No income.

Hi there,

And welcome to Bulgaria forum. Directly to your questions:

Pension is not a requirement to apply for a D visa in Bulgaria. Neither is buying a property.
Having sufficient funds to live is. As well as some other specific requirements.

You can read more here:
https://www.mfa.bg/en/services-travel/c … a-bulgaria

For 10 000 GBP you can probably buy a house and some land in a village, a small flat by the sea, or in some ski resort, Big cities like Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Bourgas would require more than that.

Income as such isn't one of the requirements to get the D visa, though they do ask for evidence of savings equivalent to six months worth of the Bulgarian minimum wage - currently 650 BGN a month.
The issue you're going to hit up against is that there are a limited number of reasons a D visa will be granted, and except for retirement it can be tricky for many working-age people to get the right paperwork to fit any of their categories. I'm still in the UK as I'm close enough to retiring age to be okay with waiting.
Unfortunately the link for D visa requirements on the MFA site linked to isn't working, and the London embassy visa page here http://bulgarianembassy-london.org/cons … ces/visas/ doesn't say a lot that's helpful, either.  This immigration lawyer's site gives more useful info: https://visaforbulgaria.com/bulgarian-d-visa

Do woman need to wait till 66 do you know?

I don't know whether they use the Bulgarian retirement age or the UK one. I must email the Embassy here to ask that question. The retirement age for women is still younger in Bulgaria - they push the age back every year to bring women and men to both retiring age 65, so it's moving goalposts!
Here is the chart: https://www.noi.bg/en/pensions/grantpen … 854-posv13 Women are the left hand column.

Edited to add - I just emailed the London Embassy, so will let you know what they reply.

Age doesn't matter, all that matters is that you have a proof of (sufficent) pension.

Pension isn't a "requirement" for a D visa, but it's certainly one of the easiest ways of qualifying. As @janemulberry says, the other options are no so straightforward. So it could be tempting to find a property now, but just count the clock down until you qualify for your pension (you can visit 90 days in 180 visa-free until then).

UK state pension is around £150 a week, which I suppose is around 1,400 leva per month. Which compares with the Bulgarian minimum wage of around 600 leva monthly. And many Bulgarian pensioners are probably struggling along on 100-200 leva, I'd imagine. So you wouldn't be rich, but you should be quite comfortable.

Owning a property is not grounds for getting a D visa unfortunately. (It is however grounds for a Residence Permit in our neighbour Serbia, and I think it's worth considering this country too, if you can't wait for your pension in order to get official. Especially as property and living costs are similar.)

But no pension, and no income is a challenge from an immigration perspective. And I guess you need to buy food occasionally?

The days of buying very nice country houses on Ebay for under £10,000 are unfortunately over. For this budget, it most likely would be a studio apartment only (in perhaps Bansko or Sunny Beach), which I doubt you want. There are still village houses around, but a lot of them seem like they're falling down, so you'd have to shop carefully to get a nice one that's livable immediately. But then you can take your time renovating it over the next few years.

But... the good news is that it is still possible. The way prices are going it might not be for much longer! My village is in a nice spot in the Balkan Mountains, and already I see that recent plots-only are going for 15,000-25,000 euros.

There is a seller on Ebay who came up on another forum topic, and he is buying up village houses (I think he likes the Ruse/Lom area), and doing a bit of clean up and painting, and then is selling on a pay-monthly deal. They're quite rustic, but they look like they're pretty solid, with a big garden. So could be worth taking a look to see if this might help you stretch your budget.

The Bulgarian Embassy in Washington is a bit more helpful:
http://www.bulgaria-embassy.org/wp-cont … D-VISA.pdf

You will deffinately need a decent lawyer that speaks English I would say. Yes you can buy a village house that is habitable for £10,000 and set up a bank acc with x amount of money that you can withdraw later. You can then get a recidency card with all the documents you will need if you wish. Then you have to get a job or tavel between countries until you can afford to live here permanently. Good luck. Its a long slog but for me was worth it in the end.

Ive bought two places one 3 bed for £7500 960sqm and a 4 bed for £13500 2500sqm with Vineyard plus Orchard, Garages and a Barn. Both of these are pay monthly and cost me £305 each with a £500 deposit

Both need renovating but hey what else have I got to do to keep myself busy. Drop me a line and Ill give you details of my contact out there.

If your budget is really tight, also factor in that transaction costs (agent commission, transfer tax, notary, solicitor if you use one) will add maybe 10%-20% of purchase price. And also you can buy an apartment in your own name, but for house and garden you will need to incorporate a Bulgarian company and buy it in company name. Not expensive, but an additional cost.

Thanks guys, and your service Steve.

Yes, the Embassy in London confirmed what Gwyn said! The retirement D visa isn't based on age, but on receiving a pension. So someone who took early retirement or ill-health retirement and has a company pension would qualify. It's not a matter of waiting till State pension age for either country.
Apart from that the other requirements they stated for the retirement visa are a bank balance equivalent to six months of the national minimum wage (works out to 3,900 BGN at the current rate), three months bank statements, evidence of somewhere to live (either house purchase or a rental lease), and health insurance valid for at least 3 months.

I was told by the Embassy I would need to have my pension paid into a Bulgarian bank account to prove the ongoing ability to support myself  which makes sense. I am not state retirement age, but do receive a reasonable private pension. However, I understand there may be tax implications. I have not really looked into it further, as I have pretty much given up plans to move to Bulgaria. I purchased a house very cheaply but so far, renovation has been in excess of 10k. A further 10k would be needed to make it habitable and then at least another 20k to furnish etc. Good luck to you.

