Since the beginning of 2006, 17 021 foreigners have applied for Bulgarian citizenship, 2703 have been granted permanent residence and a further 12 364, long-term stay.
This is according to the most up-to-date information held by the Interior Ministry's Migration Directorate, provided to The Sofia Echo on November 23.

This is about 6000 fewer applications than last year, when hopefuls for a Bulgarian passport numbered 23 053. Most applications came from Turkish nationals (2740), followed by British citizens (1748), Macedonians (1808), Russians (1694) and Greeks (819).

Even though there is an apparent decline in the number of candidates for citizenship, those with permanent residence have increased by more than 1000. Topping the list are British citizens (1657), followed by Turks (1597) and Macedonians (1592). Other nationalities with higher numbers from Central and South Eastern Europe are Ukraine (767), Armenia (333), Cyprus (342), Serbia (336) and Albania (185). Hardly changed are the numbers for people from some other Western European countries, such as Italy (328), Germany (594), Austria (165) and Spain (74).

Interest among Americans is also among the highest - 737 have applied for a Bulgarian passport and 638 were given indefinite leave to remain, numbers almost unchanged from last year. Interestingly, the number of Chinese nationals who applied for citizenship this year has dropped drastically from 1022 in 2005, to just 346 from the beginning of this year until November.

Indians and Israelis' interest in citizenship has risen slightly as compared with last year, at 205 and 188 respectively. Applications from Syrians totalled 265, Iranians 141 and Lebanese 145. There were 65 applications from stateless people.

The figures provided for people who wished to receive a Bulgarian passport refer solely to applications. They do not include the number of foreigners whose applications for citizenship were approved. This, therefore, establishes that the real number of those who were given citizenship is nowhere near what some (mainly) British publications have claimed during the past few months.

For example, on August 13, UK daily The Sunday Telegraph said that more than 20 000 people from countries such as Moldova and Macedonia had taken up Bulgarian citizenship in the past few years, and at least 55 000 more were on the waiting list. In July, German newspaper Die Welt reported that about 20 000 Macedonians already had Bulgarian citizenship and 20 000 more had applied.

However, contrary to these media reports, the Interior Ministry's latest report, as well as information for up to July this year from the Justice Ministry, reveals a completely different picture.

The Sunday Telegraph did not specify what exactly it meant by "past few years". But looking at the latest figures provided by the Justice Ministry (where applications are filed) in 2003, 1685 Macedonians and 1172 Moldavians were given Bulgarian citizenship. In 2004 these numbers were 2281 and 2210, respectively, and in 2005, were 2425 and 2455. Up to the middle of this year, 1629 Moldavians and 1372 Macedonians received a Bulgarian passport.

Moreover, as already seen, 1808 Macedonians and 455 Moldavians had applied for citizenship by November 2006. This means two things.

First, calculations of the figures provided since 2003 up to the present moment of Macedonians and Moldavians who have received citizenship is about 5000 less than the two newspapers claimed. Second, there are currently only 2263 applications pending from nationals of these two countries.

Compared with the 55 000 claimed in The Sunday Telegraph article, the real number has been exaggerated by about 20 times. What is even more striking is that more applications for citizenship have been filed by Germans than by Moldavians.