2023 Pros & Cons of Living In Bulgaria - PART 2
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 ต.ค. 2023
- After countless requests on creating an updated version of Pros & Cons of living in Bulgaria, 2 years later, I bring you the most comprehensive & detailed pros & cons video I have made.
In hindsight, there's still always things left to talk about, but it's nearly impossible to compile everything in one video without making it a movie. I am relatively happy with the information of this video.
Comment below and let me know your thoughts and if you agree/disagree with something, it's definitely a topic I'd love to debate more. Change my mind on something you believe I am wrong on.
And lastly, help me reach my goal, like the video if you got value from it and make sure to subscribe by clicking on the following link: bit.ly/3ByNnSa - 2,000 subs is the next goal!Thanks for watching, stay tuned and I'll be seeing you in the next video!
Officially, I’m the very first commentator on this updated Pros and Cons video. It amazes me how fast everything started to roll over. From a global view, as well as so many processes in Europe including Bulgaria. I do agree with pretty much everything you stated in this video. Bulgaria is becoming more,more receptive towards different nationalities coming in for visit,or to live full in here. Country is very beautiful, I mean Bulgarian nature has this abilities to just penetrates through your mind and speak to you. It’s so green and lush! Although summers are becoming more and more exhausting. The autumn became very long, warm and sunny which I like. Correct if it's just me but I am seeing also the strengthening of the connection between Bulgaria and your home country Greece. The tourism between the two, Greece received huge numbers of BG tourists in the summer of 2023 is the total peak and a record-breaker. Probably next summer even more Bulgarians will visit Greece and so on. Greek people also like to come to winter ski resorts and to travel around and even to live in. You seem much more relaxed, comfortable and happy in this video than you did in the previous. Enjoy your time in Bulgaria 🇧🇬 and be just as positive, smart and hard-working. Greetings from the Northern city of Ruse.
Such a wonderful comment and very good points made. The tourism between BG and Greece is def something that’s true, I’ve also noticed it over the years.
Thanks for the nice words and glad you enjoyed the video! More coming soon.
I've been living in Bulgaria since 2009 now and I have to agree on most of the points you raised. I'm working as a freelancer for a US based company which as you know is a good scenario as far as income is concerned. I used to live in Sofia until March '22, now we moved to a little lively village near Sevlievo as both my partner and I can work from home anyways.
The difference between Sofia and the "countryside" is like day and night. I find it much more pleasant in the village, among the fantastic nature, between friendly people where everyone knows their neighbors. Once you no longer have the need to go out regularly or go to restaurants, you discover the true treasure of living outside of Sofia.
And yes, the government is corrupt, the paperwork is endless and everything is less organized in Bulgaria, but doesn't that also have its charm compared to countries, like Belgium where I come from, where theres a rule for every single thing and you're even scared to breathe?
Anyways, in short .... I would definitely recommend Bulgaria, not planning on moving anywhere else :)
Wonderful testimony there, thanks for sharing 😊
Love your logic on the subject of the english language. I have moved to Spain from Ukraine and people here absolutely follow the "everyone should learn Spanish" logic. It makes it so hard to assimilate and get around.
I have really enjoyed the 2 videos that I have watched so far so thank you very much; I am in the throes of hopefully buying a small property in Bulgaria and leaving the UK permanently so your videos so far are really informative.
You’re most welcome! My pleasure :)
That was a great video. I gave it a like and I subscribed to your Channel.
Thanks Marvin!
I really like the video! Thank you very much!
You’re very welcome! Glad you like it.
Thank you for the very thorough discussion on Bulgaria so much I never knew!
You’re most welcome!
Love it,thank you
You’re most welcome!
Thank you so much
Hi Jim,
Found your channel by incident. Nice content, keep it up.
Where do you live in Bulgaria?
Hey thank you! I live in Sofia currently.
I will be travelling to Sofia in 3 weeks. I appreciate your video very much. Your video encourages me to visit Bulgaria and consider it for a future move.
Hey great to hear! Hope you have a safe trip and a good stay here!
Unfortunately for me Bulgaria wants to join the Schengen zone.
