14 Reasons to Move to Sofia, Bulgaria from Western Europe in 2025

14 Reasons to Move to Sofia, Bulgaria from Western Europe in 2025

in 10 years Bulgaria lost 845,000 people which is the biggest drop in modern history and the biggest drop compared to other countries in Europe Bulgaria is a country in southeastern Europe and is often called the country that everybody wants to leave why is that and why did we decide to move here? Bulgaria’s population was around 9 million in the 80s but it dropped to about 7 million in 2018 and is expected to drop to 6 million in the next 50 years we moved to the capital, to Sofia and compared to other capitals where we lived I personally wouldn’t say that it’s empty here streets are full of people nobody is running away and most of the people who are leaving are actually leaving the small villages and towns in search of a good job. and the reality is salaries in Bulgaria are one of the lowest in the European Union and it’s obvious that young Bulgarians young professionals are seeking jobs elsewhere but I do hear that more and more Bulgarians that have emigrated are now actually seeking for a way to come back so from my impression the main reason for leaving is not because Bulgaria is such a bad place to live in fact I do think that Bulgaria is a beautiful country and life here can be pretty good so why did we move here and why would I personally recommend everyone who can work remotely to move here too? if you can work remotely I think this is one of the best countries to move to right now Bulgaria is part of the European Union and people are moving out to other countries in union in search for a job but that actually was our first criteria when we were searching for a new country to live in we wanted to stay in the country that is part of the European Union my husband is from the Netherlands and I’m from Russia so for us to even live together somewhere I do need to get a residency permit one of the benefits of living in the country that is part of the European Union is that once you get a residency here you are also free to travel to other countries in the European Union and you don’t need a visa so that might be a huge benefit for someone who is a digital nomad or wants to travel freely in Europe and doesn’t want to have a hassle with visas I know that for people from US or Canada it’s much easier to get a long term residency in countries like Montenegro Albania, Serbia and here in Bulgaria you will need more documents but as I just said, once you get the Bulgarian residency you are also free to travel in other countries in the union. but with the Albanian residency for example, you will not be able to do that. Albanian residency will only give you the right to stay in Albania same for Serbia and Montenegro the path to residency here in Bulgaria is very straightforward especially if you hold the passport of one of the countries in the European Union. it will take about 4 working days plus some time to fill in the documents and find the apartment but if you hold the passport from somewhere else outside of European Union it is gonna be more complicated you will need more documents but there are still several ways to do it the first option is the easiest if you have a partner, even unregistered partner so you don’t have to be married if you have a partner who has a European Union passport then you come here together or maybe they are already here and they get a residency in four days and then right away you as a partner can apply it will take about a month or two depending on how busy the immigration office is but then you’re all good to go and you can get yourself a residency for five years the second option is for people who work remotely and own a business. and it can be a bigger business or you can be registered just as a solopreneur so it’s only one person business but if it’s registered somewhere else not in Bulgaria then you can get yourself a trade representative visa so the fact that you will be establishing a representation for your business here in Bulgaria this is how it will look on paper and the fact is you are just moving yourself to Bulgaria the third option is for people who are retired there is a visa type specifically for people who are retired and can support themselves financially income requirements are relatively low they are just above the minimum salaries in Bulgaria the waiting time again will be 1 to 2 months depending on how quickly you can get all the documents to get a residency you also need to secure a long term rent and that was a second major factor for us when we were searching for a place to relocate to everywhere we were looking at specifically Germany and the Netherlands the rents are just sky high and I know that inflation right now is everywhere in the world in every major country: in US and Canada in UK, in Australia everywhere in Europe people are saying that rents are growing and growing and growing and it just doesn’t stop. and it becomes more and more expensive so many people right now are also searching for a new home and what we found in Sofia is that here there is much more availability and the prices are still relatively affordable of course from what I heard from friends who’ve been living here for years already they do say that inflation here is also quite high and the rents are about 50 percent higher than they were a couple years back but for example in the capital, in Sofia you can find a one bedroom apartment in relatively good condition close to the city center for around 450 euro and the two bedroom is somewhere from 600 to 800 euro depending on the condition and before coming here I was already looking into that I searched online and I saw many different options and of course you can go as high as a 1000 to 2500 euros for one or two bedroom apartment it will be in one of the newly built apartments in the new neighborhood but what we found here in Sofia is that yes there are many older buildings from the 80s or the 90s and they basically are looking like Soviet blocks but the apartments themselves they are renovated and are in good condition of course not all of them will be in great condition and you do have to go yourself and check out by yourself don’t just trust the pictures that you see online but we were pleasantly surprised when we saw the apartments I mean, they are not perfect but they are much better than expected so of course if your budget is tight and you want to go 400 or below then you would have to sacrifice something either the furnishings or the location or the size of the apartment but it is nowhere near how it is for example in the Netherlands or Germany right now. there for similar apartments that close to the city centre you would pay 3 4 times this price as to dealing with agents and landlords most of the apartments are offered