Moving to Bucharest

1) What is the tax rate?

Depends which tax you are talking about. VAT is usually 19%, income tax is 16%. If you are being paid on the books, the salary they quoted you is possible the 'take home' pay, after all the various taxes have been deducted. As a rough rule though, the net salary is about 52-55%% of the brute salary.

2) Is there plenty of places to go out?

There are lots of restaurants and bars and quite a few clubs. Prices are reasonable, service less so, quality variable.

3) Of course....can you get English football on the TV or do u need to get satelite TV?

If you have the regular cable TV with a decent package you can get quite a lot of football on the TV, mostly EPL but some championship games. Looking at the TV guide for Eurosport 2 today I could (if I were so inclined) watch Spurs v Blackburn, Villa v Stoke, and Hull v Arsenal and tomorrow they have Man U v Fulham and Man City v Sunderland. Failing that, just get a good internet connection and connect to a live stream.

4) Overall is life in Bucharest decent?

Cost of living makes it a reasonable place to live, but the city is often dirty and the people quite hostile, rude and unfriendly (although I'm sure to get horribly flamed for saying that!) unless you limit yourself to upmarket expat/socialite shops, services and venues. Public transport is cheap and comprehensive and apart from petty crimes it's a pretty safe city for Europe.

The parks are lovely in the spring and summer and a good escape from the concrete and fumes. You can also get out of town whenever you want and visit some beautiful places in Transylvania - an absolute must.

Nice one thanks for the reply. Well the company i got a job with have told me they pay my tax.

I also have a monthly budget of 500 euros p/m. Will that find me something nice? Not looking for anything big, maybe a 1 bedroom studio!!

Thats good to know about the footie, one of the first things i will do is get cable then, they must show some of them in the pubs? Usually quite a good way to meet people as well.

Cheers

500 Euro per month will get you something nice. A studio is called a 'garsoniera' here and that usually has a living room with a sofa bed, a kitchen, a bathroom, a hall and maybe a small balcony. One of these will usually set you back about 150-300 Euro per month depending on the area.

A one-bedroomed place is known as a 'two room' (2 camere)apartment (cos they count the number of bedrooms AND reception rooms). You can get one of these for about 250-400 Euro.

For 500 Euro you should be able to get a decent one-bedroomed flat in a reasonably central location (Bucharest isn't that big anyway). Someone is advertising a one-bedroomed apartment in the Victoria area (pretty central and decent) for 300 Euro in the post below this one. You probably want to factor in about 100-150 Euro per month on top of that for the bills and other block costs.

There are quite a few pubs which show the footie. There's a growing number of 'Irish' pubs (The Dubliner has some screens) and most of those show the live sport. When it comes to things like the Champ's league and other international matches there are loads of pubs and bars where you can catch the game. Some of the guys I know get normally get together for the big matches and book a long table somewhere which is a good laugh.

I recently spent % years living all over Bucharest.

I agree with the previous poster the people can be harsh and the ones who are nice usually have a motive.
That being said I did find a handful of good friends.
My best advice is to stick with people who make as much or more than you and even then watch out.

Bucharest is a very very fun place to party simply because everyone even the old people love to get drunk and dance.
In this aspect I had the time of my life there.
Do not bring you wallet in a club find someplace safe besides exposed pockets to stash it.

500 Euro is not a lot but its doable I lived on $750 a month there. It is to little to have your own apartment sure you can find something for 200 euro  but the utilities are high about $100-150 a month and food a minimum of $150 if you cook and shop economically.

Medical should be your #1 concern even if you have insurance bribery is MANDATORY ! If the problem is minor you can get away with $30-60 but if anything serious happens you must have at least $1000 readily available.
I speak from experience on this it happened to me and many of my friends too. The nurses even held my passport hostage and the police had to be called because I had no money for a bribe. The story is a nightmare beyond belief so please take this seriously.

Bribes on average will cost you $30 a month but when you first get there may be more the bribe for a drivers license is now 300 euro for example fine chocolates, wine and cigarettes are usually used for smaller bribes.

Bucharest does not represent Romania at all and you should take short trips whenever possible they will make everything worth it. The people are so different and the country is the most beautiful I have seen.

