Job opportunities

@Ali Aqrabawi

If you're talking about a Registered Nurse then I can't imagine that you'll find a job without speaking Bulgarian. English in addition to Bulgarian would be useful, but not on its own...

Retired RN speaking - I consider it very unlikely anyone would be able to work successfully as an RN without fluency in the local language. Even having a basic conversational level really isn't good enough for safe practice in healthcare.

The options I can think of could be a European hospital that ONLY sees health tourist patients, where like many multinational workplaces where the one language almost everyone speaks a little of is English, it becomes the main language used. Other possibilities for an RN with experience might be the operating room or intensive care areas where your patients mostly won't be conscious, though I still think that's potentially problematic if you're dealing with patients who don't speak English. The Middle East could be an option, traditionally many of the hospitals there are American run, use English as their main language, and they'll take English speaking RNs. Obviously, Britain has a huge nurse shortage, but it's getting harder for healthcare staff to get visas and your wife would be unlikely to be able to join you unless she can get a work visa in her own right.

I did hear of one British RN who spoke next-to-no Bulgarian who got a job in healthcare in Bulgaria, but she was a very experienced cardiology nurse who found a position working more as a cardiac technician/ physician's assistant type role for a consultant cardiologist. As a newly qualified RN, it's going to be a lot harder to find something.

Do you speak Hungarian, or is your university one of the many in Europe teaching in English to attract foreign students? If so, what are your classmates planning to do when they graduate? And how are you managing the practical aspects of your course?

Between us, my wife and I have had considerably more than our fair share of encounters with the BG health system, both public and private.  Obviously, speaking Bulgarian is essential in the public sector, but I've yet to encounter anyone, at any level, in the private sector who couldn't speak the language fluently.  Pay for nurses here is also notoriously low: bizarrely, "nursing assistants" - especially those who are okay with cleaning up incontinent patients, changing ostomy bags etc - are in short supply and often command higher wages than trained nurses..

I do think the only possible option would be a health facility that ONLY deals with health tourists. I don't even know if there are any in Bulgaria, possibly Varna might have one or two.

Our UK neighbour flies off every now and then for cosmetic surgery in other Eastern European countries and tells us English is spoken in the hospitals she's attended. Even in that type of facility, I can't imagine safely working as an RN speaking only English and little of the local language would be possible.

The more mainstream private hospitals in Bulgaria would definitely require fluency in the local language.

@Ali Aqrabawi

Follow the money = Germany. :-)

Bulgaria has many positives, but it is the poorest country in the EU with the lowest salaries. As a recent grad you'd be far better off moving to a high-wage country.

Wherever you go, I'm pretty sure you'll need the local language. But German (or French/Spanish) strikes me as far more useful than Bulgarian. (Work-wise that is, I'm sure your wife would appreciate it.)

Good luck with the job hunting.

Go to the USA if you can-  experienced RN in California makes $180-200K/year.

With overtime and if you choose to have no life you can make easily $250K.

The salaries range is  $ 50-120/hour. Some CA agencies will pay you a huge bonus to move there. Hawaii, New York also pay very well. Australia, Middle East also are worth a shot. Europe has low RN salaries with one exception :Switzerland.

@TonyFF

Immigration! :-)

He's been studying in the EU, so it will be relatively easy to relocate there.

@gwynj

Yes, good idea ; there is also H-1B visa. A lot of medical facilities will pay all the immigration paperwork in exchange for

a contract. I believe they will hire new grads. I do not know exactly the procedure but it is worth to contact an American recruiter.