Hi from Greece,

This is what is currently effective:

Passengers of flights from Bulgaria, Romania, UAE, Malta, Belgium, Spain, Albania, North Macedonia and Hungary (as of September 16, 2020 until October 12, 2020) from Czech Republic (as of September 28, 2020) and Poland (as of October 3, 2020) to Greece will be required to have a negative molecular test result (PCR) for COVID-19, performed up to 72 hours before their entry to Greece.

I tell you why, a friend Matthias is running a coliving space there called Coworking Bansko, and as they’ll throw a big party next year, the nomad scene is growing there. That’s actually when I’m gonna see the place for the first time, and I can give you my official review

It’s a mega cheap place, that’s why. It’s probably on a par with Thailand for costs.

If you want to hunker down and just work, then it’s a good place! There is 24/7 coworking and a good community of people there. I was there in September and it was a lot of fun. As it’s a small community you do end up doing lots of things together as everyone is in the same boat.

That said, the nightlife is basically a couple of ok bars and it’s not a place to jump on Tinder. Good for working, not a party town basically.

It’s mostly REALLy cheap to live, and in the winter it’s good for skiing etc. The 200 number is extrapolated from the 8 people checked in on Nomad List, so not necessarily completely accurate. But it is exceptional that there’s 8 people from Nomad List in a place like Bansko. I wonder why too!

Yeah, you either hike, go to the spa, or just save money. Nothing else left to do, during the summer.

Are you interested in setting up the company in Bulgaria or set up somewhere else and just use Bulgaria as back office to take advantage of the lower costs? If you set up shop in Bulgaria the obvious advantage is the low tax (10% corporate tax and 5% on dividends!) and access to EU market. A disadvantage of sorts will be that you will need to come here more to have your board meetings etc as you will need some sort of physical presence. I run a cloud based accounting practice with most of my clients’ companies based in UK, however I spent most of my time in Bulgaria and find it a good place to base a distributed business.

Hi all. In view of the interest, I checked with my accountant and they agreed to publish their email address here.

Please feel free to contact Veda Accounting directly at: info[email protected]

Please send it to me as well, thanks.

I’ll send you a private message with the details of my accountant, I think they can help you.

Sofia doesn’t have a ton of laptop-type cafes, but a great exception is Barista Coffee and More. The Greenwich bookstore/ cafe on Vitosha is also not bad. And if you like arty tea houses, two great places are Tea House on ul. Georgi Benkovski (a bit pricey but cozy atmosphere, some people on laptops, good food) and Veda House, which has a great Indian vibe and veg food – you can sit on cushions on the floor or at tables.

There are coffee shops beyond this on Vitosha, and a couple of Costa Coffee cafes that are fine for a little working but the above were my favorites.

Hi Jason,

As far as I’m aware, as a member of the EU (British citizen), you have freedom of movement across all member states (Bulgaria being one of them). Technically you should register your arrival with an embassy or council, but that’s more of a formality.

This is from wikipedia:

The free movement of persons means that EU citizens can move freely between member states to live, work, study or retire in another country. This required the lowering of administrative formalities and recognition of professional qualifications of other states.

Hope that helps and happy travels!

I’ve spent a lot of time in Bulgaria. My 2¢:

• Plovdiv should be high on your list. Both the new city and the historic old town are some of the best, most underrated must-see global destinations for people like us.
• Sofia is the 3rd or 4th highest-ranked city in the EU on the Nomad List so if you like big, busy, cosmopolitan cities, you’ll like it there.
• The winter resort towns like Bansko and Rila are pricier this time of year, but drop dead gorgeous and still inexpensive to someone accustomed to UK prices.
• I hear what you said about wanting to avoid the Black Sea but it’s CRAZY inexpensive in the off season (I’m biased, though — Varna is one of my favorite cities in the world).

HAVE FUN, Bulgaria is amazing!

I second Plovdiv! I am thinking I will spend my summer there. It’s a great little city!

If you are visiting Bulgaria in the summer, you will prefer some smaller city/village, since the big ones are too ‘touristy’ in the holiday season.
If you are looking for a cool city not at the sea - definitely Plovdiv.

Hello!

As I understand, UK citizens are not Schengen but can work and live freely without registration in other EU states, [up to 90 days][1].

And although Bulgaria is not Schengen, they now have to follow the Schengen visa-issuing rules. Bulgaria is great. Of course double check but, you should be good-to-go!

Good luck!
[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_the_Schengen_Area