- Visiting: as a British citizen you can be in Bulgaria for up to 90 days in any 180-day period without a visa — and that allowance is shared with the whole Schengen area.
- Living there: you need a long-stay (type D) visa and then a residence permit, through a route that fits your situation.
- For business owners and remote professionals there are two main routes: moving through your existing company, or moving as a remote worker with clients outside Bulgaria. There are other paths too, but they are case by case.
- Nobody can guarantee the outcome. The decision belongs to the Bulgarian authorities, and refusals happen even with a clean file.
Why this is so confusing (and why we wrote this)
If you've spent an evening googling this, you've probably read three different answers before midnight. Some pages were written before Brexit and never updated. Some still talk about the lev, although Bulgaria has used the euro since January 2026. Some are written by companies that sell one piece of the puzzle and quietly skip the rest. And a few are written by people who would very much like you to wire them a deposit.
We know that feeling because we lived it. As foreigners, it took us a full year to do everything on our own: rules explained differently depending on who you asked, offices that didn't agree with each other, documents that were fine one week and not the next — and, along the way, more than one person who turned out to be a scammer. The Bulgaria Move exists because of that year. We built the service we wish someone had offered us.
So this guide has one job: to give you the clear picture we didn't have. Where something depends on your situation, we'll say so. Where we don't know, we won't pretend.
What you can do without a visa: the 90/180 rule
Since 1 January 2025 Bulgaria has been a full member of the Schengen area. For a British passport holder that means a single rule, set out on the UK government's own travel advice: you can travel to the Schengen area, which includes Bulgaria, without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.
Three details catch people out:
- It's a rolling window, not a calendar. On any given day, look back 180 days and count every day you spent in a Schengen country. That number can't go above 90.
- The allowance is shared. A long weekend in Spain or a week in Italy comes out of the same 90 days as your time in Sofia.
- It is for visits, not for living. The 90/180 rule covers tourism, visiting family and friends, events and short study. Overstaying can lead to a ban from all Schengen countries for up to three years. And since the EU's Entry/Exit System started, your days are recorded digitally at the border, so "nobody counts" is no longer true — if it ever was.
The 90 days are perfect for one thing: coming over, seeing the country, meeting the people who'll handle your move, and deciding with your own eyes. They are not a way to live there.
The three questions that decide your route
When someone asks us "can I move to Bulgaria?", we don't start with the answer. We start with three questions, because the answer depends entirely on them:
- What passport do you hold? A UK passport means you're a non-EU citizen for Bulgarian purposes: you need a visa to enter and live there. (If you also hold an Irish or other EU passport, everything changes — you have free movement and don't need a visa at all.)
- Do you actually want to live in Bulgaria? Every residence route assumes you really move. If what you want is to stay in the UK and pay Bulgarian tax, the honest answer is no — we explain why further down.
- How do you earn your living? Do you own a company abroad? Do you work remotely as a freelancer or employee for clients outside Bulgaria? Or neither? This decides which route opens up.
Route 1: moving through your existing company
The company route
If you already own a company outside Bulgaria, it can open a trade representative office in Bulgaria, and that office is the basis for your visa and residence.
- Who it fits
- Owners of an established business outside Bulgaria — typically consulting, IT and software, agencies, e-commerce.
- What's required
- Your company needs two years of clean financial and tax compliance, and you need to secure a lease for premises in Bulgaria. Both are required to register the office.
- The visa
- A type D visa. Its validity is six months — an entry window, not a stay. It lets you enter and apply for residence; it isn't the permission to live there.
- The residence
- Granted for one year, renewable.
- Your family
- Each family member needs a fully separate application.
- Tax, once you've moved
- When you're genuinely living in Bulgaria and tax resident there, and your profit is made through a Bulgarian company, the regime is 10% corporate tax and 5% on dividends — around 14.5% on profit you draw out personally. How that applies to you is a question for a licensed accountant, which is exactly who answers it on our side.
Said plainly: visa refusals are fairly common even with a fully compliant file. Anyone who presents approval as certain is either misinformed or selling you something. What a good file does is give you the best possible chance.
If your company is younger than two years, or you can't take on premises yet, this route isn't open to you today. That's not the end of the conversation: either you plan the timing so your track record is long enough, or you look at the other paths below.
Route 2: moving as a remote professional
The remote route
If you work remotely — as a freelancer or an employee — delivering services to clients outside Bulgaria, there is a residence route built for you.
- Who it fits
- Freelancers and remote employees providing IT-enabled services to clients or employers outside Bulgaria.
- The key condition
- You must work exclusively for clients or companies outside Bulgaria for the whole residence period — not just when you apply.
- How long
- Maximum two years in total. It's a hard cap: it does not renew indefinitely like the company route.
- Tax
- If you set up a Bulgarian company for that income, it's the same 10% + 5% regime. If you stay purely self-employed without a Bulgarian company, the basis is different, and we won't quote you a rate in an article: it depends on your figures and is confirmed by an accountant.
Said plainly: if you're thinking long-term, the two-year cap matters. And if you want to take on Bulgarian clients as well, this route doesn't fit — it needs a different plan.
The other paths (case by case)
Not everyone owns a company or works remotely. Bulgaria has other ways to residence, and it's worth knowing they exist before someone tells you "it can't be done":
- Through a Bulgarian employer — you're hired by a company in Bulgaria.
- As a pensioner.
