Non Lucrative visa

@grumpyoldbird

It should be a nice adventure to travel across Europe and compare your France, Spain and Bulgaria options. I hope you find something you like!

I would recommend that you try to hang on (if you're at/near 5 years) for your Permanent Residence in France before any official relocation. (You can buy a property elsewhere before you're formally a resident there.) PR is a big deal in the EU, and if you relocate before it, you'll restart the 5-year clock in your new EU country. My understanding is that both Bulgaria and Spain have separate immigration options for those with a "long term" permit (i.e. PR) elsewhere in the EU. In this case, you can apply in the new country for your new residence permit based on this exemption, rather than apply for a residence visa (D in Bulgaria or NLV in Spain) at the relevant embassy.

As to the NLV, the requirement is EITHER for savings (approx. 29k euros) OR passive income (approx. 2.4k euros/month). The savings you use to get the NLV are not formally locked in any way. But, you're quite right, in a year you'd have to renew, and be able to show sufficient savings at that time. I'm not 100% sure, but I'd have guessed that if you could prove (for example) 1,000 euros of pension income they'd accept only 17k of savings to reach the required total.

Separately, you should note the following in relation to buying a house that you are viewing soon. In Bulgaria, you can't buy in your own name, so you would need a Bulgarian company for the purchase. In Spain, you can buy in your own name, but you must have your NIE.

France official guidance

https://www.service-public.fr/particuli … 53?lang=en

Bulgaria official guidance (Chaper 3, FOREIGNER WHO HAS RECEIVED A LONG-TERM RESIDENCE PERMIT IN ANOTHER MEMBER STATE...)

https://www.mig.government.bg/wp-conten … ia_act.pdf

@gwynj

Thank you. Unfortunately by the time I've been here 5 years, I'm not sure I'd be able to face uprooting again. It would probably help my friend though.