Thinking about moving - looking for information and advice.

@Yuri1976   i was in Bulgaria , varna and around the country about 5 years ago and loved it . i did have friends from there to take me around . I am American and would like to move there one day . or part time i like that it is the opposite of the usa  simple people simple life , beautiful county

wish you the best

Wow, much has changed since your last visit 20 years ago! I would probably say that Bulgaria as a country has gathered more speed developmentally wise than the UK for sure! Fibre optic internet connection is now available in my village and obviously many others too.. good hospitals and Drs in my experience of the past 10 years have been very good - I'm sure  that your visit in March will be a very different experience to your previous time in Bulgaria. You've found the right forum to ask questions as there are so many knowledgeable & helpful expats and also Bulgarians here, only too happy to help you.

@Yuri1976

Welcome to the expat.com forum, and good luck with your potential move to Bulgaria!

20 years ago is like ancient history... it's pretty much a completely different country. :-)

A few plus points (especially for digital nomads making good foreign salaries): low cost of living, low taxation, (relatively) low property prices. Plus beautiful countryside and wide open spaces (very low population density).

In particular, Bulgarian migration is to the big cities (Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna) leaving lots of potential village properties for the location-independent who don't want/need to be in/near the larger cities. As @Jules999 says, there's excellent connectivity even in villages, so remote working normally not a issue.

I'm very content in Bulgaria (now a permanent resident after 5 years here), and we have a quality of life far beyond what we could afford elsewhere.

As EU citizen you enjoy freedom of movement, and you can become a legal resident in just a few days, at very low cost.

Sofia is the largest city, and has rather gone crazy in the last few years. I prefer Plovdiv, the 2nd city, and recent European Capital of Culture. It's a nice size and has a wonderful combination of the ancient (Greek/Roman and Bulgarian Revival) and modern. If you enjoy the outdoors, I highly recommend the Central Balkan National Park (Karlovo-Kazanlak area) and the Pirin National Park (Bansko-Razgrad area). Both are spectacular, and there are many nice villages nearby. I hope you enjoy exploring them when you visit. (There's also Rila National Park, Rodopes, Strandzha - and about 300 km of Black Sea coastline, if you prefer.)

Hello All,

thanks for the best wishes and suggestions.

I think I can break down my search into three main topics.

-> property market. Can anyone suggest some good website (i assume Bulgarian ones are better) or realtor?

I dont speak Bulgarian, so I have tried a few english speaking website and the price tag were all over the place (from a few thousands to millions sometimes in the same regions/area and for properties that didnt look much different).

I am not really looking for city but rather a farm or countryside house with plot of land of decent size with wood and ideally river. I would be happy to build my own but the idea of eastern Europe bureaucracy scares me and I would prefer something to get in asap and then start to improve. Love the idea of being off grid with own well, power supply and enough woods and land to have fire and construction wood as well as a bit or agriculture, bee farming etc.

-> tax. Everybody says taxes in Bulgaria are lower and easy. Unfortunately, I come from a bad experience in Romania and realised you have to take anything in eastern Europe with a pinch (a big one) of salt. It doesn't worth the penny if you have 10% on paper but then you have zero services, never-ending Bureaucracy and spend the rest on lawyers and notaries. I am a business owner in the uk, as said tried in Romania because, on the paper, micro enterprise pay 3% only…and that was a huge mistake from which I am still trying to get out. In the end It was cheaper and much much easier and stress free to sinply stay put in the uk, even with recession and brexit!

Do you know a reliable accountant that can provide me some clear information about what I would be paying in Bulgaria as tax resident?

-> bureaucracy, ease of getting by.  How do you guys manage healthcare, bureaucracy and other matters especially when you dont know the language? Are hospital and first care good or you go private and how much would it cost?

Cheers

Yuri

@Yuri1976

Phew! That's a lot! :-)

(a) Have a quick look at BulgarianProperties (dot com) as they have a lot of listings all over Bulgaria, and they specialize in expats. Ebay also good for cheaper village houses (and there are some "pay-monthly" options which are very popular).

(b) The easiest is ready to move, but that's the most expensive. You can buy a village property which has a nice garden and has water/electricity already connected. You can renovate the house, or you can build a new house to the SAME FOOTPRINT without any bureaucracy. A regulated land plot can be an option if you want to build, but it's a lot more work. Prefabricated houses are pretty good now, and some of these companies will take away a lot of the headache (as they often deal with the planning permission, and do most of the construction work).

(c) Tax here is a flat rate of 10% for both personal income tax, and corporate income tax. You can be self-employed or have your own EOOD, and I'd expect most accountants to recommend the latter. It's not as online and easy/cheap as the UK, but you can quickly and easily incorporate a company through an attorney.

(d) After the fall of communism, English is now taught in schools. So younger folks tend to speak English. Google translate is pretty great. And you can take a freelance (state-registered) translator with you for around 50 leva per hour. Like everywhere, there is bureaucracy, and it's a pain... but you can navigate on your own. But the low-stress option is to take a translator with you. Or, many of these processes (e.g. residence permits, re-registering vehicle) can be delegate entirely (for a fee) to an attorney.

(e) Healthcare seems pretty good here, but I don't think I would go to a public hospital (it's a lot more crowded, and usually not quite as modern). There are some great private hospitals and I'd guess the care is good. If you buy a private health insurance policy, you're covered at private hospitals. If you're covered in the public health system, you can still go to most private hospitals and they charge the "upgrade" fee (relative to what the state pays them). I registered in the public system as unemployed, it costs me 13 euros per month. So I can register with a GP, and I'm entitled to free (or nearly free) treatment at a public hospital... or I can go private and pay a bit extra. They also gave me an EHIC for use elsewhere in EU. If you register as I've done, then you can still buy a private health insurance policy, but it will cost a lot less.

(f) It's a great country, a bit of an undiscovered gem. I don't think there are any nasty surprises waiting for you. Friendly people (especially in the villages), good food, and spectacular scenery. It's not cheap for Bulgarians, but if you're an expat with money (or making good money remotely) then you can live very well. The official minimum salary here is about 360 euros per month. A full UK state pension will be around 1,000 euros per month, so while you can't live like a king, it's not bad (especially if you sell a UK property and buy here for cash, so no rent/mortgage to worry about).