by agents and they do ask for commission I know it can be 50% to 100% of one month’s rent and of course there is a deposit of one or two months but the good part is that apartments come mostly furnished, so there is a big choice of already furnished apartments you don’t have to buy anything here apart from pots and pans and maybe pillows and bedding so basically you can move in right away it’s almost like Airbnb and this prices that I told you about they are in capital city in Sofia so if you want to live in a smaller town like Bansko or Plovdiv or Varna there the prices will be much lower so I would say that for any budget you can definitely find a good apartment here in Bulgaria so apartments in Bulgaria are affordable compared to Western Europe but what about the actual cost of living I have this chart with official statistics that claim that cost of living in Bulgaria is 43% lower than average in the European Union and only Romania is a bit more affordable on the other hand I have our first hand experience over the last 6 months here so far if we exclude rent, on daily expenses, such as grocery going out, coffee shops household items – we as a couple spend relatively the same money as we did before living both in Germany and maybe about 20 to 30% more than in Vietnam it is around 1000 euro for a month for two people groceries at the supermarket I would say are similar process to Germany so overall not that cheap although of course if you go to a local market or to a small local shop you can find more affordable options eating out is about 15 to maybe 25 euro for your person depending on where you go of course. coffee is about 2 to 3 euro medicine out of pocket is of course not as cheap as in SE Asia but definitely more affordable than Western Europe more so I know in many countries in Europe you cannot directly go to a doctor that you need I don’t know, a neurologist, gastroenterologist no. you first have to go to your family doctor and then hope that he will refer you to a specialist and also you would have to wait for that referral for the appointment very long time sometimes basically if you’re not in an emergency condition you can wait for months here in Bulgaria we did not have that problem we could do all the checks that we wanted there is a website where you can just set up an appointment with the doctor that you want any kind of specialist some of them might not be available for a couple of weeks but for example if you feel some sort of pain that is not bad enough for the emergency but bad enough that you want to see the doctor tomorrow you can definitely find someone at any time as to an insurance there is a mandatory insurance that you need to buy to get your residency and that one works only for emergencies or urgent cases and that costed only around 100 euro for a whole year but if you want to be covered for chronic illnesses or for something that is not urgent then you will either be paying social contributions or you would have to pay out of pocket so if you want a more detailed breakdown like actual medical costs car rentals, accommodations please subscribe to the channel and let me know in the comments so I will make a new videos specifically about that another important thing about the country to move to for us specifically was the weather and Bulgaria is a relatively big country so the climate here within a year can be different depending on where you stay you can stay of course on the Black Sea coast or you can stay in Sofia and Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria has a continental climate characterized by four distinct seasons: summer cold winte,r and mild spring and autumn. when we came here in the summer it was very hot and dry around 30 degrees every single day and it was quite a contrast for us we spent several months living in Germany before that after the summer ended all the way through September November and October the weather stayed pleasant it was mostly sunny and we were wearing just like jackets and were able to go for long walks during the day there were some days that were raining but again most of the days were still sunny and that is the main difference for us with countries like Germany and because there starting October it’s basically raining every day there is no sunshine it becomes basically doom and gloom so even though winter here it is getting colder and it is getting snowy there are still some sunny days and that’s the main factor basically for us I can go on and on and on about how sunshine makes you feel different it lightens up your mood it helps you with the seasonal depression so it makes it much easier to go through the cold winter days Sofia is located at about 550 meters above sea level so the climate is also influenced by the proximity of the Vitosha Mountain which can bring cooler air in the summer and heavier snowfall in the winter and in the summer we also visited other cities like Plovdiv and Varna they are also popular with expats but I must confess I heard so many good things about Plovdiv but we couldn’t really enjoy it because the days it was like the desert. it was so so hot and dry it was almost impossible to stay outside for longer than five to 10 minutes so when we came back to Sofia after that trip we did notice that the capital is much cooler and it is of course because of the elevation and the closeness of the mountains so that trip in the summer it solidified our decision to stay in Sofia another reason why we like Sofia so much is the abundance of green spaces especially in the city center everywhere you go there be some smaller park and just step outside of the main center and there are several big parks and the parks themselves they are really well maintained and it is very pleasant to walk there either in the evenings or during the weekends many people are walking their dogs there and the difference from Germany I would say that the dogs in Germany are mostly on the leash I assume that’s the law, I don’t know for sure if you’re German please tell me and here in Sofia most of the dogs are off the leash so maybe if you have a fear of dogs for example, it won’t be very comfortable for you for us it’s never been a problem so far the dogs are friendly there of course there are strays but there are not as many strays as for example, in Turkey or in Georgia and it’s so easy here in Sofia to escape the concrete jungle and popular weekend hike is Vitosha Mountain that can be seen from anywhere in the city and it’s also reachable by public transport it’s also easy to go with public transport within one hour to Bankya Town or Panacharovo Lake and just spend your weekend surrounded by nature all in all if you love nature but also want to have the conveniences of the big city Sofia has it both talking about what you can do on the weekend short trips are very