer in a state company, then you may be subject of (un)reasonable doubt as to what the real source of your wealth is. If you are Russian citizen working in Yemen, your application will be checked under the microscope. No matter how innocent your profession and activities are.
And finally, what can you do if your application has been rejected by the State Agency for National Security
First of all, we would recommend you not to blame your agent for the failure. The citizenship application is complicated chain of processes. Sometimes it takes only one small mistake to ruin the whole procedure.
Take action without delay!
Secondly, you need to take action immediately! There are many steps that you can undertake. From formal legal proceedings, to informal talks with the authorities in order to convince them about the genuinity of your application and the good moral behind it. Unfortunately none of these methods are within the reach of every agent or lawyer in Bulgaria. Frankly speaking, if your situation has reached the point of rejection by the Agency for National Security, you will need to arm yourself with patience, money and optimism, to have it rectified. We can definitely help you get back on track and at the end, have your citizenship application approved, no matter what.
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