As a german I flee from mass migration which has gone out of control.
I think there are lots of positives with joining Schengen. Bulgaria not doing so great as an economy.
@@JimPastirmatzis how much euros average income in sofia is?
@@gizemlikisi6213 The official average income for our capitol is around 1400 - 1500 euros. However we still have a bit of "black economy" (people working without contract). And we have a lot of "grey economy" (workers who get some good money, but their contract is for a national minimum wage or so). Of course, when we speak about statistics we should always keep in mind that the numbers are usually being manipulated but my educated guess is that the real average income in Sofia is around 1600-1800 euro a month. My wage (I work as an low-end QA-manual in a company that is programming marketing studies for customers from the rich, western countries) is around 1400 euro ATM. Hope that helps 🍀 Stay safe and be well 😇
Great stuff, Jim. Thanks for making a video about our meme country.
Hey thanks and you’re super welcome! 😊
On point as usual 🔥
Thank you brother!
Great objective advice and discussion! So true!
Hey! Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
I'm looking forward to living in Bulgaria most likely starting in '25. I've been to Sofia, Pleven, and a handful of other cities. I hope to visit the coast next year. Then possibly move there for a time after, depending on work. Thanks for the info!
You’re most welcome! Best of luck with your travels and moving. Let us know if you need any help, I work directly with Offshore Citizen.
@@JimPastirmatzis Will take you up on that when the time is right. Thanks!
Thanks for sharing your impressions. I agree on many of your thoughts (like the need of low taxes in order to keep Bulgaria attractive for foreign investors, the advantage of knowing languages that are widely spoken or the importance of reliable police/courts)
I understand you don't like comparing countries to each other but watching your video I was wondering whether you considered moving to Cyprus when you left Greece?
It has a similarly attractive tax system and for you speaking Greek it's even easier - although English seems to be widely spoken. Or did Cyprus seem too close culturally?
I want to move to Bulgaria or Cyprus so I was wondering whether you considered it?!
Thanks!
Hey! So taxes is only a partial reason for me… Cyprus is still Greece in my eyes.
Plus it’s an island. I don’t really want to live in an island. I like bigger cities, more available conveniences and services, etc so I’d probably still prefer Bulgaria even if Cyprus was a tax heaven.
@@JimPastirmatzis "Cyprus is still Greece in my eyes" - Yes, I understand. For a Greek Cyprus won't be too exciting :)
And I fully share your feelings about it being an Island. It's quite small. Sofia is small, too but no comparison to Nikosia which is really very small.
On the other hand Cyprus only requires to stay for 60 days per year. And getting to Istanbul (16Mio habitants), Tel Aviv, Athen, Sofia is very cheap and quick. That what makes it attractive as a base in my opinion...
For living I think I would prefer Sofia, too. Also for costs.
Thanks again for sharing your experiences!
Good video and I liked the impartial comments.
I think that I have to agree with you on just about everything that you said . I would probably like to add that I found a lot of excessive paperwork and forms when opening a business bank account and buying a property. I couldn't believe how many times my signature was required on copious amount of sheets of papers . Definitely too much red tape. All of these documents were in Cyrillic too so I had to employ a translator for everything as there wasn't a n English version of any of the forms . Another thing that I hear that is a drawn out process is buying a car. I hear this isn't a straightforward process and can take days and a lot of time wasting , especially if you have to take time off from work.
Another thing that seems to be a problem is finding skilled and honest workers for house repairs. I have seen a lot of complaints from foreigners like myself that bought houses and called builders to do repairs,only to find that many of the workers don't bother turning up to finish the jobs , after taking a deposit and advancement of money for the jobs ..
Another thing is also getting permanent residency or citenzship . For someone like me who hasn't reached retirement age ,but bought a property in a village and will be investigating time and money in the village where my house is, there isn't a special visa for someone like myself.I am from the UK and because some idiots in my country voted for us to leave the EU, it means that I am now subjected to the forced 90 days in our of 180 days rule, which limits the time that I can spend in Bulgaria or other EU countries when I visit to do work on my property.
