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This article is also available in German: Bulgarien-Guide – Auswandern, Leben und Gründen in Bulgarien
Welcome to the Bulgaria guide. If you are thinking about moving to Bulgaria, starting a company here, or simply want to understand what living in the country is like, this page is the way in.
Bulgaria offers real advantages: low taxes, low living costs, an interesting culture and the practical benefits of EU membership. It also has real friction — public administration, the language barrier and differences in how everyday things are done.
Here is an overview of the pieces worth reading first.
For founders, Bulgaria is genuinely interesting:
Our article covers the legal forms (OOD, EOOD, AD), how a formation actually proceeds, and the mistakes that cost people the most time.
Read it here: Starting a business in Bulgaria. If you are at the stage of choosing who does the work, the provider comparison is the more useful page — it lists what firms charge and what they disclose, with the evidence behind each entry.
People move here for very different reasons — retirement, remote work, or building a business.
The article covers:
Read it here: Moving to Bulgaria.
Bureaucracy is part of the deal here as everywhere. Many founders and new arrivals report that Bulgarian offices are in fact simpler and cheaper to deal with than German ones — provided you arrive prepared.
The guide covers:
Read it here: Dealing with authorities in Bulgaria.
What does it feel like to live here permanently? The article looks at daily life with both sides shown.
Read it here: Everyday life in Bulgaria, and see the practical first steps on our living in Bulgaria page.
Whether you are moving here, founding a company or just visiting often, learning some Bulgarian makes life easier. A few words open doors in daily life, at public offices and in business.
Start with Learning Bulgarian opens doors.
The move to Bulgaria is worth making for the right reasons and worth skipping for the wrong ones. With proper preparation, the right information and a little of the language, the start is a good deal less daunting than it looks from outside.
More material, first-hand accounts and tools are on Start in BG and across the blog.
You are here: Living & growing
Relocation & Living
Moved from Bansko to Sofia? Depending on your residence status there are one or two authorities to notify – and the order is not arbitrary. Which deadline runs, why the municipality comes before Migration, and what this typically fails on.
Relocation & Living
Only the owner signs – the tenants do not, and they do not have to go to the notary either. What belongs in the declaration, which notarisation type matches which status, and why a married couple needs two originals.
Relocation & Living
Ask this in any expat group and you get three contradictory answers – and all three can be right. Why that happens, which three procedures keep getting confused, and which type of notarisation actually belongs to your residence status.