Ouch! Sorry it didn't work out for you, Scarlett.
People seem to be given conflicting advice about whether our pension or other income needs to be paid into a Bg bank account. It can get quite complicated financially, especially if you aren't yet retirement age, because I think you'd have to pay the Bulgarian social security payment as if you're self-employed as well. Or that was the impression I gained from looking into my various options for the D visa.

It is a minefield, and having had communication with an immigration lawyer, she wanted a large up front payment to provide the list of documents needed, which the embassy were happy to provide for free!  It is also worth noting , at least from what I was advised, a number of documents need translating into Bulgarian. The embassy provided me with a list of their approved translators.
Some also have to be endorsed by a "notary" here in England, by which I assume they mean a solicitor?
Once things settle covid wise and I can actually travel and see if my house is ok ( worried about vandalism etc) I might think again, and, who knows what might change anyway!
Every cloud has a silver lining, and although I expected by May 2021 to be settled in my Bulgarian house with my 7 cats and 2 horses , every month I work longer in the UK is a month in my retirement pot!

That is so true! More money when we're making a big move like this is never a bad thing! Re the Bg equivalent of national insurance, I gather from things Gwyn has posted pre-retirement age retirees can register as unemployed and it's only 25 BGN a month. I was looking at getting a D visa as a freelancer, and the social security would have been a significant chunk of my income!

How are you getting a D visa as a. Freelancer?

Freelancer is one of the categories to get a D visa. But there are a LOT of hoops to jump, and it doesn't look an easy one, which is why I decided not to try for it. It requires a freelance activity permit issued by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy. I don't seem to have kept the information, so you'll need to Google for it.

The freelancer option requires a bunch of paperwork (I think they want a business plan type thing to illustrate how you will make a living here), so it's a bit of work, but not outrageous. However, the key issue is that you have to demonstrate you speak Bulgarian to the appropriate level (I think B2). If you plan to live and work in Bulgaria for many years, and learn Bulgarian, then it's not so bad either, it just means you have to hurry up and do the language classes first. If you can't or won't learn the language, then I think this one's probably off the table.

There's a similar gotcha with the starting a Bulgarian business option, as this requires you to have 10 Bulgarian employees.

The easiest, by far, is retiree (with proof of pension entitlement).

Student also pretty straightforward, and there are several Bulgarian medical schools running medicine courses in English with significant numbers of British/international students.

The other common one is the TRO (Trade Representative Office, a sort of license for you to be the Bulgarian face of a non-Bulgarian entity) which is the typical path for smaller businesses (and sole traders) who won't meet the 10 employees rule. But for this you should already have had a business/company elsewhere for a couple of years, so you can provide accounts, and show that it is in good standing and all tax obligations paid.

That was the catch for me, the B2 proficiency. I fully intend to learn more Bulgarian, but by the time I reach B2, I'll be getting my old age pension anyway!

In my 20s it took me 3years to learn enough German , now in my 50s I’m struggling to memorise  1-10 in Bulgarian 🙁

For some of us, learning a language can be quite challenging. And I know it can feel pretty frustrating. Especially if it's a different alphabet (e.g. cyrillic vs latin). But, in general, it depends mostly on how committed you are to learning to it.

It also depends a lot on whether you are trying to learn on your own, or just by picking up words in everyday life when you're down the shops or chatting with your Bulgarian neighbours. It's much, much easier (and quicker) to learn in a proper language course (although that does cost a bit of money).

We use the CEFR levels (6 from A1 the least, to C2 the best), so A1/A2 are very basic, then you go B1/B2, and finally you get to C1/C2. C2 is fluent so that's what our native language is. A language requirement for a country is typically B1 (e.g. some UK visas) or B2 (e.g. Bulgarian self-employed permit, citizenship). So it's not that they make the required level super difficult.

To put in context, one of my master's degrees had a 2 additional languages requirement, with B2 for 2nd and B1 for 3rd language. A week intensive course was enough for me to get the B1, and a month was enough to get the B2. But these were both languages (French and German) that I had studied a little at high school, so they weren't completely new to me.

For some reason (cheapskate probably), I still wasn't convinced by this experience, so I spent a couple of years in Panama, barely picking up any Spanish in my visits to El Rey supermarket. I finally took a proper month course ($1,500 if I recall correctly), and I was a good B2 by the end, and now I barely talk any English with my partner. (She always complains bitterly, but I insist I don't want to waste that money!)

For a completely new language and alphabet, like Bulgarian, I'd have guessed that you could get to B1, or very close to it, after a one month intensive class (usually 3-4 hours a day in a relatively small class). A second month would probably get you to the required B2. I haven't checked the course prices, but I'd have guessed 1,000 euros is the ballpark for a month course. (And, I'd imagine there are quite a few Bulgarian language teachers around who'd be very happy to give you an personalized 1:1 schedule for this kind of money!)

2,000 euros is not an insignificant amount, and I'd rather spend it on a new pellet stove. :-) But if that lets us get a self-employed permit, it could be worth considering.

I'm using online courses at the moment, can read cyrillic and a little actual Bulgarian, but my accent is atrocious so getting anyone to understand me is a challenge! I'm the same with French. Meanwhile hubby can't read anything in Cyrillic but is an expert at mimicking accents and after saying a few words has had Bulgarians think he's Bulgarian, but from a differemt part of the country! The plan was when we moved to do separate 1:1 lessons, but that won't work to get to B2 before getting the visa!

It's a tricky balance juggling what's the most cost effective visa. Freelancer/ self-employed also means having to pay full social security - no getting away with registering as unemployed!