My journey begins now! Seeking initial advice/goals :)

Have you thought about where you want to live in Bulgaria as the costs in Sofia are far higher than, for example, the Black Sea?

@beakernz In travelling this year to Australia, Greece and Bulgaria.  Australia still seems the most free country and friendliest.  (A lot of people in Australia are starting to push back against their "government" although they get zero coverage).  Bulgaria has alot of challenges, even a simple thing as opening a bank account is more complicated, as it seems but that depends on which bank you go to and their mood on that day and also who you know (you have to show a Bulgarian residents card, and you need a bank account in order to get a residents card)...but I heard some banks will let you have a bank account with a rental agreement contract) That is just one "challenge" among multiple you will face. I also heard Europe is very expensive now in rent and in bills, electricity and food.  (Greece wasnt that bad)

Youtubers dont really help, they only focus on how "wonderful" everything is and show you everything through a narrow range, without showing you the "challenges"..its like taking a picture of a beautiful flowering tree and cutting out the garbage dump next to it. .. 

My advise would be to do a scouting trip to Bulgaria and to Europe to find out first hand how it is, and then to see if you are prepared to jump through all the hoops (which costs money) to get residency, bank accounts.  Today it is a wonderful sunny day in Bulgaria, but also the sun is pretty fierce on your skin, which youtubers wont tell you the small details.

Was any one here the last three years?  How strict were they on mask mandates and "vaccines"?  (then you will see how really free the people here are??? in comparison to New Zealand...

Thanks all,

I am currently trying to find out info on the tax and banking situation.  Some mention Paruguay for tax residence, then to open accounts with that tax id.  I am unsure yet if I can achieve non-tax resident status in NZ and keep my NZ bank accounts and Ltd, or if I need to close them down and get international ltd and accounts.  I also have a friend in Greece willing to help us live there for a few months on one of the islands that sounds nice and affordable.

Part of the leaving is to really travel our tails off for 2-3 years, so are prepared for some local hassles around Europe but ideally we can find a way to keep things as simple as possible.

We moved to Bulgaria a year ago from U.K. and it is definitely as we expected. We visited the year before, bought a house and obtained residency but we had never been here before we decided to move here.

We have however lived all over Europe - my husband further afield than that - through our jobs, so we are used to being in new places and this was no different.

One thing I would be careful of, if you apply for residency in a country you’re expected to actually live there, at least half the year. If this is not your plan it could cause problems according to our local lawyer.

It sounds like some kind of long term travel visa might be more appropriate, the van lifers on YT that do epic year long road trips could probably explain how to achieve this, like the Schengen shuffle etc IDK the details because I never wanted to be mobile abroad.

However none of that would stop you buying a property in Bulgaria to base yourself from, you’d just be limited to the number of days you could spend there, but that doesn’t sound like an issue?

I would also consider the plan for “after” you’ve finished travelling Europe. As with U.K. prices are stupid there and even if we wanted to go back - and we really don’t - we could not afford to. Who knows what the picture will look like several years from now.

It sounds like a great adventure, but with some major admin to iron out.

@beakernz

Welcome to the expat.com forum and good luck with your potential move from NZ!

I think you might find this price comparison (I chose Wellington and Plovdiv, Bulgaria's 2nd city) interesting:

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?country1=New+Zealand&country2=Bulgaria&city1=Wellington&city2=Plovdiv

Bulgaria has the lowest cost of living in the EU, coupled with one of the lowest tax rates (10% flat tax). So it's ideal for digital nomads, remote workers and website owners. If your website is hosted elsewhere, and your revenue goes to an offshore bank account somewhere, it's unlikely Bulgaria would track it down. But, officially, you will become tax resident by living here, and you should declare all your worldwide income, not just Bulgaria-source income. Personally, I would consider incorporating a BG company and funneling the website revenue through this entity. Yes, there would be tax to pay, but you could claim loads of stuff as expenses, and you can make social security contributions to qualify for free healthcare here.

As you noted, it's not just a place with low tax and low costs (although that's very appealing)... it is a lovely country too. NZ is a pretty tough act to follow scenery-wise, especially as LOTR picked NZ rather than BG! But some of the mountains here are pretty spectacular (although lower than NZ). You might have a look at Pirin National Park (near Bansko ski resort), Central Balkan National Park (near Karlovo), and the Rodopes (near Plovdiv).