I lived in my own apartment room rentals as well as rented with friends. I would highly recommend renting a room for a month or two until you learn the area and can see what you realistically need to live on. If you decide to rent get a Garsoneira which is a studio the utilities are so much cheaper
they call them Block fees there and you pay by how many rooms you have. So for example you may see a studio for 150Euro and a 2 room(1 bed+living room) for 200euro the 2 room will end up costing you around 300-350euro a month and the studio will be 215 euro with all the utilities.

here is a good place to check out the adds you can use Google translate to translate the entire page to your language.

http://www.neogen.ro/neobizz/http://translate.google.com/#

Hi all I am looking for someone who can give me some advise on what is need to obtain a visa into romania. Is one able to retire in romanina or buy a house if from Australia?
I hope someone will be able to advise me my above questions.
Thanks Barb

Hi Barb,

You can find official info about how to obtain a visa here: http://www.mae.ro/index.php?unde=doc&id … nk=3&cat=5 .

Is one able to retire in Romania or buy a house if from Australia? Yes, of course, if one has the money to do so. Generally, i don't think you would have too many legal problems (except the local beaurocracy, of course).

Regards,
Tudor

Actually, you can't buy a house as such. You can legally buy the house, but you can't own the land on which it's built. In order for a non-EU passport holder to buy the land, you would need to set up a company and buy it under the company's name. The downside of that is that you would be liable for tax (if the company does no business, you would still have to pay about 500 euro a year), VAT and income tax if you sold it, monthly accountancy fees for managing the company, and of course the initial company set up costs.

If you chose to buy an apartment, you wouldn't have any problems - anyone from anywhere can own one of those. Again, a small technical point is that when you buy an apartment here, you also purchase a small square of land with it (the land on which the apartment block is built). Of course, you can't actually own that small patch of land, although that's not really a problem unless the block is destroyed (although it that happened, losing a few square feet of land would probably be be the least of your worries!).

There are lots of law firms and other such companies who can help you set up and manage your own company (at a price, of course). I believe they usually charge about 1500-2500 Euro (that including taxes and the various governmental fees).

If you could somehow get an EU passport (I know people who have done this, thanks to having origins in the EU), and it needn't be Romanian, then you are entitled to buy land in Romania.

All the best

I have accepted a job in Bucharest starting in September. I also have a 500 euro a month living allowance. Wonder if it's at the same place?!

My main concern is that I am a 21 year old british girl moving there by myself. Is it a safe city?

It's reasonably safe. Not too much violent crime - mostly just the petty crime you'd expect in any European capital. Just take the usual common-sense precautions as you would anywhere.

Hi all and thank you so very much for all your help and advise. I so want to live with my partner in Romania.

hi there i am going to Bucharest for a month ........ i ve  an apartment and electricity and gas are covered .... so i just want to know how much money (per month) should i take for food and transportation and other
please help

Transport: a one-month travel card that covers all surface transport (bus, tram, trolley bus) costs 50 RON (about 12 euro) or around 18 Euro for one which includes the metro system too. This would be your best bet; get it when you arrive and then you don't have to faff about looking for ticket booths.

Cabs are quite cheap, around 1.50 RON per km. A trip from one side of town to the other shouldn't be more than about 7-8 Euro. There are some pirate cabbies who might rip you off, and watch for the overpriced cabs around stations and the airports, but other than that they are fine.

Forget driving. Rental cars are expensive and you'll spend all your time stuck in traffic. Walking would be quicker.

Food: Food costs about the same in the supermarkets as in the rest of Europe. If you are cooking for yourself from basic ingredients (i.e. no packaged/frozen/pre-prepared stuff) you could probably get by on about 30-40 Euro a week and eat very well (including some meat and some luxuries). Less if you're frugal, more if you like the nice things in life.

Eating out is reasonable. A meal, three courses plus a drink, will probably cost about 25 Euro per person. Again, you can pay more in fancy places, less in local eateries.

Hi,

I am Rahul from India. I have got your details from facebook. I have got admission in Academy of Economic Studies at Piata Romana. My course duration is TWO years starting from October 2010. I will arrive to Bucharest on 22nd September 2010, so I need a shared room for two years.

I am ready to share room with any one like boy/girl/uncle/aunty etc. I can pay 4-5 months rent in advance. Please contact to [email protected] OR on facebook. I will really appreciate your response…many thanks for your help…

Kind regards,
Rahul