Натурализация статуса беженца/убежища (§13а(1))

ЗБГ §13а ал. 1 беженец 3-й трек — Vluchtelingenverdrag 1951 г. + Протокол 1967 г. + официальная стипендия ЗУБ. Перекрестная ссылка на структуру BG-NAT-02.

There is NO independent permanent/long-term-residence clock on this track — this is the SPC route's defining mechanics. чл.13а REPLACES the residence clock with STATUS-DURATION: the qualifying period is the THREE YEARS of refugee/asylum status itself (хуманитарен статут carries five years under ал.2). Compare the PR-clock landscape: standard чл.12 (NAT-01) = 5 yrs PR/LTR (т.2); чл.13 marriage/born-in-BG/minor-permit (MAR-01) and чл.14 stateless (SPC-01) = 3 yrs PR/LTR; чл.13а = status-duration, no separate residence card. Conservatively, the three years run from the date of the FORMAL ЗУБ status decision (refugee status by ДАБ; убежище by the President), 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-SPC-02; the protection status is the qualifying residence basis. (Practically, protection-status holders may also hold continuous/long-term residence, but the чл.13а grant does not depend on it.)

The молба is filed to the Minister of Justice on Наредба № 1/1999 Приложение № 1 (натурализация), with grounds stated on Приложение № 4 (чл.13а), in Bulgarian. SPC-specific core attachment: PROOF OF PROTECTION STATUS AND ITS GRANT DATE ≥3 years before filing — the ЗУБ status decision and/or the refugee/asylum registration card issued by the State Agency for Refugees (ДАБ), or the presidential decision for убежище. Other attachments: birth certificate; copy of identity/travel document; свидетелство за съдимост (т.3); proof of income/occupation (т.4); удостоверение за владеене на български език from the ЦКОКУО exam or Bulgarian educational documents (т.5); two photographs; document for the paid state fee (вносна бележка за таксата). Foreign-authority documents need apostille/legalization plus certified Bulgarian translation — but refugees who cannot safely obtain documents from their country of origin rely on ДАБ-held protection records and status documentation in lieu of origin-state civil documents. NO release-from-prior-citizenship document is required (т.6 inapplicable).

ДАБ подтверждение статуса беженца + 3 года законного присутствия + MJ molba.

Prerequisite: ≥3 years of refugee/asylum status before filing (status-duration clock). 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/asylum track falls under the 12-month general band (т.1), NOT the 9-month Bulgarian-origin band (т.2). 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 Съвет по гражданството may SUSPEND, and the чл.35 deadlines are suspended accordingly, where facts/evidence must be established or чл.19 circumstances arise. 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, raised the citizenship fees ~10× for acquisition: the general naturalization application (молба за придобиване) line т.55 в. rose from 100 лв to 1000 лв (≈511,29 EUR at the fixed rate 1 EUR = 1.95583 BGN). Because the refugee/asylum route carries NO BG-parent/BG-origin element, it falls under the general 1000-лв band (т.55 в.), not the reduced 300-лв origin band (т.55 а.). Ancillary: ЦКОКУО language-exam fee (outside Тарифа № 1); document legalization/translation; where filed abroad, consular interview ≈50 EUR and translation-certification ≈15 EUR per document. Note Geneva Convention Art 34 enjoins States to reduce charges for refugee naturalization — Bulgaria's general fee applies regardless. EUR values from 01.01.2026 are computed at the irrevocable rate except where IISDA-published.

BG-SPC-02 OPERATIONALIZES Bulgaria's international-protection treaty obligations — the treaty layer is integral to the SPC framing. ECN / European Convention on Nationality (CETS/ETS No.166): Bulgaria IS a State Party (signed 15.01.1998; ratified 02.02.2006; EIF for BG 01.06.2006), bound by Art 6(4)(g) (facilitate acquisition for recognised refugees lawfully and habitually resident) and Art 4(b) (avoidance of statelessness) — чл.13а ал.1 is the domestic instrument of this facilitation duty (/172). Bulgaria entered FOUR ECN reservations (Arts 11, 12, 16, 17(1)) plus an Art 22(b) declaration (military-recruitment age 27) — none of which removes the refugee-facilitation duty (/171/173). The 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention Art 34 enjoins States to facilitate refugee naturalization and to make every effort to expedite proceedings and reduce charges. Bulgaria is also PARTY to the 1954 Stateless Persons Convention and 1961 Reduction of Statelessness Convention (accession 22.03.2012) — relevant where a refugee is also stateless — but is NOT a party to ETS 043 (1963 Multiple Nationality) nor the Hague 1930 Convention, so there is no treaty-based bar to the dual nationality this route preserves. Bulgaria is an EU Member State (accession 01.01.2007); a person naturalized via чл.13а becomes a Union citizen (TFEU Art 20).

TWO-LAYER authority — the layering is the SPC route's signature. STATUS layer (upstream): refugee status (статут на бежанец) is granted by the chairman of the State Agency for Refugees (Държавна агенция за бежанците / ДАБ) under the ЗУБ; asylum (убежище) is granted by the President of the Republic (Конституция чл.98 т.10). NATURALIZATION layer: the молба is received and reviewed by the Ministry of Justice (Министерство на правосъдието), Дирекция 'Българско гражданство'. 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, МРРБ, МТСП, МЗ, Министерство на иновациите и растежа, ДАНС, ДАБЧ/ИАБЧ and the State Agency for Refugees — renders its мнение only after written opinions of МВР and ДАНС (чл.33 ал.3). Notably, the State Agency for Refugees sits ON the Citizenship Council, linking the two layers institutionally. The Minister of Justice then proposes to the President (чл.34), who grants citizenship by указ (чл.36).

Dual citizenship IS permitted on this route, and the relief is especially weighty for protection-status holders. 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 exclusion, not an inference — and it is the natural design choice for refugees, for whom renouncing the citizenship of the country of persecution may be impossible (no safe access to its authorities) 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 — exemptions that do not even need to be reached on the refugee track.) ECN Art 6(4)(g) and the Geneva regime reinforce this facilitation.