The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.

Mark Twain

The Bulgarian legislation foresees that a person is considered to be Bulgarian citizen if born in Bulgaria. It is also assumed that if a baby is found in Bulgaria, whose parents are unknown, it is also considered to be Bulgarian citizen.

But is this really that simple?

As it is often the case, “the devil is in the details”. The law states that the Bulgarian citizenship will be granted IF the person doesn’t obtain other citizenship. So if for example, an Indian couple gives birth to a baby while on holiday in Bulgaria, the baby will not be able to obtain Bulgarian citizenship as it will be automatically granted Indian citizenship by Indian laws. And this example applies to virtually any other country in the world.

So basically what this means is that a foreign person born in Bulgaria will be very unlikely, only in extremely rare circumstances, be able to qualify to receive Bulgarian citizenship. In Bulgaria, the principle “jus soli” that generally applies in countries such as the USA isn’t enforced and is rather being substituted by the “jus sanguinis” (for more information please refer to Citizenship by Origin).