Driving License

@Snowball6

To ask this question you need to say how long your living in Bulgaria so then it becomes much clearer...  I believe that if you spend more than a year here you are obliged to change over your licence to a BG one ..  I do not know how long you have to spend outside BG to cancel that out and retain your UK licence ..  if your spending most of your time here in BG it won't make that much difference to change your licence to a BG one because both countries are part of the Vienna convention and recognised each others licences .  So basically you can drive in UK on it

I use international driver license with my US one when in Bulgaria

If you get one you probably will be left alone at least for 1 year even with UK license

@Snowball6

I don't think I've ever been asked for my license, they only want to see the car docs (ownership, inspection, insurance, vignette).

But other countries (e.g. Spain) are pretty aggressive in enforcing the rules on residents having local licenses, and time limits on foreign-registered cars. To the degree that it's easy to get your car confiscated. It might be with Schengen coming, Bulgaria has decided to be more strict on these issues too.

Certainly, it's advisable to be aware of the time limits for exchanging your license, and getting your vehicle re-registered.

Looking at Spain, there isn't much flexibility with Brits and other non-EU citizens; if you're a Spanish resident, the clock is ticking. You'll have more luck if you have residence in a 2nd EU country and can show that you spend more time there. As far as I'm aware, there's no issue with driving your BG-reg car in the UK, on your new BG license.

The police told me that I needed to have a Bg licence within 1 year of my residency card.  They are now becoming strict on this, an English neighbour (now back in the UK) had the same issue last year.  I now need to find out what I need to do, has anyone done this?

A driving license can only be exchanged in Bulgaria if the person is legally resident in the country. Driving licenses are exchanged at the local Traffic Police offices of the Bulgarian Traffic Police. Take the original driving license and residency permit.

Is that all I need to do SimCityAT?  What about driving in the UK when I return for visits?

Just use your Bulgarian driving licence ... However not sure about your status with a car .. do you own a car in UK or just hiring one..   hiring no problem but if you own a car there could be an issue ... you have to talk to your insurer about validity ?

I own a car in UK that I use when I go back

Right so often when you take out insurance it will ask if your a UK resident  and obviously your a BG resident and a UK citizen ...  You obviously have a yearly insurance for your car in UK ..   but with the need to change your licence to a BG one your best bet is to talk with your UK insurer.. you don't want to get into a position where your UK insurance is deemed invalid by them.. I'm sure you are already aware that insurers will do there best to get out of a problem.  Best to discuss...

This is one of those subjects iv fretted over and in the end decided to dump the UK car and it's insurance and road tax etc.. costs a lot of money just to have a car in UK and then the fuel aswell . I came to the conclusion that when I do come to UK that I either get a hire car or use taxi and buses... 

We will spend our time between BG and Philippines mostly and maybe 2 weeks in UK when we are passing through to the next destination..

So I guess this is something only you can decide when it comes to how important having a car in UK is ...

Thanks Philip, I'll look into your suggestion and give it some thought.