Bulgaria moves to visa facilitation and permanent residence through the purchase of property
The first reading of changes to the Foreigners Act to decrease the property value ownership qualification was approved by the Bulgarian parliamentary committee. The amount was reduced from 600 000leva ( about 300 000Eur) to 100 000leva ( about 50 000Eur).This change is being offered to make matters easier for the many non EU citizens buying property in Bulgaria. In the last few years mostly from the buyers are from Russia which are buying properties at the Black Sea ( mainly in Varna, Dibrich and Burgas) and in our ski resorts Bansko , Borovets and Pamporovo. But increasingly the buyers prefer the village life in the countryside and purchase properties in different regions inside the country like: Stara Zagora, Yambol, Elhovo, Veliko Tarnovo, outside Sofiq, etc.
Reducing of the amount required to qualify for permanent residence in Bulgaria was offered by the Cabinet and has support of the Interior Ministry’s Migration head office.
This benefit can benefit anyone who buys property in Bulgaria with the sum proposed by the directorate and this way will support the Bulgarian’s economy. For this aim in the notary deed have to be written the real price of the purchase and not the price by house tax evaluation as most of the buyers do when purchase property in Bulgaria.
Foreigners who have the status of long-term residents in the country have the rights and obligations of Bulgarian citizens except those for which Bulgarian citizenship is required, such as voting and standing in elections. They can be employed by Bulgarian employers and obtain social insurance.
Foreigners whit long-term residence in Bulgaria who have a business in Bulgaria will have to create at least 10 full-time jobs for Bulgarians- this may be other changes to the Foreigners Act.
List of changes envisage changing of the deadline for a natural or legal person who provides accommodation to a foreigners- within three days they will have to notify the Interior Ministry and municipal authorities. Before the period was five days.
Further proposed by The cabinet is an entirely new provision concerning the status of foreigners without citizenship, meaning stateless persons, staying in the country. The proposal is to deny residence status to these people who consciously do not declare their citizenship in order to obtain residence.
Foreigners may get permission to stay in the country under the Bulgarian Citizenship Act. This allows a foreigner to apply for citizenship if the foreigner already has permanent residence and places at least a million leva capital in a Bulgarian company or increases his or her investments in Bulgaria to a minimum two million leva.
To anyone thinking about buying a property in Bulgaria I hope that I can help with my very bad experience (with other agency)that cost me several thousand euro's with a property I hoped would be my dream home and after paying my deposit and appointed the company to sort out the notary deeds I thought great I have my home in Bulgaria, after waiting for a month with no communication with the company I contacted the company and was told not to worry should all be sorted in about a week to cut a story short this went on for almost four months and not once did they communicate with me it was always me contacting them by now I was starting to worry that all the stress that I was suffering was not worth it shortening my life (I am75) so I told them to cancel the contract I didn't want the house anymore because I was getting very bad feelings over everything and back came the reply (yes you guessed it) should all be sorted in a week I replied yes but there's 52 week's in a year and I can't wait to find out which one so I gave up on my dreams of living in Bulgaria but then after a couple of weeks I decided I would try just once more and decided to try Bulgarian House and I can't tell you the difference between the first company of similar name to Bulgarian House was chalk and cheese. I was of course still very sceptical about dealing with them but after my first email to them and and the reply I received I felt like this is so different then over a short period of time searching through all the properties that fitted with my criteria I received so much help and additional property details I replied back that I have a short list of just over a hundred to which came back a reply "Are You Trying To Kill Me" but okay we can sort it all out and then I replied I was joking I only have about twenty I would like to see and after several emails and some professional banter I was so at ease with the company and made my travel arrangements to visit and view Kiki then recommended a hotel for me and after agreeing Kiki then made all the reservations for me. When I arrived at the hotel it was late and ready for a good night's sleep and then true to her word she called and asked me if all was okay and that she had arranged for me to visit all the properties I had requested over a three or four day period some of them in the Elhovo area and was showed them by one of her colleges Elvera once again a great lady that was only pleased to help and showed me other properties I might like but over the time viewing all the properties I was showed around the different area's to help me make my decision more easy and after three fairly busy but extremely enjoyable days I had a day to myself for recapping all I had seen as Kiki had an appointment with another client but even then she found time to call me and asked if I had any questions to which I replied no you did a fantastic job explaining everything as we viewed but I had one property I wanted to view again, Kiki called me back within the hour and had arranged with the owner to view the next morning, I viewed the house and had a little haggle with the owner and agreed a sale then Kiki spent the rest of the day taking me to all the major shops etc that would be of interest then went for a coffee and she arranged for me to visit the bank the next day and open a bank account then a visit to the solicitors to grant her power of attorney to act on my behalf all done, that evening Kiki and her son David (great little five year old man) showed me around Kazanlak and as it was December we went to watch a fantastic musical extravaganza in the square, what a great way to end the day and my time in Bulgaria. The whole process from agreement of sale including payment and transfer of the notary deeds all done in under two weeks that the other company could not do in over three months, so please please listen to a man who has had bad and good experience in buying a Bulgarian property Don't waste time and money looking around go straight to the best and forget the rest. As we all know that the virus is stopping us traveling and you might not be able to view as I can't go back to my house and start working on it but I can put my hand on my heart and say Kiki and Elvera can both be trusted to give you a 100% true assessment for the property of your choice and can proceed with conference. I can't wait to get back to Bulgaria and have a big BBQ for all the people I have made lifetime friends with and without Kiki it would not have been possible. John and Xiaohui
— John Johnson, UK