The last point I wanted to make was about the weather.Like you said it is colder than Greece in winter, so can you tell me the warmest place in Greece that I could probably buy a plot of land to drive a Campervan to and spend my winters . Or would Turkey be warmer ?
I was draw
Hey Mark! Definitely lots of good added feedback there.
Not sure what the warmest place in Greece would be from an anecdotal perspective, though research says that Karpathos, Rhodes, Zakynthos & Athens are the warmest.
Been to both Athens and Zakynthos, but not in the other two.
As far as I'm reading, Turkey has slightly higher average temperatures than Greece but obviously there's a completely different life, have to keep that in account. (especially depending on where in Turkey you decide to reside in)
Look, the reality is, it all depends on your personal goals in the next 5-15 years.
If it's business, Bulgaria, despite it's cons is still the best place. If it's getting best quality of life and you have good income or retirement or savings, then it'd probably be Greece from the ones you asked, though you can make a pretty comfortable life as you get better bang for the buck on average. (Even though things keep getting more and more expensive)
Hi, great vid and really good info. I am Canadian with an EU passport, I want to relocate to BG and am wondering if it makes sense to import my car to BG (there should not be any taxes as I am relocating, let's say permanently to BG) or would you recommend to sell the car before moving and buy a car when in BG?
Frankly, can't advise you on this, it'd require research.
Welcome ! Sell your car. There are taxes , if you import your car here . Greetings !
Iam gonna move there in a few month,.do you think 4100lev a month is okay nowadays to live there?
Yeah easily.
Especially if alone and you aren’t looking after a crazy lux lifestyle.
It’s def way above average so you’ll do just fine
Best of luck!
I asked the question before finishing Video 😂😂😂😂
Hahaha no worries
I'm contemplating moving to Bulgaria. I have heard good things about Bulgaria and your videos are very informative. Corruption, unfortunately, is common in a lot of countries and it only hurts the people of the country living there. I have heard that Bulgaria is soon going to be in the Schengen Zone (sorry if I misspelled it) but hopefully the rumor is true. Keep up the great work in your videos.
There are rumours indeed and hopefully one day it will happen but these rumours have been happening for a very long time.
Glad you enjoyed the video. :)
Stay tuned for more!
Currently the Netherlands and Austria are the only two countries opposing the inclusion of Bulgaria in the “big boys” club of Europe due to the emigration pressure on the Turkish-Bulgarian border. This is quiet the double standard because Bulgaria has completed all the requirements from the EU to be accepted in Schengen. These rules and regulations have been voted and agreed by all countries including The Netherlands and Austria (the two countries currently opposing the inclusion of Bulgaria). These two countries do not have external borders of the European Union and that makes them very selfish, overly critical, and most of all enormously hypocritical. Bulgaria has completed the Schengen requirements about 7 years ago. The current timeline is 2024 to accept the euro and 2025 to be accepted as a full member in the EU. It is yet to be seen…
@@ke2delightthanks for the update
No.1 corrupt country in Europe is the UK. The government are stealing billions of taxpayers hard earned money.
Thanks for the video - can I ask you what is the price of a bottle of red table wine -from a supermarket - in an around Balchik / black sea area - like a cab sav or equivalent?
That’s a good question, however I haven’t checked recently, I don’t suppose it’s too far from other places in Bulgaria.
I’d check online supermarkets and adjust down if I were you, this way I’d get an idea for more than just wine
Price of bottle of decent Cab Sav or Merlot in Varna, Balchik, etc. is 4-7 Euro, or you can buy exactly the same wine in 3 liter boxes for around 15 Euros. Those are comparable with mid-range red wines from Napa/Sonoma/Bordeaux/Chile/Argentine/Australia regions
My girlfriend and I are moving to Sofia in December. Can you suggest some good restaurants you mentioned? Btw thanks for tips.
Sure, Vodenitsata for traditional Bulgarian, Carnivale for some Greek food and generally meat, Motherfathers for coffee and some sandwiches, The Old Lady for a good brunch, The Sushi Bar for good sushi and generally Asian food.
