Refugee/asylum naturalization — reduced residence (Art. 13a(1))

BG-NAT-02 е улеснената (облекчена) натурализация по чл.13а ал.1 от Закона за българското гражданство (ЗБГ) за чужденец, получил статут на бежанец (Geneva refugee) или убежище (asylum granted by the President) преди не по-малко от три години към датата на подаване на молбата. Unlike the standard чл.12 five-year track, this route substitutes a three-year STATUS-DURATION for the residence clock and imposes only чл.12 ал.1 т.1, 3, 4 и 5 (adult, clean record, income, Bulgarian language). It is a discretionary administrative grant effected by presidential указ on the Minister of Justice's proposal after the Citizenship Council opinion. The route is a sibling-overlap of BG-SPC-02 (same article, protection-status framing) and a reduced-clock subset of standard NAT-01.

To qualify a person must, at the filing date: (1) hold refugee status (статут на бежанец) OR asylum (убежище) granted no less than three years earlier; and (2) satisfy чл.12 ал.1 т.1 (пълнолетно — adult), т.3 (no Bulgarian-court conviction for an intentional general-nature crime and no pending such proceedings unless rehabilitated), т.4 (доход или занятие — income/occupation for self-support in Bulgaria), and т.5 (владее български език — Bulgarian-language proficiency). Two чл.12 conditions are expressly excluded: т.2 (the 5-year PR/LTR clock) is replaced by the status-duration, and т.6 (renunciation) does not apply. Eligibility is not entitlement: the presidential указ remains discretionary (чл.34/19).

There is NO independent permanent/long-term-residence clock on this track. Whereas standard чл.12 requires ≥5 years of PR/LTR (т.2), чл.13 (marriage/born-in-BG/minor-permit) and чл.14 (stateless) require ≥3 years of PR/LTR, чл.13а REPLACES the residence clock with STATUS-DURATION: the relevant period is the three years of refugee/asylum status itself (хуманитарен статут carries five years under ал.2). Conservatively, the three years run from the date of the formal status decision, not from arrival or asylum-claim lodgement — no primary text supports backdating to claim lodgement. A separate PR card is therefore not a precondition of BG-NAT-02; the protection status is the qualifying residence basis.

The molba is filed to the Minister of Justice on Наредба № 1/1999 Приложение № 1 (натурализация), with grounds stated on Приложение № 4 (чл.12, 13, 13а, 14 или 16), drafted in Bulgarian. Supporting documents include: proof of refugee/asylum status and its grant date ≥3 years before filing (State Agency for Refugees / protection authority); birth certificate; identity-document copy; свидетелство за съдимост (clean record, т.3); proof of income/occupation (т.4); удостоверение за владеене на български език from the ЦКОКУО exam or educational documents (т.5); and the paid-state-fee document. Foreign-authority documents need apostille/legalization plus certified Bulgarian translation. Critically, NO release-from-prior-citizenship document is required (т.6 inapplicable).

Step 1 — accrue ≥3 years of refugee/asylum status. Step 2 — obtain the чл.12 supporting evidence (clean-record certificate, income proof, ЦКОКУО language certificate). Step 3 — file the молба in person at the Ministry of Justice (or, abroad, at a BG diplomatic/consular mission, which forwards via the MFA) on Приложение № 1 with grounds on Приложение № 4. Step 4 — expert review (експертен преглед); defects are curable within a 2-month term (Наредба № 1 чл.13 ал.2) or образуване на производство is refused. Step 5 — the Съвет по гражданството renders its мнение after written opinions of МВР and ДАНС (чл.33). Step 6 — the Minister of Justice proposes to the President (чл.34). Step 7 — acquisition by presidential указ, effective from the day of issuance (чл.36); the MoJ issues an удостоверение (чл.37).

Prerequisite: ≥3 years of refugee/asylum status before filing. After filing, the Minister of Justice must propose the presidential decree within twelve (12) months under the general/eased naturalization term (чл.35 ал.1 т.1; изм. ДВ бр.21/2021) — the refugee track falls under the 12-month general term, NOT the 9-month Bulgarian-origin term. A frequently cited '18-month' figure is NOT statutory; чл.35 (12/9/6/3/1-month bands) controls and supersedes the NGO reading. The decree takes effect on the day of issuance (чл.36). Real-world end-to-end processing typically exceeds the 12-month statutory proposal term because of backlog.

Fees are set by Тарифа № 1 към Закона за държавните такси (раздел 'Г', Министерство на правосъдието), приета с ПМС № 167/1992 — the ЗБГ itself contains no fee article. ПМС № 104 от 25.06.2025 (обн. ДВ бр.52/2025), в сила 01.07.2025, sharply raised the citizenship fees (≈10× for acquisition/restoration): the general naturalization application fee rose from ≈100 лв to ≈1000 лв (≈511 EUR at the fixed rate 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN). Ancillary costs: the ЦКОКУО language-exam fee (set outside Тарифа № 1); document legalization/translation; consular interview ≈50 EUR and translation-certification ≈15 EUR per document where filed abroad. Exact promulgated lev/EUR figures for the application fee are pending direct read of ДВ бр.52/2025.

Primary anchor: ЗБГ чл.13а ал.1 — 'Лице, получило статут на бежанец или убежище преди не по-малко от три години към датата на подаване на молбата за натурализация, може да придобие българско гражданство, ако отговаря на условията по чл.12, ал.1, т.1, 3, 4 и 5.' Amendment chain: нов ДВ бр.41/2001; доп. ДВ бр.54/2002 (в сила 01.12.2002); предишен текст ДВ бр.52/2007; изм. ДВ бр.108/2013 (inserted the 'ал.1' cross-reference numbering when чл.12 was split into ал.1/ал.2 — substance unchanged). Current consolidation through ЗБГ ДВ бр.61/2025. The 'ал.2' humanitarian-status variant (5-year threshold, нова ДВ бр.52/2007) is a DISTINCT track, not BG-NAT-02.

Determining authority for the citizenship grant: Ministry of Justice (Министерство на правосъдието), Дирекция 'Българско гражданство', which receives and reviews the молба. The Съвет по гражданството (Citizenship Council, чл.33) — a standing MoJ body chaired by a Deputy Minister of Justice with representatives of МП, МВнР, МВР, ДАНС, ДАБЧ, the State Agency for Refugees and others — renders its мнение only after written opinions of МВР and ДАНС. The Minister of Justice then proposes to the President, who issues the указ (чл.34/36). The underlying protection status is granted upstream by the State Agency for Refugees (Държавна агенция за бежанците), or by the President for убежище/asylum.

Dual citizenship IS permitted on this route. чл.13а sits outside чл.12 ал.1 т.6, so no release from / renunciation of prior citizenship is required; refugees, like stateless persons (чл.14), Bulgarian-origin acquirers (чл.15) and minors (чл.18), are statutorily outside т.6. This is an EXPRESS statutory relief, not an inference, and is especially significant for refugees for whom renouncing the citizenship of the country of persecution may be impossible or dangerous. Generally, чл.3 ЗБГ treats a BG national who is also a foreign national as Bulgarian only under BG law. (By contrast, standard чл.12 naturalization requires renunciation unless the applicant is a spouse of a BG citizen or an EU/EEA/Swiss/treaty-reciprocity national under чл.12 ал.2.)