Moving to Bulgaria and working from a shared co-working space

maydin

As the life in Bulgaria is comparatively cheaper than UK, coupled with the fact that it has a nicer overall weather, I have heard about professionals moving to Bulgaria and working in a shared co-working spaces. Do you know anything about it? Besides what do you think about the idea of moving abroad and working from home (Does not necessarily have to be Bulgaria)? The rents and housing Bills in some countries in the EU are much more affordable than in UK. How is the visa situation can somebody that knows can share his opionion?

CKhalvashi

First question would be whether your employer would allow it. Some will and some won't but we wouldn't allow this on a UK contract long term (although do have some staff doing some work within the EU on UK contracts and have allowed remote work in the case of a medium-term family illness, we have had to limit both to EU citizens only for visa purposes) and don't intend to do so. In most cases if it's more than just meetings or special circumstances we would expect a transfer to a local contract on local terms.

I hold EU passport so can't comment on the situation for immigration, however Georgia (with 365 day entry stamp and permission to work, 2% tax will apply) may be what you're looking for. Whether you can gain official residency (you've about a 50/50 chance of refusal) will be up the the person who decides on the application. I can find the income requirements in Georgian but not on the English version of the respective website, but they're not overly high. Georgia is also becoming more aligned to EU law, which does include things like GDPR being fully implemented.

sheramber

https://www.globalization-partners.com/globalpedia/bulgaria-employer-of-record/work-visas/#content

tightauldgit

maydin said:

As the life in Bulgaria is comparatively cheaper than UK, coupled with the fact that it has a nicer overall weather, I have heard about professionals moving to Bulgaria and working in a shared co-working spaces. Do you know anything about it? Besides what do you think about the idea of moving abroad and working from home (Does not necessarily have to be Bulgaria)? The rents and housing Bills in some countries in the EU are much more affordable than in UK. How is the visa situation can somebody that knows can share his opionion?

You would be looking for something like a 'digital nomad visa' which not every country offers, plus an employer who will allow you to do it. Most traditional work permits are going to need you to show employment based in the country that you are applying to 

Not impossible, but a lot more to it than just catching a flight to Bulgaria and deciding to live there.  

I haven't looked in detail but my sense is that it will probably be easier to do it in a non-EU country 

Grumpy_chap

Is the OP planning to move to Bulgaria and then obtain work locally?  In this case, the wages will be at local rates and then quite likely not actually better off as the lower cost of living is matched by lower income.

Or, and I think this is the case, is the OP proposing to move to Bulgaria and continue with their current WFH job?
This would mean the standard of living is higher as the OP will have UK salary but lower cost of living in Bulgaria.
This could meet some obstacles:

1. Will the employer allow it - many will not allow WFH outside the UK for reasons of data security / privacy, not wanting to be involved with differing tax regimes or concerned with whether employee is UK-resident for tax purposes, not wanting to be involved with different employment rules and rights.
2. Does the work ever require attending an office?
3. Does the work ever require teams calls?  How will this work if the OP is in a different time zone?  Different bank holiday dates etc?
4. Then, any concerns about security / being over-heard in confidential conversation if based in a co-work space

If the work really can be done WFH from anywhere in the world, why wouldn't the employer recruit individuals based in low cost areas and take the financial gain of the lower employment costs?

maydin

Recruiting individuals from low cost areas is not as easy as it sounds as the majority of the candidates are not even speaking the language fluently, let alone possessing all the skills required. The work may require some UK office presence once a while... but was wondering if it was possible.

Caz3121

you would be best speaking to your employer...as per post above yours, many may not want to approve.

CKhalvashi

maydin said:

Recruiting individuals from low cost areas is not as easy as it sounds as the majority of the candidates are not even speaking the language fluently, let alone possessing all the skills required. The work may require some UK office presence once a while... but was wondering if it was possible.

We have offices outside UK.

Those offices are not cheaper than the UK overall, but are required to easily access trade agreements.

Doshwaster

I work for a multinational with offices in most countries. They do allow people to move to another country (assuming they can get a visa if needed) but only if they sign a new employment contract with the business in that country and you'd be expected to earn the going rate there not a UK salary.

Otherwise there are just too many risks with taxation, employment rights and liabilities to allow an employee to work from another country. If there is a dispute then which county's law applies?

If you are a self employed contractor then it is easier but there may still be problems with data protection, liability insurance etc.

Emmia

Do you have an EU passport or another means of giving you the right to work in the EU?


Brexit means that those rights are no longer available automatically to British nationals...

maydin

Emmia said:

Do you have an EU passport or another means of giving you the right to work in the EU?


Brexit means that those rights are no longer available automatically to British nationals...

This is the problem, British multinationals do not have the right to work in the EU right?