That’s a good starter list. There’s more but don’t want to make the list too long. All of the above are quite decent, been quite happy with them.
Wishing you folks a lovely move.
did you move there already?
Great video! How long ago have you been living in Budapest and how does it compare to Sofia? Maybe you could record a video comparing these two cities to each other. Since you're great at pointing out all the little details, a comparison video from you would be just awesome.
Thank you! I actually lived in Szeged not in Budapest, but I traveled back and forth and Budapest became my favorite city in Europe as a result. Now when I go to Hungary (and I do maybe twice a year now) I always go to Budapest.
If I compared Szeged (since I have lived experience there) with Sofia, I am not sure if I'd be comparing apples to oranges as the one is a capital, the other is more like a big city. (160k residents vs 1.2M here in Sofia)
But I'm definitely interested in making comparison videos in general, even though I am sure they will bring some extra hate from some that strongly detest comparing Sofia to some of the richer capitals of the world.
@@JimPastirmatzisjust something to keep in mind, Sofia has over 1.5 to 1.8 unregistered residents that bring the city population to 3 mil. Most of the population of Bulgaria is concentrated to the big cities and particularly to Sofia, so may read on paper that the city is 1.2 mil but the reality is close to 3 mil.
What is the best way to go about real estate. Renting an apartment as a foreigner.
I don't want to come and be flying airbnb
Hey, for long term renting get in touch with an agency.
You can go on imoti.bg or ues.bg and look for places.
Best of luck!
@@JimPastirmatzis thanks
Thanks your videos have been helpful.. but you didn’t mention a thing about the Bulgarian Education System especially for international students
Appreciate it, it’s unfortunately impossible to make a video about EVERYTHING.
Part 3 down the line. I’ll keep this one in mind for the next video.
If you do a part 3, please talk about the level of medical fascism in Bulgaria. Some countries stole everyone's freedom during the Great Panic, but I understand that Bulgaria took a more liberal approach.
I'll need to do research on this topic a lot deeper. Please feel free to share your experiences.
@@JimPastirmatzis My understanding (from here in the UK) was that only 15% of Bulgarians received the inoculation, which was the lowest percentage in the EU.
This tells me that the people have a healthy skepticism towards government mandates. This is a very attractive quality, unlike countries such as Georgia and Hungary, which implemented harsh restrictions and, worse, the people obeyed them.
Bulgarian here, most of us do not like "I'm from the goverment and I'm here to help". The lockdown was only for a month or two, there was no mandidatory jabs. Most of my friends (medical doctors, nursies, laborants) are not vaccinated.
@@krasytodThanks.
Hello from Drama Mitso.
Hey Dimitri!!
jim i have a question.Does Bulgaria offer dual citizenship.I am an american army veteran with both Irish and Italian familial ties on both sides of my family and i'm going to at some point in time look into seeing if I can get both citizenships by descent if possible or worse case scenario by naturalization.I'm a car enthusiast and If and or when I move to europe,eastern europe is a place i'm considering moving to and I want to start an automotive company in wherever i'm settling into.I'm curious about bulgaria due to the low taxes but i'm also only considering dual citizenship countries as an option.
the countries i'm considering
Ireland,Serbia,Poland,Italy,Armenia,Turkyie,Montenegro
thank you for making these videos.
also how difficult is bulgarian to learn from a english speaker perspective.and how close is it to russian?
To the best of my knowledge, dual citizenship is something they are usually ok with if you go through their CBI programs which for the most part they are closing down.
As far as I remember, dual via naturalisation is something they’re usually not good with.
Bulgarian is a difficult language but if you focus on it you can definitely learn.
If a Russian speaker speaks pure Russian to my wife and she speaks pure Bulgarian, they usually understand each other, so I assume there is a decent overlap. A lot of times when I hear Russian I can recognise a lot of words myself that are basically identical.
They do but a bureaucratic nightmare unless you hire a Bulgarian lawyer who knows the right people to pay off. But it may be worth it since you will have EU rights. If you are EU citizen no need to be a BG.
