At least 30 000 applications for Bulgarian citizenship will be approved each year under amendments to the Act on Bulgarian citizenship, informed minister without portfolio Bozhidar Dimitrov.

19 825 Macedonians, 14 231 Moldavians, 2 185 Russians, 1 743 Ukrainians, 1 825 Serbians, 1 029 Israelis and 456 Albanians have applied for citizenship since 2002. The Agency for Expatriate Bulgarians will have sole authority to issue certificates of nationality to prevent forgery. Prof. Dimitrov gave an interesting example – of 250 applications from Moldavians 249 were forged. Apparently these people had been tricked by middlemen. Bulgarian citizens, who lost citizenship prior to WWII, will regain it within six months. Among them are people living in Macedonia, which was part of Bulgarian territory before 1944. The minister added that middlemen charged 5000 euro in Moldova and 10 000 euro in Macedonia to issue certificates of nationality, and these people now live in luxury palaces. They usually put ads in the papers.

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