Sunday 3rd March 2019

Any of you with Bulgarian links will notice your Facebook timeline today is smothered in Bulgarian flags and wishes of Честит 3-ти Март (happy 3rd of March) as Bulgaria celebrates one of its major national holidays. It was on this day in 1878 that a peace treaty was signed between Russia (who were aiding Bulgaria during the 1877-1878 war) and the then Ottoman Empire, signalling the end of the Ottoman domination of Bulgaria after almost five centuries. Did I just Google all those facts, I hear you ask. No, they are just one of the many hundreds of bits of information I crammed into my head ready to impress the interviewer as part of my bid for citizenship. I needn't have bothered.

My interview was scheduled for 28th February, so I arrived in Sofia on the 27th and checked into the rather lovely apartment I'd reserved for myself and a friend right in the heart of Sofia and a mere stone's throw from the Ministry of Justice where we were to be interviewed. I got the place through AirBnB, having never used that particular site before, but what a great way to find accommodation! We each had our own room and bathroom, separated by a very cosy kitchen come living room which looked out onto a little courtyard. The area had dozens of eateries, shops, supermarkets etc right on the doorstep which would be great for a longer stay.

That night we went out to an Italian place for dinner and forced ourselves to conduct our entire conversation in Bulgarian as a last minute practice for the next day. Folder of documents all ready, fancy clothes hung up and time to try and get some sleep.

All dressed and ready to go in my official interview outfit with diplomatic attache case at the ready.

My interview was scheduled for 9.30am so we arrived at the appointed place by about 9.10am, went through the security desk and headed for window 3 as instructed. A woman was already being dealt with there, and there was a queue of another 4 people ahead of us. Time ticked by and I began to worry I'd miss my interview slot as it says on the letter if you turn up more than 15 minutes late you lose your appointment. I spoke to the people in the queue, wondering if they'd arrived early and if I could possibly jump the queue but it turned out they were waiting for 9am interviews. Clearly the system was already well behind.

The woman at desk 3 was finally finished and I headed over to present my nice tidy folder. The man serving then proceeded to pull all the documents out and returned the folder to me, so I guess a Kaufland carrier bag would have been just as impressive. Then came the scrutiny of the documents one by one as he checked them off the enclosed list. I noticed that my documents seemed to be being separated into two piles, but imagined that maybe he was just putting them into the preferred order. Not so.

There's a problem with your documents, he announced, waving a fistful at me. These all need to be legalised.

It turned out that even though all my English documents had gone through an official translator and had been stamped to say it was an official translator, they should all have then been taken to a notary for the translator's signature to be stamped to say that it's bona fide. It made me wonder if the notary then had to have their signature stamped and so on, until everyone in the country has been stamped to say that yes they are real people with legitimate signatures. That wasn't the only issue though.

He pointed to my pension documents which were my proof that I have an income.

Your pension needs to be processed through NOI, he said. (This is the Националният Осигурителен Институт - National Social Security Institute). It later transpired that this isn't true at all. When I returned home I got a Bulgarian friend to phone NOI in Sofia who declared that it is only foreign nationals from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and somewhere else who need to do that and that it is actually impossible for them to process British pensions. When the same friend contacted the ministry to tell them this, the man there simply seemed to restate that my pension must go through NOI and he didn't know of anything different. To me this seems like an extreme version of 'computer says no'!

Documents asside, there was one more rather large failing and that is that I'm not even eligible for citizenship until I've lived in Bulgaria for 10 years (I've currently been here for almost 7). This was completely new to me as all the legal information said that to be eligible to apply for citizenship you must have at least 5 years long term or permanent residency. Unfortunately it was the wording that caused the confusion. Let me try to explain.

When you first arrive in Bulgaria and register your presence, you receive your first lichna card, or identity card, which is valid for 5 years. This is called a long term residency card, as shown on this example:

After 5 years, you then change this for a permanent residency card which is valid indefinitely. Now, since I've already had my long term card (5 years) plus now have a permanent card (1.5 years) I thought I'd clocked up 6.5 years of valid residency. Not so. It turns out I had the wrong sort of long term residency.

The one the ministry were referring to was the permanent residency card non-EU nationals receive. Apparently theirs isn't called permanent but long term. So basically the rules are that non-EU nationals must have 5 years long term residency, EU nationals must have 5 years permanent residency to qualify for citizenship. I was 3 years too early.

So that was that.

My friend was in the same boat as she also didn't have enough years under her belt, so very disconsolately we left the building for a huge coffee and comforting slab of cake. One thing the ministry did allow us was the refund of our 100 lev application fee which was decent of them.

So, I'm left now awaiting the outcome of Brexit to see whether I will be reapplying for citizenship further down the line. Firstly, and most importantly, Bulgaria would still need to allow British nationals to have dual citizenship, otherwise it would mean relinquishing my claim to a state pension, which might be essential in years to come when I need to pay someone to light my fire each day or to fund the luxury SAGA holidays I'm anticipating. The other thing is whether or not Brits will still have complete freedom of movement around Europe. If so, then there would be no advantage to my having Bulgarian citizenship. Mind you, having gone to so much effort I think I might be a tiny bit tempted to go for it anyway. Kind of in an "I've started so I'll finish" manner.

Onto cosier more cuddly things to finish. Here are two pictures of Finlay and Poppy playing hide and seek. Can you spot the hidden cats?

Where's Finlay, the ginger cat?

Where's Poppy, the black and white cat?