@@JimPastirmatzis unfortunately languages are hard to learn. Easy ones are French Spanish, etc. Hard are Greek Hungarian, Hebrew and Arabic.
Bulgarian is the easiest if all Eastern European “Slavic” languages because it has gone through the same progressive transformation like English. Russian, for example is infinitely more difficult than Bulgarian because they still use some archaic, very outdated structures that are a complete nightmare. Very similar is the situation with polish, Czech, Slovak, Ukrainian, and so on. Bulgarian language and alphabet are the oldest among the Slavic languages. You can enjoy dual citizenship in bulgaria but you will not be able to get a Bulgarian citizenship if you do not have any ancestral connection the country. My suggestion is to get your European citizenship through the country of your ancestors then you may move to bulgaria or to any European Union country as you desire, you just can’t get a Bulgarian citizenship if you have no family relations in the country.
@@JimPastirmatzisTheir Cbi is already cancelled in 2021 only and now their is other option also like investment in Funds, real estate and open company and hire people. You will get Permanent residence with 500k euro investment.and you have to do through Bulgarian lawyer which will help you to get citizenship also. There was 2 path. 1 fast track 1 million euros and citizenship in 2 years and 2 standard track that gives citizenship in 5 years. First one was closed second is still there and it requires minimal residency and property in Bulgaria to get citizenship.
Could you comment on the state of local politics … 4 governments in 2-3 yrs? How does this affect “country risk” . As a US based firm , the low corporate tax rate is attractive but the change in govts could pose a risk to that low tax regime . Im also worried about the rise of the Revival Party and their pro Soviet view, actually still dumfounded by the Soviet Nostalgia .
The low tax regime has been forever now but of course you never know when something will change.
Hi Jim. I'm from Portugal and I received today an offer to go work in Bulgaria. My salary will be 3000BGN. Do you consider this salary good enough for me to live by myself in Bulgaria in Sofia? Thank you. And also thanks for the content on your video.
Hey! Yes, for sure. As long as you’re reasonable with your expenses you’ll live a decent life.
Thanks for your answer! Do you believe is still possible for me to save some money?
Also do you consider Sofia an easy place to meet other people? As I’m going alone😅
@@UmaBambi haha yes you’ll be fine
Just be selective on where you live and what rent you pay as that’s going to be your main expense. Find a good deal there and from there on if you’re not reckless you can save a bit. But not anything too crazy.
Meeting people largely depends on you and how outgoing you are, but I think you’ll be fine. Join the group Sofia Friends and Foreigners, they organise meets ups sometimes.
Better stay in Portugal. Here everyone wants to emigrate.
@@PerdoSanchez-st8ibmaybe a little bit late now, as I moved in the beginning of this month to Sofia😀
Jim i need advice badly, i am a 17 year old boy from Bulgaria living with my parents in Germany for the past 5 years and i hate it. I am in a school for Woodwork and my dad said it wont bring any money to me so i have the option to study in Bulgaria, Stara Zagora in a very good school for Economics but i am worried about the low salaries in Bulgaria and some things to keep in mind if i do work in Bulgaria , i live with my grandparents in a big house so i wont be paying rent and i speak 3 languages English German and French i think that might help me in bulgaria to become somewhat succesful. I have the option to return to Bulgaria on 3rd of November or 7th and study there Economics and Management i think i might go for it.
Mitko, happy nameday first of all for the 26th. We share the same name and at least in Greece, we celebrate that.
In life, you have to take chances. When you're 17, that's the time to make mistakes and take chances. It might be a mistake it might not, but you have to shoot your shot my guy, depending on what you feel.
At the end of the day, if you want to be back in the homeland, come back. Not sure if you know what profession you'll go for with Economics, but try to go for something that allows you to work with people internationally, this way you will not need to worry about low salaries in Bulgaria (given that you have an international clientelle and therefore income) and you'll be able to actually leverage the local systems (tax + inexpensive lifestyle) in your favour. Your English is pretty good and will only get better, you know 2 more languages. Try to combine all of this and leverage it coming 8 years and by the time you're 25, you'll have made a bunch of money.