- As a student.
- Through a new Bulgarian company that creates 10 local jobs — for people starting from scratch rather than moving an existing business.
None of these is a standard package: each depends heavily on the person, and we treat them one at a time.
All routes at a glance
| Route | Who it's for | Key condition | How long |
|---|---|---|---|
| Visiting (no visa) | Anyone with a British passport | Visits only, shared with all of Schengen | 90 days in any 180 |
| Company route | Owners of a company abroad | 2 years' clean compliance + a lease in Bulgaria | 1 year, renewable |
| Remote route | Freelancers and remote employees | Only clients/employers outside Bulgaria, for the whole stay | Max 2 years in total |
| Other paths | Employees of Bulgarian firms, pensioners, students, founders creating 10 local jobs | Depends on the path | Case by case |
The part nobody tells you: the UK side
Getting a Bulgarian residence permit and stopping being a UK tax resident are two different things. Bulgaria decides the first. HMRC decides the second, under its own rules — the Statutory Residence Test looks at things like how many days you spend in the UK and the ties you keep there.
That's why we're blunt about one question we hear on almost every call:
I can keep living in the UK and just pay 10% through a Bulgarian company.
If you remain resident in the UK, the UK taxes you. A Bulgarian company run from your kitchen table in Manchester doesn't change where you live. The regime works when it's real on both sides: you genuinely live in Bulgaria, and the business is genuinely run from Bulgaria — a real office, real management, real decisions made there. That's exactly what the company route is built around: a representative office of your company, administered from Bulgaria, with you living there. What doesn't hold up is a letterbox abroad while your life stays in the UK. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling you a problem you'll meet later.
Leaving the UK properly deserves its own conversation with a qualified adviser, and we'll cover it in a dedicated guide.
Four more myths worth clearing up
If I buy a flat in Bulgaria, I get residency.
Owning a home doesn't, on its own, give you the right to live there. You still need a residence route. Buy if you want to — but not for this reason.
Opening a Bulgarian company gives me the right to live there.
A company by itself isn't a residence permit. Residence comes from a specific route — for example the trade office of your existing company, or a new company that creates local jobs.
Once I have the visa, I can stay.
The type D visa is a six-month entry window. The permission to live there is the residence permit that comes after it.
Pay the right agent and approval is guaranteed.
No one can guarantee a decision that belongs to the authorities. A guarantee is one of the clearest warning signs we know.
We did it the hard way: no lawyer, no accountant, nobody holding our hand. Just us, a folder of papers and a lot of queues.
We queued at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at least ten times. We chased documents and notarisations that our landlords simply didn't want to give us — and without them, the file doesn't move. At the migration office, nobody switches to English: they explain it to you in Bulgarian, louder and louder, until you understand. And along the way, some of the people who offered to "help" weren't who they said they were.
That year is the reason we work the way we do: one clear plan from the first call, someone next to you at every counter, and one team that stays with you until you're settled.
What this looks like when you move with us
We're not here to sell you a package you don't fit. The first thing we do is check, honestly, whether Bulgaria makes sense for you — and if it doesn't, we'll tell you.
- A strategy call. We go through the three questions above: your passport, your plans, how you earn. You leave the call knowing which route fits you — or that none does.
- A clear plan and a clean file. Our partner Bulgarian lawyers prepare your application. You know what's needed, and why, before anything is submitted.
- The visa and your arrival. We handle the visa application and the residence process, with someone accompanying you to the offices in Bulgaria so you're never standing at a counter alone.
- Company, bank and accounting. Your company set-up, bank accounts and accounting are handled by licensed lawyers and accountants who take professional responsibility for their advice.
- After you've settled. You don't get a handover and a goodbye. You keep the same team, in English, for whatever comes next.
Questions we get asked every week
How long can a UK citizen stay in Bulgaria without a visa?
Up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Because Bulgaria is a full Schengen member, days spent in any other Schengen country in the previous 180 days count towards the same 90.
Can I keep working for my UK clients from Bulgaria?
On the remote route, working for clients outside Bulgaria is exactly the condition — and they must stay outside Bulgaria for your whole stay. On the company route, your existing company keeps trading. What changes is where you're tax resident, which is why the UK side needs proper advice.
Can my partner and children come with me?
Yes, but each family member needs their own, fully separate application. We plan the family's paperwork together from the start, not as an afterthought.
Do I need to speak Bulgarian?
No. We handle every interaction with banks, notaries and institutions in Bulgarian on your behalf. You deal with us in English.
My company is less than two years old. Is Bulgaria off the table?
Not necessarily. The company route isn't open yet, but you can plan the timing around your track record, or look at the remote route or the other paths. It's one of the most common situations we look at on calls.
Is approval guaranteed?
No, and be wary of anyone who says it is. Refusals happen even with complete, compliant files. What we can promise is a properly prepared application and a team that stays with you whatever the answer.
Not sure which route fits you?
Book a free strategy call. We'll look at your passport, your business and your plans, and tell you plainly which route works for you — or if none does. No pressure, no sales script.
Book your free strategy call → Takes 2 minutes to request. In English or Italian.The Bulgaria Move coordinates your relocation end to end. Tax and legal advice on your specific situation is given by licensed Bulgarian lawyers and accountants, who take professional responsibility for it. Figures shown on this site are illustrative and depend on your circumstances — nothing here is tax or legal advice.