Bulgaria Bans ‘Golden Passports’ in Bid to Win Schengen Entry
- Bulgaria targets investment-related citizenship after scrutiny
- Legislation to eliminate program passes initial vote
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Bulgaria advanced a bill to ban so-called “golden passports,” which grant citizenship to people who invest in the European Union member state.
Following repeated criticism from the European Commission, which has kept the Balkan state out of the bloc’s passport-free Schengen travel zone, lawmakers voted Thursday to end the practice of granting citizenship to foreigners who make investments of as little as as 1 million lev ($581,300).