Good luck with your upcoming move and study. Commit to the plan, execute and you'll cross the next problem when you get to it, for now, identify the grander goals and try to slowly organise your life to achieve them.
I have not had my first job yet just Praktika if you do know what it is from school in Germany and what would you suggest is a good first job for a 17 year old in Bulgaria or a good first as you said International job
@@mitkokolev7125 there’s no good first job. You have to figure out what you like and what you don’t like. The way you figure that out is by trying different things.
@@mitkokolev7125 Митко чичо ми е дъворделец в Англия и прави страшни пари. Прецени харесва ли ти да работиш с ръце или на компютър според мен. Не е лошо дори да изкараш като дърводелец 1 година някъде. После само да ти е CVто. Като имаш вече 10 години опит/стаж ще видиш колко е полезно да можеш повече от 1 нещо (професия). Не се знае какви възможности ще ти се отдадат, света е голям. Представи си изкараш една година в строителството, правиш нещо с дърво, гредореди, вътрешни конструкции, прочие. След това завършваш икономика. И си имаш 2 занаята. Казвам ти го от опит, защото като вземеш да работиш всеки гледа дали имаш опит в това, което си завършил. Ако завършиш, а нямаш и година някъде да си го работил и се опиташ след време да си намериш работа като са минали няколко годинки никой няма да те вземе.
По добре първи в село, от колкото последен в града!
На 17 си послушай сърцето си.
Аз също съм в Нидерландия.По успешен няма как да бъда в България!
Are woman in small towns alot more traditional?
I mean… it’s not like I’ve met a bunch of them. Hadn’t spent too much time in small cities as a single guy.
With that said, I’ve noticed that European women are certainly more traditional on average than U.S. though that’s only my personal experience.
Still lots of good women out there also, just different penetration of feminism and all the rest.
I guess 1800bgn in Sofia as a foreigner it will be barely surviving living 🎃
I know people that make 1,500 BGN/mo and are living, just more frugally. They are not struggling to survive, but they rent in a worse neighbourhood, they don't drive an expensive car, etc etc.
I think you can make it work on 1,800 BGN/mo if you are living by yourself and are careful with your spending, but in an ideal world, you should be shooting for more :)
The thing I see in the Bulgarian society is that many people want to prove they are someone they are not, or prove they have money when they don't, so they end up massively overspending, they will go get the latest iPhone on credit, or drive a car out of their income range, etc etc etc....
Good luck
Are the women in Bulgaria beautiful?
1,000%. Engaged to one.
@@JimPastirmatzisis she olive skinned with dark hair?
I so FKN want this video to be seen via the BG national TV channel!
Banks kicking off the business investors etc. - h ah aha ha
And Dude, by the way... Quite a few banks in Bulgaria are of a Greek origin as far as my concern. 😂
Quite a few? Piraeus was way back when, no longer exists, acquired by another Greek owned bank which is Postbank. That’s it. No other major players are Greek owned to my knowledge.
@@JimPastirmatzis Piraeus Bank, Postbank, ProCredit Bank, etc. are good examples of the significance of the Greek banking system for the Bulgarian one. This inaccuracy raises doubts about your statement. I have a gut feeling that you might be right in your acquisitions, but stating that a banking system is inadequate in front of the foreign public is close to a crime if not significantly backed up by facts. Our country is fighting against bad financial policies like 'money laundering,' and this might significantly damage the general bank-customer relations
Piraeus bank doesn’t exist it got acquired by Postbank. ProCredit bank is a German owned bank not Greek owned.
With that said. The only Greek owned bank I know of in Bulgaria, once again, is Postbank.
Not sure what you mean that a foreign banking system is inadequate?
@@JimPastirmatzis I meant that the Bulgarian banking system is foreign to you, and by accusing it of being inadequate for business, you actually scare potential investors away. And by the way, Postbank is a significant bank in Bulgaria, so the situation with ProCredit and Piraeus does not change my statement.
@@user-rj2ow3jn6x you said there are a few Greek banks and I said that’s false. We can now agree that the only big player and maybe only player at all that’s Greek owned is Postbank.