easy Sofia has a well connected airport and it’s easy to fly to Italy Germany or Turkey within one or two hours flight I even sometimes monitor the flights online and recently saw just 38 euro both ways flight to Bari in Italy this is a perfect weekend getaway for really really cheap. there’s also an overnight train that goes directly from Sofia to Istanbul and I myself do plan to take that train once and Bulgaria itself is a very beautiful country to explore there are mountains in Bansko, beach in Varna and Burgas and many smaller towns in between there is a historic cities like Plovdiv and Veliko Tarnovo with beautiful old towns and every location is reachable within one to four hours by car from Sofia assimilate into local mentality is the language of course and the script is not Latin it is Cyrillic. but I would say that if you come from a country with Latin script it will not be very hard for you to learn the Cyrillic if I compare it to some other countries popular with expats, like Thailand or Georgia for example there’s a script is much much more complicated so I understand it might seem intimidating at first but trust me, learning it is very easy actually the Cyrillic script itself it was developed by Cyril and Methodius and they themselves were Bulgarian the Cyrillic alphabet is used in many Slavic countries by now it originally came from Bulgarians so what about the expat community here in Bulgaria and by now we spent here six months and if I’m honest during those months we were a bit lazy with making new connections most of the time went to settling in to the new apartment new routine, visiting the doctors figuring everything out how it works here in Bulgaria but I joined expat groups on Facebook and they are quite lively quite active and I do regularly see advertisement for new bars popping up and expat meetups many digital nomads actually go to Bansko in Bulgaria because of low cost of living there expat community, coworking spaces it’s very famous for that retirees usually go to the Black Sea coast, to Varna to Burgas and here in Sofia I feel that it is more students young professionals and of course startups I do notice that mostly younger people and middle aged people they speak English and it was not a problem for me to find English speaking doctors and English speaking accountant even our agent who helped us with apartment he also speaks good English in Sofia itself I already see that there are many coffee shops where people just sit and work and many co working spaces with affordable prices but we did end up choosing Sofia for yet another reason and it is very good infrastructure. here in the capital public transport is affordable reliable and clean there are metro, trams, buses there’s a taxi app, there is finally sidewalks that we were missing so much in when we lived in SE Asia there are surprisingly many shopping malls and if you’re not a shopping person yourself trust me having a mall nearby can save you from the heat can save you from the cold can help you if you need the public toilet can save you when you are hungry because there are restaurants there are fast food options there’s a movie theater in the mall there is a supermarket. so basically you’re having a mall in your neighborhood to gives you something to do on the weekends I know in some countries shopping malls are only shops and maybe some eating options but here it’s so much more than that and in Sofia alone there are at least I don’t know, maybe 5 to 10 big shopping malls where you can get everything you want and Sofia there is also a good selection of restaurants and coffee shops. of course this is not Dubai or Bangkok you will not find such big variety but we already have our favorite places to go for coffee, for pizza to celebrate something, rooftop bars as well another thing that is quite decent here in Bulgaria is one I already mentioned it’s the medicine. as I already said seeing a doctor is very easy it’s very affordable compared to western prices I have heard from a friend from Germany that he already did shoulder surgery here and it was much more affordable than back home there sometimes can be a language barrier but it is not a very big problem to find an English speaking doctor so definitely if you come from US or if you come from a country where you cannot see a specialist doctor without referral then definitely here in Bulgaria you will be pleasantly surprised and what about the taxes here? of course if you’re moving here long term tax is crucial for you and tadam! here in Bulgaria it is only 10%, it’s one of the lowest options that you can find in the European Union it is 10% both for business if you want to start a company here and for private income if you are a freelancer again if I compare to Germany and to into the Netherlands where you can give away up to 50% of your income for the taxes here in Bulgaria it’s a completely different story of course you will be paying something on top of the 10% like social contributions but in the end if you’re working remotely and you can afford to move here I would say this is your best option in the union I already mentioned it’s relatively easy to find a local accountant who will speak English and help you with all the processes so if you’re thinking of relocating to Bulgaria but still weighing in all the pros and cons you’re in luck! we are planning to have Bulgaria as our permanent homebase and on this channel I will share more details about living here and it’s been 6 months so far for us so the honeymoon period is over and naturally we will start seeing more of the downsides and maybe also more positive sides which I will share with you on this channel

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00:00 14 Reasons Why We Moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
01:39 Reason #1 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
02:44 Reason #2 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
04:32 Reason #3 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
07:55 Reason #4 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
07:56 Reason #5 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
10:44 Reason #6 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
13:14 Reason #7 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
14:45 Reason #8 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
15:40 Reason #9 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
16:28 Reason #10 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
17:56 Reason #11 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
18:55 Reason #12 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
19:15 Reason #13 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025
19:52 Reason #14 Why we moved to Sofia, Bulgaria in 2025

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