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@amyyd

Welcome to the expat.com forum and good luck with your property purchase and move to Bulgaria!

I have not heard of anyone here using a "Temporary Visa", but I'd be interested in learning more if you can share a helpful link.

A common route for many non-EU citizens is applying for a D visa at their local Bulgarian Embassy. Once they have it, they can then enter Bulgaria and complete the immigration formalities (when you get a biometric residence permit). You will have to go back to the UK to make your application, as you can't do it here, unfortunately. But while you're here you can get important paperwork like your Notary Act (proof of address), a Health Insurance for Foreigners policy (proof of health insurance, if you don't have a UK EHIC/GHIC), and perhaps even a Bulgarian bank account.

You can qualify for the D visa on several grounds, including being a retiree/pensioner with proof of a private or state pension. Another popular one - and the one that sounds most suitable for you - is the TRO (Trade Representative Office). The TRO will represent your UK limited company, as long as it's at least 2 years old.

There are 3 separate steps: the TRO registration, the D visa application, and the residence permit application. You can potentially do them yourself, but it will be a lot easier to get an immigration attorney to help you.

Here's the BCCI page on their TRO:

This is the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

TRO-specific info from 2 immigration attorneys:

Getting a self-employed visa is possible, but the Bulgarian language requirement makes it a lot more time-consuming. And you already have a trading UK company, hence TRO.

Bulgaria has low living costs and excellent connectivity, so it's an ideal base for those, like you, who can work remotely.

@gwynj

Thank you so much for your response, I will take a look at the links you sent.

My UK company is just over 4 years old now. I am due to fly back to the UK tomorrow but will be back to complete the deal on the property in around 3wks time. I will try and open a bank account when I’m back, I may try and open 2 one for personal and one for company.

The site below has information on Freelance visa, I believe this is a 12 Month temporary visa first then once renewed (if you want to renew) its 2 years then renewed again for another 2 years and this will be 5years total to apply for the D Visa. I may be misinterpreting the information, if not I think my downfall here would be the language.

visaforbulgaria.com/article/bulgarian-work-permit-for-non-eu-freelancers

Thanks

Amy

@amyyd

Thank you for the link, I can see where the confusion arises.

If your UK company is 4 years old, and has been trading (no matter how little), I'm confident TRO is the way to go.

If you are buying a house, you most likely need to have a Bulgarian company (and business bank account) as non-EU citizens can't buy in their own name. Most apartments are fine in your own name.

For TRO, the (personal) Bulgarian bank account is a "good to have", rather than "strictly necessary".

The page you give is also about getting a D visa, but under the category of freelance / self-employed (instead of pensioner or TRO). It is possible to go this route, but will need to come here and do one or two Bulgarian language courses first, and pass the appropriate proficiency exam. It will be a right faff! :-)

EU citizens get a residence permit (strictly, an "EU Citizen Registration") for 5 years, immediately, and they can easily apply here in Bulgaria. Non-EU citizens have to do a 2-step process (D visa application at an Embassy abroad, followed by residence permit application here). The D visa is valid for 6 months, which allows you time to get over here and get your residence permit. Once you have your residence permit, you don't ever apply for another D visa, you renew your residence permit.

Non-EU citizens also get much shorter residence permits, typically 1 year in the first instance. Then you renew (probably for 2 years). Then you renew once more (also for 2 years). This gets you to the magic 5 years mark which qualifies you for "permanent residence", meaning you can live here indefinitely.

@gwynj

Apologies for the late response I’ve been travelling back to the UK.

Thank you very much for the links, I’ve managed to take a look at a couple of them so far and I think you are right on the TRO.

I’m unsure if I’ve done things correctly, the company name I used to purchase the property is the same name as my company back home which is accounting and bookkeeping. Im unsure if this will cause an issue.

Yes, I think I need to try and find someone to help on the paper work and Visa application.

Thank you very much for your help, I’ll keep you posted on how I get on.

Good luck, Amy!

Gwyn's advice is solid, as always! TRO is the option most likely to work for you. Unfortunately the freelancer visa requires passing a test to show near-fluency in Bulgarian.

You might want to take professional advice about the company name issue. I don't know much about this but I have a feeling it might work better to have a different company set up to buy the house rather than using the same name as your UK company.

@amyyd

It doesn't really matter what you call your Bulgarian company, so I doubt there will be any problems. Normally, it's a non-trading company that exists only to hold your property. As @janemulberry says, it's more typical not to use the same name as your business elsewhere, but perhaps MY SHIPKA HOUSE EOOD or similar.

However, you should note that the TRO is simply a registration with the BCCI, not a trading entity. If you want to then do business in Bulgaria you would then incorporate another Bulgarian EOOD. This is the one that might more plausibly use the same name as the UK. However, there's plenty of flexibility: if your UK company is AMY'S BIZ LTD, and you already have AMY'S BIZ EOOD (to own your house), then you could have AMY'S BIZ 2024 EOOD or AMY'S BIZ TRADING EOOD to do business.

The corporate tax rate here is lower, and the rules on allowable expenses more forgiving, so you'd probably want to put most of your invoices through the Bulgarian entity rather than your existing UK one. However, don't forget the TRO and your residence permit would need to be renewed a few times, so don't dissolve your UK company until you get permanent residence status.

Getting off-topic : Where are you buying, Amy? Toshevo is a good little town, it's the closest to our place.

@janemulberry

Hi Jane,

Thank you very much.

Yes I was thinking I should have used a different company name. I’ll work around it somehow

I have emailed a couple of places regarding help with the Visa but haven’t had any responses so far.

Fingers crossed all goes well

Thank you

@gwynj

Ok, I should have used another company name for purchase of the property. I’m not sure how to fix this, or if it will be an issue going forward.

I've emailed a couple of places regarding the TRO but have had a response as yet, hopefully everything is ok. Like you say, I could open another company in a difference name.

Theres lots of things to think about and read it’s all buzzing arout in my head haha.

Thank you so much for your help

@janemulberry

sorry, I need to get better at using this site 😊

We are in Kardam, about 7km away from General Toshevo. We seem to have everything we need not too far from our place. Where are you?

Ive been trying to learn the language but I’m not very good. It’s pretty difficult to learn.

Our place is in Krasen, 18km north-west of Toshevo. Unfortunately the population has shrunk so there's not a lot there now in terms of shops and services. The garage and bakery have closed, there's one small shop and a cafe remaining.  Toshevo is a good little town, but the road there from Krasen is dire, more potholes than road. Being a main road, Kardam shouldn't have that problem!

Bulgarian is certainly a challenge! There are so many sounds that just don't exist in English! I can read a bit, and understand a little when people speak, but my accent is so bad no one can understand anything I say. I learn a bit more each visit, so I am confident that though I'll never get good enough to pass the proficiency exam, I'll get by. In the meantime, there's Google Translate. Lens is helpful too for translating written Bulgarian like reading ingredients lists on groceries, printed papers, etc.