IS IT WORTH IT? EU citizenship for sale to non-Europeans in Bulgaria for as little as £150,000.

So long as applicants can deposit sufficient funds, they need only visit the east European country for two days to obtain all the rights of EU citizens.

Even someone with a criminal record who has been turned down for a British passport can qualify for Bulgarian citizenship under the scheme, agents brokering the deal said.

The fast-track programme was quietly introduced just weeks before restrictions on Bulgarian nationals living and working in other EU countries were dropped earlier this year. Hundreds of foreign nationals are already believed to have applied for EU citizenship under the scheme.