Posted on 02/04/2005 4:49:43 PM PST by franksolich
Applicants for permanent residence must understand Bulgarian, Parliament rules
Parliament has made two moves in the past week strongly affecting the lives of foreigners in Bulgaria: on the one hand, giving the go-ahead for constitutional amendments to allow certain categories of foreigners to buy land, but on the other hand introducing knowledge of Bulgarian as a qualification for permanent residence.
The approval at second reading of the amendments to the Foreigners Act regarding conditions of granting permanent residence introduced the mandatory knowledge of Bulgarian, and for those seeking permanent residence on the basis of investment, raising the minimum stake to $500 000. Until recently, the minimum investment was $250 000.
The Parliament decision regulating the procedure for issuing of permanent residence permits, which introduces the mandatory requirement of a certificate that the applicant has a certain level of knowledge of the Bulgarian language, is certain to cause concern among many expatriates.
According to the amendments, among other documents, the applicant for permanent residence would have to submit a Bulgarian proficiency certificate.
The language course programmes, according to the bill, will be designed and developed by the services for administrative control of foreigners, the Education and Science Ministry and government and non-government organisations.
The programmes will be carried out by the Education and Science Ministry, which will issue the proficiency certificates.
These regulations will not apply to foreigners holding Bulgarian nationality, or if the matter is dealt with in another manner through an international treaty.
Initially the introduction of a requirement of mandatory proficiency in Bulgarian was floated by the Government in late May last year, and at the time was received with mixed feelings among foreigners.
Later the idea was reconsidered by the Government, and the language certificate remained as a requirement only for those applying for citizenship.
The issue of mandatory proficiency in Bulgarian was raised on January 24 at the 19th meeting of the European Union-Bulgaria Joint Parliamentary Committee in Sofia.
According to another section of the amendments, the period for registering with the police or the services for administrative control of foreigners is to be five days.
The registration has to be done either by the foreigner or the person or organisation through which the foreigner is being accommodated.
Until recently, the grace period was two days.
If the person or organisation fails to do so, there will be stiff fines, of between 100 and 1000 leva for private entities and 500 and 5000 leva for legal entities.
Meanwhile, on January 26 Parliament approved the first reading of amendments to the constitution connected to the future EU membership of Bulgaria.
The constitutional amendments are being discussed in a process involving three readings and each time have to be passed by at least three quarters of the total number of MPs, 180.
By a majority of 211 votes, MPs supported in principle the amendments allowing foreigners to buy land in Bulgaria.
The left-wing MPs from the Coalition for Bulgaria were the only ones who opposed the more liberal option of allowing to non-EU foreigners to buy land in Bulgaria.
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament and left-wing MP Lyuben Kornezov said that the Coalition for Bulgaria supports the amendments in principle, but between the first and the second reading will propose an amendment that would allow the sale of land to foreigners only from EU countries and on condition that they use it for agriculture.
Kornezov argued that it was a matter of sovereignty. He said that the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Spain and Hungary also had introduced a set of limitations applying even to citizens of EU countries.
Kornezov said that in their current form, the amendments would allow citizens of countries with which Bulgaria has agreements on land sales to buy land in 2007 when the amendments would come into effect, while EU citizens will have the right to buy land in 2014.
Kamelia Kassabova, head of the parliamentary committee on constitutional changes, which drafted the amendments, said that it was not fair to confuse the public with complicated legal arguments and that in a future bill on property all rules and conditions for land sales to foreigners will be listed.
The leader of the Bulgarian Agrarian People’s Union – People’s Union (BAPU-PU), Anastasia Mozer said that it would be appropriate if all international treaties allowing foreigners to buy land were approved by a two-thirds majority in order to avoid political advantage-taking.
So if anyone wishes to be on the "Bulgarian ping list," give me a holler. I have no idea what to promise; perhaps nothing much happens in Bulgaria (but I had thought that about Norway, too, and was astounded to find that no, a great many things happen in Norway).
Anyway, it seems to me that if one purchases real-estate somewhere, it is just good common sense to know the language.
The Bulgarian Government is smarter than ours.
Damn, that sounds like the setup line for a joke.
Pathetic that it's true.
So9
Wish we had to know a basic understanding of English to live in America. And I'm not just talking about foreigners (ex.My classmates who can't pronouce "liaison" after 30 minutes of telling them).
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