The speed of handing out Bulgarian passports to citizens of Bulgarian descend from the neighbouring countries has decreased in the last year. Statistics show decline of naturalisation numbers since the new socialist government took office in May 2013. It is still uncertain if this merely a bureaucratic slowdown or an explicit policy shift, but government officials have stated that they are checking the applications more thoroughly, while the previous centre-right government was focusing on the speed. The recent influx of Syrian refugees in the country, which prompted a wave of xenophobia, might have affected the attitudes of both the government and the public too.

Read more details here.  

Read a commentary on the Bulgarian naturalisation policy in the context of the free movement in the EU here.