What kind of investment opportunities are there in Bulgaria?

@Harmanjeet Singh

Hello, Mr. Sight

I am hapoy that you are intereted in investing in Bulgaria.

Our country have a lot of investment opportunities from even small entrepreneurs with tech startups to creating and developing huge production facilities or warehouses ( regarding the strategic location of the country). Investment in real estate is also very desired and profitable.

Bulgarian Foreigners act provide a lot of optiins for investors depending on their size of the investment.

Even as a holder of a foreihn company you can ask for a 1 year residence permit.

Also purchasing a property for at least 300 000 eur can give you 1 y residence permit too.

There are also options for lange investment who can provide even Permanent residence .

During my experience as a business and Immigration advisor I have a lot of experience helping those types of investors to start their business ventures in Bulgaria.

@Harmanjeet Singh Interesting question. And the answer is quite broad. Actually it mainly depends on your assessment of the current economic situation, on the required profitability, on the field of expertise and the available funds for the investment. Basically you can consider at least the following areas:

1. Photovoltaics (No. 1 at the moment)
2. Real estates;
3. BPO / CALL Centers - requires more than money;
4. Vacation properties - at seaside and ski resorts, mineral water resorts, mountains or rural areas;
5. CarWash centres - still a hit!
6. Used cars dealers - always within the top 10;
7. Food industry;
8. Essential oils industry;
9. Eco/Bio products and farms;
10. 
    

Of course you can always look at the side of the more serious things like - IT sphere, Production sphere - electronics, machinery, car parts, furniture, etc ....

It all depends on your goals, experience, funds and .... market demand.

I am aware that different industries have different regulations and licences. What is the basic requirement for a Non-EU person to open a business in Bulgaria?

Hello Harmanjeet Singh,

Till our dear members guide you, have a look at the following, specially at the links posted at the very end : Start a business in Bulgaria

All the best

Bhavna

@Harmanjeet Singh Every non EU person can open a business in Bulgaria. There are no limitations. But there can occur some issues with banks, who requires the owner/director of the company to be at least resident of Bulgaria. But there are also options to solve that problem. When you have an existing and active business in some other foreign country,  you can use it to obtain residence. The same goes to the size of investment,  connected with my previous post.

@Harmanjeet Singh

To clarify @Vasilev's informative post about opening and running a business in Bulgaria. While the business itself can be run by non-EU citizens, this is separate from your residence status. You can, of course, use your Singapore passport to stay visa-free in Bulgaria for up to 90 days in 180, which might well be sufficient, if you have a trustworthy manager and/or you choose a more passive investment (such as property). And you can rent or buy a property even as a tourist. If you need to stay longer, then a residence permit would be necessary. A very popular option, as mentioned in his post, is based on your existing overseas business using the TRO (Trade Representative Office). I believe that @Vasilev, as a business-oriented immigration attorney has done a lot of these over the years!

More generally, Bulgaria is a member state of the EU, so it can be viewed as both an independent market, and a gateway to the rest of the EU. Especially as the EU has a number of regulations relating to business "passporting", which means that a Bulgarian company can trade throughout the EU. And, typically, if it's some kind of regulated business that has been approved by the relevant Bulgarian authorities, that approval applies in the rest of the EU too.

It's also the lowest cost (including property), the lowest tax (10% flat rate), and lowest wage member of the EU, so this means it's typically one of the cheapest places to start and run a business. These advantages mean that many large European (and non-European) businesses frequently choose Bulgaria as a manufacturing, service, or logistics hub.

The "gateway" aspect also applies to personal residence, as EU rules support the granting of permanent residence after 5 years. And this permanent residence is much more durable than is commonly issued by non-EU countries (and many countries won't ever give PR status regardless of length of residence). The Bulgarian (or other EU) PR does not confer automatic migration rights (although it can do, under the EU Long Term Resident's Residence Permit option). But most EU countries do, in fact, make it relatively easy for PRs from another EU country to relocate.

Or, you can simply be a PR in Bulgaria and use your 90 in 180 allowance in other EU countries. This is made very convenient by frequent low-cost airline connections (e.g. Ryanair, Wizzair), and use of Bulgarian registered cars, Bulgarian driving license, and Bulgarian EHIC (health card) elsewhere in the EU.

@Harmanjeet Singh To cut the long story short - there is just one basic requirement for doing business in Bulgaria, and it applies equally to people that have Bulgarian passports and people that do not have such.

And it is:

TO ABIDE THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS IN THE COUNTRY.

nothing more than that.

@kristiann Yes, I am clear on that. I was wondering for example whether there had to be at least one director who is a resident of Bulgaria or a minimum investment sum is required for foreigners. I already got the information from this forum.

Anyway, the information provided in this thread has been invaluable and will help in my decision making.

@Harmanjeet Singh

I am happy that we satisfied you with our answers. If you need some additional help with the process of establishing the new company, do not hesitate to contact me.

@kristiann hi could you elaborate more on PV investment? What is the legal frame from bg government? Are there feed in tarifs on different segments?

@Manomelco

Hi,

Investment in PhotoVoltaics is the current hot seller in Bulgaria. Basically it can be split into the following stages:

1. Selecting appropriate land;
2. Checking for availability of capacity at the electric distribution grid;
3. Business plan;
4. Buying/hiring the land ( for e.g. 20 yrs);
5. Constructing the PV park;
6. Joining the ready PV park to the national electric grid + contract for selling of electricity;
7. Production and maintenance;

Legal framework is based on the laws and regulations in force, and can be found at the website of Ministry of Energy:

here;

https://www.me.government.bg/en/library-c25.html

and here:

https://www.me.government.bg/en/library-c80.html

As for the current tariffs for selling electricity can also be found at the website of the Ministry of Energy, and at the website of the Energy and Water Regulatory Commission:

https://www.dker.bg/en/home

These have been interesting for many years..it's not new.

Clocked a few old ruins round my way with rows of them panels in the gardens. Owners going round in flash motors so I reckon they must be raking it in.

@gwynj

what is the property tax in BG, for an apartment or a house? I'm assuming that the 10% is on income (I also assume that world wide?) my income would come from abroad i.e. not BG based.

@Harmanjeet Singh

we are active in lighting industry

@Vasilev

hello Vasilev, I would like to ask if you know an industrial area in Sofia or Plovdiv that offers different services in the electrical and lighting industry such as assembly, warehousing, or suitable loading and unloading conditions

@adardom

as far as I know, the Tax amount is 9% in BG

@adardom

Bulgaria has a flat-rate tax of 10% on your worldwide income. The corporate tax rate is the same.

Property taxes are rather low here - typically less than 1% of the "tax value" of the property - and consist of separate property tax and waste/refuse tax. I've just paid my Plovdiv property taxes for 2024, and I had one apartment with a bill of 127 lv and another with 220 lv. I find both property taxes and utility costs are lower here than most countries in the EU.