Personal Story: Svetlana and her struggle to get a Bulgarian Passport

Svetlana Telpiz is a native of Moldova. However, she feels Bulgarian. "I want to tell my story of despair and endless waiting in the hope of obtaining Bulgarian citizenship," she wrote in a letter to the media.

"The situation with the consideration of granting Bulgarian citizenship to people of Bulgarian origin has dragged on for an incredible time. They started to refuse citizenship to the Gagauz of Bulgarian origin without any arguments", says Svetlana.

"In November 2017, I submitted documents to the Bulgarian consulate to receive confirmation of Bulgarian origin. A year and 2 months later (January 5, 2019) I received a documentary confirmation. On the basis of the document of Bulgarian origin, as well as all the documents required to obtain citizenship, I signed up to apply to the Consulate of Bulgaria, which is located in Chisinau," she writes.

"When submitting the documents, there was an interview in which they were interested in my nationality, my relatives who have Bulgarian citizenship (my older sister received Bulgarian citizenship based on Bulgarian origin in 2003) and many other questions. Today (11.04.2022) marks exactly 3 years since the submission of the documents and I still have the final status of reviewing the documents. My middle sister has also been waiting for an answer for 3 years now," says Svetlana.

"In January 2022, my parents applied for Bulgarian citizenship based on Bulgarian origin. Three months later - on March 28, on the website of the 'Directorate of Bulgarian Citizenship' their status was changed to:

'The certificate issued by the State Agency for Bulgarians Abroad, which certifies your Bulgarian origin, does not include...