Bulgaria moves forward with personal electronic identification tools. Following the lead of other EU countries, Bulgaria plans to begin issuing biometric passports before the end of this year. The passports will be equipped with microchips capable of storing data such as fingerprints, iris scans, and personal information. The government has not yet announced exactly what information will be included on the chip.
There is also a plan on the drawing board to issue microchip equipped identity cards, although no formal schedule has been announced.
The Ministry of Health and the National Health Insurance Fund have already launched a pilot program for electronic health cards connecting doctors, patients, and pharmacies. The secure system improves accuracy and reduces processing time for patient care and prescriptions.
More and more foreigners want to obtain Bulgarian citizenship. The Bulgarian Citizenship Council of the Ministry of Justice considers 250 applications each week. Most foreigners who want to live and work in Bulgaria come from Macedonia, Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova. Many people who apply for citizenship have Bulgarian ancestry. The number of applications from people of Asian origin is also on the rise. To help find a connection between Bulgaria and the people applying for citizenship, they can always do an in-depth ancestry check with websites such as Genealogy Bank, to see if there is any link from a previous family member that may help their application.
A popular motivation for applying is the opportunity for free movement within the framework of the EU. This rationale usually elicits a negative decision from the Bulgarian authorities.
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