Bulgarian citizenship approval rate falls
Recently, Posolstvo.eu wrote about the growing number of rejected Bulgarian citizenship applications. Obviously, our job is to ensure that all our clients get their Bulgarian citizenship approved from the first attempt. And we are quite proud of our success rate. At the same time however, we have to conclude that in the last 6-12 months, getting Bulgarian citizenship has become much more difficult (please read about the problems that two of our clients have been facing).
So what happens if your citizenship application is rejected? Or, as is very often the case, your citizenship application just hangs in the air and doesn’t progress forward. You check your application status online and you just get this preformatted standard message that doesn’t seem to ever change.
What to do if your Bulgarian citizenship application is rejected or delayed
If your citizenship application is delayed or rejected, you basically have three options:
- Do nothing;
- Appeal;
- Re-apply;
- Seek compensation.
Doing nothing is not acceptable. Doing nothing is basically saying “OK, I agree that I am not eligible for Bulgarian citizenship“. If this is your choice, you better stop reading at this point and find something better to do.
If you think however that you deserve to be granted Bulgarian citizenship, you better fight for your rights. And we don’t merely mean appealing or re-applying (see p.2 and p.3 above). What we mean is that you should also seek compensation for the rejection, if you believe it is not justified. Please don’t get us wrong. We do not push you to declare war on the Bulgarian state. On the contrary, Bulgaria is democratic country ruled by the Law. Therefore, the responsibility of the state for wrongdoing is one of the founding principles of the country. If you believe you are right and can prove it in the court of law, the state will welcome it.
What is even more important, beside paying you out a compensation, that the authorities should also take your appeal (or new citizenship application) much more seriously. As result, your chances of success may increase dramatically.
One of the most important cases when you should seriously consider seeking compensation from the government is if the legislation changes throughout your citizenship application and your rights are thereby cropped. Another case would be if the authorities have applied the law incorrectly. A good example, from our recent practice, is that the authorities deem that some of the documents need to be valid at the moment when they are examined and not at the moment when they have been submitted.
Your rights to seek compensation for damages are guaranteed by the Bulgarian law and even by the Constitution.
The Bulgarian Constitution and the “Law on the liability of the State and the municipalities for damages”
The Constitution is, luckily, straightforward and fair. Art. 7 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria states that:
The State is liable for damages caused by illegal acts or actions of its bodies and officials.
This duty of the State is further officialized in the Law on the liability of the State and the municipalities for damages.
Our advice
Please do not be afraid that seeking rightful compensation from the State may harm your citizenship rights. If your citizenship application has been delayed or rejected and if you believe this is illegal, you should act immediately. You will need to re-apply or appeal in order to obtain citizenship asap. At the same time, we strongly advise you to seek compensation for damages, if you believe you are right. Such legal case will not harm your citizenship chances. On the contrary, the State officials will realize that they better do their job right, albeit not from the first time. At the same time, the Bulgarian State will be only thankful to you for having used your legal rights.
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