Investigation: Russians are not interested in expensive Bulgarian "golden visas."

Wednesday, Oct 30, 2024

Mediapool

Removal of “Golden Passports” caused a 50% drop in non-EU foreign investments in Bulgaria since 2022.

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[This is an automatically generated summary, for reference only]

The removal of “Golden Passports” and stricter regulations for residency visas based on investment have caused a fifty percent decrease in investments made in Bulgaria by foreigners from outside the EU, according to a Mediapool survey. This collapse in foreign investment, primarily from Russia, former Soviet republics, and Turkey, began in 2022 with the discontinuation of selling investment citizenship—the so-called golden passports. Investigations by Mediapool revealed how businessmen close to the Kremlin obtained Bulgarian passports without making actual investments in Bulgaria.

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PULSE is an initiative for cross-border collaborative journalism in Europe co-funded by the European Commission under Grant Agreement n. PO 4500158093.

PULSE is an initiative coordinated by OBCT that has been promoting intensive journalistic cross-border collaborations in Europe since 2024. Its main aim is to help strengthen the European public sphere by reporting on and telling stories from new and diverse perspectives.

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