Bulgarian Passport Benefits and Dual Citizenship: What Really Changes

Families look at a Bulgarian passport for very different reasons: a child’s university, a job in Germany, family memory, or simply a status that does not need renewing. Before a family spends years on archives, I want them to know what the passport gives, what it does not, and how it sits with the citizenship they already have.

EU citizenship, not just a travel document

Bulgaria joined the European Union on 1 January 2007. A Bulgarian citizen is therefore a citizen of the EU, and that is where most of the value lies. Under the EU rules on free movement you can live in any EU country where you work as an employee or are self-employed. After the first three months you register your residence there, and after five years of legal residence you acquire the right of permanent residence in that country. Your Europe, the EU’s official guide, sets out these rules country by country.

Students, retired people and people with their own means have their own conditions, which Your Europe also explains. The rules on free movement also apply in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, and Switzerland has a similar arrangement with the EU.

Schengen and the euro

Bulgaria became part of the Schengen area in two steps. Checks on people at internal air and sea borders were lifted on 31 March 2024, and checks at internal land borders on 1 January 2025. Since then, travelling from Bulgaria to Greece or Romania by car is like crossing any other internal Schengen border.

From 1 January 2026 Bulgaria uses the euro, after the Council of the EU gave final approval in July 2025. The lev was converted at 1.95583 to one euro. For families who will keep a bank account, pay fees or buy property in Bulgaria, this removes a currency step. You will still see some official fees quoted in both leva and euro.

Visa-free travel

Bulgarian citizens travel to many countries outside the EU without a visa, but the list is set by each destination country and it changes. I do not quote a single number for that reason. Check the current entry rules of the country you are going to before you buy a ticket. BRIDGES keeps a regularly updated passport index that compares passports by visa-free access.

Inside the EU, a valid Bulgarian identity card is enough for travel between member states. Your Europe lists which documents are accepted.

Dual citizenship

Bulgaria does not ask applicants of Bulgarian origin to give up their current citizenship. Article 15 of the Citizenship Act lifts the renunciation condition that applies in ordinary naturalisation.

Two points are often missed:

• Bulgarian law sees you as Bulgarian. Article 3 says that a Bulgarian citizen who is also a citizen of another state is treated only as a Bulgarian citizen when Bulgarian law is applied, unless a law provides otherwise. In Bulgaria, you are Bulgarian.
• Your other country decides for itself. Some states do not allow their citizens to hold a second nationality, or require them to declare it. This depends on that country’s law, not on Bulgaria’s. Check it before you file, especially if you work in the public sector at home.

If you later want to leave Bulgarian citizenship, Article 20 allows release for citizens who live permanently abroad and have acquired, or are acquiring, another citizenship.

Can citizenship be revoked?

Yes, in limited cases. Under Article 22, naturalisation can be revoked if it is established in court that the person relied on false data or facts, if they concealed facts that would have led to a refusal, or if they failed to report a relevant change during the procedure. Revocation is generally possible only within ten years of acquiring citizenship, and only if the person does not become stateless; cases connected with terrorism are an exception to the time limit. Revoking one spouse’s naturalisation does not revoke the other spouse’s or the children’s, unless they obtained it on the same false data.

My advice is simple: never improve a family story. If a record is missing, look for another genuine record. An honest, complete file is slower to build and safer to hold.

A status for generations

Citizenship does not need renewing and is not tied to residence. Children born after you become a citizen are Bulgarian by origin from birth, wherever they are born. For many families, this is the real reason to start. More on that in family and children, and on who qualifies in the complete guide.

Entry rules and EU rules change. Check them with the official sources before you travel or move. Last checked 17 October 2026.