Bansko is Bulgaria's biggest ski resort, and a very charming little town. It has become quite popular with digital nomad types. I reckon it's pretty comparable with NZ's Whakapapa. You can still find (small) apartments here for under 30k euros, so this might be a good place to start looking for your EU base (we found a furnished holiday studio here for less than 20k early this year). Generally, property prices here are relatively low (but rising fast), especially compared with NZ. We have a village house in the mountains, just outside the National Park, with trails starting at our back gate. I've lived in the mountains in Andorra (Pyrenees) and Chile (Andes), so this is not strictly comparable... but bang-for-my-buck it's kinda awesome! Plus we have an apartment in central Plovdiv, for a taste of civilization. It's a delightful little city (Bulgaria 2nd largest), and a former European Capital of Culture. It deserves to be far better known! Overall, our move to Bulgaria has far exceeded our expectations.

Here's a very good property website with listings all over Bulgaria, which is a great way to do a bit of research to see what kind of property you can get in different locations / price points:

https://www.bulgarianproperties.com/

The visa options for non-EU citizens are a little restrictive in Bulgaria. It's easy for retirees (with an official pension), but younger folks can find it more challenging. There is no digital nomad visa yet, which most EU countries have introduced. For example, Spain has both a Digital Nomad Visa (for anyone with a remotely generated income, such as you) and a No Lucrativa Visa (for anyone who doesn't need to work in Spain, and has passive income, or savings). Spain is lovely, and I'm a legal resident there too. We have a holiday apartment near Alicante, and I've seen that costs (property and living) and taxes are MUCH higher. The most common option in Bulgaria for someone in your situation would be the TRO (Trade Representative Office) of your overseas entity. If your website income was chanelled via a NZ (or USA, or anywhere but BG) company for the last couple of years, this would be perfect. If you were self-employed instead, this wouldn't help.

@gwynj Thanks so much for the info!  As you can see by the cost of living comparison, NZ is very exhausting these days and sucking the life out of us.  Price gouging is also rife here.  I have been in NZ for 23yrs (am 50yrs old, currently I only hold NZ citizenship) and I truly believe NZ has begun a slow decline into a failed state.  Maybe if this government gets voted out in October there is a chance, but the country is somewhat run like San Francisco or Chicago with constant failures and people continuing to vote for it because the media convinces them to.  I know endless kiwis and families at breaking point.  Many here have outrageous mortgages and rates are about to skyrocket.  We feel under assault from just trying to survive daily expenses.  We have a massive brain drain/talent drain medical professional drain leaving for Australia for a better lifestyle, wages, and cost of living.  Does our gov want to be innovative and build industry?  No, they just want to tax tax tax and spend billions upon billions on meaningless virtue-signaling projects.  We have a housing crisis, childhood poverty crisis, domestic violence crisis, obesity epidemic, crime is on the rise hugely in Auckland.  I could go on.  Yes, you could go to a very small beach town, turn off the internet and news and probably get lost and not care, but I tend to like to see my country progressing and not going down in flames, as you can only hide and keep your head in the sand for so long.

I also must say that I was not a willing participant in the pandemic mania that swept many nations.  NZ started to feel like North Korea and the way many were treated here during this time was horrific and has ruined my view of the NZ people forever.  It is like I just can't move past it.  If you did not adhere to what the media and gov demanded then millions considered you "filth", that was the actual word they used for us who questioned the draconian actions.  So, I struggle to forgive this and it motivates me to experience life elsewhere for a while.  The NZ people are unrecognisable from 20yrs ago.

Tax-wise I would gladly pay 10% haha, I think at this stage the NZ gov is managing to take 60% at least of everything we earn through 33% income and about 10 other stealth taxes.  I'm really over being hammered like this.

I am excited to meet some friends here and maybe even meet with some when we travel to Bulgaria.  Our timeline is roughly this time next year.  We have a lot to liquidate and a lot to learn before the journey.

The friendly and welcoming vibe here leaves an amazing first impression.

Think about your location.

Big City, small town, or village.

Coast or mountains.

@roselinerussell333

You're so right, it's all possible here in Bulgaria!

We've had great experiences in the Big City (Plovdiv, a former European Capital of Culture, is our favourite), small towns (Bansko, Sozopol, Sveti Vlas, Kazanlak, Veliko Tarnovo, Stara Zagora, and more), and our little village (near Shipka).

There are lots of very nice places on the Black Sea Coast, and plenty of options near the mountains (Balkan Mountains, Pirin, Rila, Rhodopes, and more). Quite a few pretty lakes too.

I'm glad I saved myself the "where to live?" decision making by randomly buying a house online without seeing it or even visiting that part of Bg in our seven previous trips there! It was one way to stop hubby's "Yes, this is lovely, but we haven't seen all of Bulgaria yet, there could be somewhere even better!" procrastination!

I'm sure there are far lovelier places, but sometimes you just need to jump in and take a chance, too. My village is wonderfully welcoming and friendly. I love Toshevo, a great little town, reminds me of an Australian country town. And the fields around Dobrich will look like Tuscany when the sunflowers and lavender are in bloom. This is a region we probably wouldn't have even considered.