And I don’t understand your point, am I not allowed to have an opinion on customer service in banks and overall banking system if negative?
Every person should do their own due diligence I’ll always speak of my experiences as they are.
Very interesting Pro & Cons👍Efkaristo. PS : but please stop to say "you know" all the time...
Thanks for the feedback… really working on that. I’m very aware of it. Requires quite a bit of practice. Hopefully overtime I eliminate it completely.
Anyways thx again for the feedback, glad you enjoyed the video!
It’s not “stop to say” it’s “stop saying”, also “pros and cons”, you know? My advice is to avoid correcting others especially if you make bigger mistakes.
Relocated to BG a year ago due to the taxes. If that ever changed, I'd leave immediately. The pollution, rampant animal abuse, high degree of smoking, mostly arrogant people and rude service culture can't balance out the pretty nature. Also, the attempt to cheat foreigners at every opportunity. Maybe that's just Sofia...
There are definitely plenty of things to improve. I jusy hope the politicians don't fuck up the few good things they have going for them.
@@JimPastirmatzis Maybe like you I should come back two years later and read my comment.
Alternatives remain UAE, Cyprus
Best coment yet.
@@GunzbergSounds as you are not too happy with your choice. I'm considering Bulgaria and Cyprus at the moment.
Cyprus has a better reputation but seems quite expensive on almost everything compared to Bulgaria.
@@janreising2231 it's working out fine Vs the other choices. Sofia is much better connected and faster for me to get to clients in Western Europe than being based in Cyprus. A colleague of mine chose Cyprus and has a hell of a time accessing his earnings without physically being in Cyprus. So if I had a choice again, I'd still pick BG but maybe more outside Sofia to escape the smog but still a 30min drive to the airport, rather than being in Sofia city itself
you forget one simple fact: if a Bulgarian wants to work as a hotel receptionist or a video blogger, yes, knowledge of English will be a plus (small). but if he wants to get a more serious, but rare profession for Bulgaria, he usually begins to learn Russian and is interested and interested in the availability of quotas in Russian educational institutions. for Bulgarians, Russian is the language of GREAT possibilities, not English.
Funny how people in this country loosely use the word “fact” - how’s that a fact? English speaking is not a small advantage it’s a prerequisite at this point for most of the tourism sector, let alone a lot of restaurants etc.
They require English not Russian.
Russian is a plus, English is a requirement.
English is spoken by billions, Russian by millions. In a globalised world, English opens far more doors than Russian does, especially after the war.
Please source facts next time, just because you’re convinced by a certain idea doesn’t make it a fact.
Back in the day, it used to be Russian - even in schools they used to teach it. Now they teach English. If you pay attention to the amount of people coming here, (pre-war and post-war) Russian vs English speakers and I don't mean UK - anyone basically from any other country that would communicate English, it's pretty obvious what makes sense to study and why the industry has become more English-centric than Russian.
@@JimPastirmatzis
Once again, Greek.. it is easier for a Bulgarian to get an exclusive specialty in Russia, in Russian, especially since he already knows the language in advance, more than half..(aviation engineer, diamond cutter, chemical technologist... in most European countries, there are either no such faculties at all, or there is a monstrous competition for them, while you will need knowledge of German or French, but definitely not English.) I didn't mean the service sector. Moreover, as you yourself claim, there are billions of ready-made personnel from all over the planet for this field.
I see no point in fighting for an area where competition is too high and there is almost no money.
Let's assess the above for a second; the rare professions whether it's chemical technologist, diamond cutter, aviation engineer etc is what most WONT go for. My advice in the video applies to the average person. How many people on avg go for the really high skilled jobs which in themselves they usually pay quite good?
If someone learns Russian they can do nothing if they don't have these high-skilled degrees to go after, most Bulgarians don't go for these.
If your advice was more centered around people should go after higher-skilled jobs and how Russian would then help them further (though I don't know if that's true specifically) that'd be a better argument. The problem is, like in any country, most people don't go after the very high-skill jobs. In this case, the prerequisite is the skill itself, then the language.
