How can I survive in Bulgaria?

hi bttella,

Moving to Bulgaria is easy, finding a good job here - not so easy. Unfortunately working with adult people will generally require a good command of Bulgarian and fortunately you can probably easily find a job related to journalism with English (check Reuters). Also you can probably easily find a job in any call center type of company which works with English speaking customers (HP, IBM, CallPointEurope etc.).
Living expences here are not big and a salary of lets say 1500 lv. will do.
Also you can probably work as an english teacher.

Hi Kristiann,
Thank you for your reply and the information given. I will check with Reuters to see what vacancies they have. I will also consider working as a teacher of English language as suggested Please could you tell me the equivalent of 1500 lv. And what is the difference between say, 1500 BGN and 1500 lv.
However, I will visit Bulgaria sometime before the end of the year or in the new year.
Thanks once again.

Best Regards,

bttella1

1500 BGN is the same thing as 1500 lev. Lev is the name of the currency, BGN is the abbreviation for Bulgarian. It's roughly 750 euro. While you can certainly survive on it I'm not sure you'd want to if you're hoping to travel or save at all. I have Bulgarian friends who earn roughly that amount and they say they can only survive in Sofia by having a partner who is also working.

As long as you're an EU citizen (I'm assuming British from where you're living) then moving here is easy. Getting enough work to support yourself will be much more challenging, as noted above for many of the things you mention you'll need Bulgarian. Try the call centers or English teaching.

Hello bttella1,

Are you currently employed as a journalist??? If so have you considered asking your present employer about working out of Bulgaria, providing local news reports. Perhaps you should be contacting other media/journalistic companies and enquire with them too. There is absolutely nothing stopping you from working as an (employed) journalist or as freelancer via internet and getting paid in  the UK by direct deposit.

Something to think about anyway!

Obviously there is no substitute for learning the local language, and you're going to want to do that anyway - if for no other reason than to help you get by in day-to-day life and it will also increase your employment opportunities.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

I am also in the same predicament. I am a nurse and have a diploma in animal care. Can any of this be applied in Bulgaria?

hi bttella,

most of your questions have already received an andswer, but in details the exchange rate of Bulgarian National Bank is 1.95583 BGN per 1 Euro. However most of the banks will apply 1.96.
In my oppinion it is better to search for job opportunities with 2 000 or more leva monthly, so that you will feel comfortable here and can make some savings.
Also you will probably need a work permit which will take some time, check it will your future employer before starting to work here.