So there's definitely something to be said for; let's have the people here go after higher-skilled professions, but then again the other problem I see is, the people that typically do go after these professions go abroad as there's better pay.
I sort of misunderstood your initial response which is why my first response didn't address the point you made.
There are more things to talk about in english
Hahaha nah I doubt it
The Socialist Party has lost many seats during the last couple of years and lost many of its younger members because it is in crisis. As of 1st January 2024, the minimum wage will be 477€, yet again after tax it is 370€ which is still quite low. However, the salaries in Sofia remain way much higher compared to the rest of the country as it sadly represents 42% of the entire Bulgarian economy. Expats working for international companies in Sofia, may get a quite decent salary even for Central European standards.
Sofia airport has improved a lot thanks to the agressive expansion of Ryanair in 2016 when they are in fierce competition with the flag carrier and Wizzair.
I would consider praising the Sofia metro, because this is perhaps one of the BEST things that happened in the city. For as little as 0,80€ you can go literally anywhere and most importantly connected to the airport in less than 30min from the downtown area.
Another huge pro in Sofia are its huge green parks that Bulgarians tend to very quickly forget about it. Even beautiful cities like Barcelona and Budapest are not that green.
The annoying things in Sofia is the massive graffiti in the centre, those arrogant uneducated so called "batki" which are thug-like agressive individuals. The rudeness you are mentioning is the typical Balkan character.
Regarding the command of English, trust me, there is a HUGE improvement especially compared to the last 10-15 years.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that Sofia is where the money is, Plovdiv is a good and vibrant and more interesting city to live in for sure while Burgas is definitely one of the best. Its infrastructure, transport, parks and general urban furniture have all improved a lot. The perfect city for retirees and also very walkable and bike/scooter friendly with a milder climate and very good connected via air in summer only and with a highway with Sofia which is less than 4 hours away.
Super on-point comment here. Yes, you're totally right. Metro is great, even though I rarely use it. My wife has said great things about it, she has used it more than me. But generally have heard great things.
Maybe on part 3 sometime in the future I can talk a bit more about all this as well.
Appreciate the comment, definitely insightful.
Bro, take a walk and make a video of Bulgarian scenery, instead of having us watch the background of your multiple cheap monitors blasting white themes.
@@somebodythatiusedtoknoooooooow not having anyone watch it if they don’t like it.
Tons of videos showing what you just said, you can just drop off and go search for what you’re looking for.
You are way too critical.
That’s the point of the video. To be critical and mention pros and cons.
@JimPastirmatzis The things you are criticizing are valid for every country. The Bulgarians are crybabies and they want things that do not exist even in the most developed countries. When you are poor you have issues and you are smoking, taking drugs, drinking, gambling, driving recklessly and etc., this is in every country. It is human nature. You must compare Bulgaria to a poor borrow of the USA in order to be fair...
@JimPastirmatzis When you are poor those things are happening. Compare Bulgaria to a poor borough in another country and you will see that it is the same. When you don't have enough money you have issues and you are doing the things that you are talking about. Be fair and compare Bulgaria to the Bronx. Man, you are living in the biggest ghetto of Europe. You must be aware of that after so many years here. The only difference is that we don't have rap music but we have "chalga".
I think it's largely convenient to just justify all terrible/negative behaviors of this society to simply being poor. I strongly disagree with that.
Surely there must be minor influence due to that for certain things, but you can't just excuse all bad behaviors to people being poor, and especially in this day and age. Are people in Las Vegas also poor and therefore gambling like crazy? Just not as black and white as you suggest there.
@JimPastirmatzis Gambling is a disease it is not about being rich or poor. Only the poor people are doing the things that you are criticizing. Poverty also leads to a lack of education and many other issues, like drinking, smoking, misbehaving, etc. I'm a millionaire, I'm well educated, I speak English and Russian, I play guitar, I don't smoke, I don't drink, I pay my tickets I obey the law, I'm ultra polite, I donate money to Wikimedia every Christmas but I don't criticize poor people. It is what it is. Just accept the fact that you are living in the Bronx.