On 21 August the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy published the terms of the second component of the "I Choose Bulgaria" programme. The first component was aimed at Bulgarians living abroad; the second turns inward, towards people who move to and take up work in a settlement of fewer than 50,000 inhabitants.
For us this is news with a direct housing dimension. Part of the support depends on whether the participant owns property in the new settlement, and costs are reimbursed against documentary evidence. Which means the lease stops being a formality.
| Incentive | Amount | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Moving household goods | up to €480 | Reimbursed against a supporting document, to one family member |
| Accommodation allowance | €207.58 per month, up to 12 months | Only where the participant does not own a home in the chosen settlement |
| Travel to work | €4.09 per day worked, up to 12 months | Where the workplace is in a different settlement |
| Employment retention bonus | six average national monthly salaries for the relevant year | Paid after proving eight months of cumulative employment within one year |
The accommodation allowance may be used for rent, utilities and internet.
For families with children under 18, the retention bonus is uplifted against the average salary by a coefficient: 1.1 for one child, 1.2 for two, 1.3 for three or more.
The budget is €15 million under the Human Resources Development Programme, co-financed by the EU through the European Social Fund Plus. It is designed to reach at least 1,050 participants and their families. Applications open in the autumn of 2026, online through the Employment Agency's website.
The governing criterion is the settlement where the person takes up work — it must have fewer than 50,000 inhabitants. That rules out the capital and the larger regional centres, and directs the support towards small towns, municipal centres and villages.
Speaking to BGNES in June, Labour Minister Nataliya Efremova said the measure is not aimed only at young people, and that the objective is not purely economic: smaller settlements can offer a quieter way of life, better conditions for raising children and closer proximity to nature.
This is the distinction that will decide who receives what. A participant moving to a settlement where they already own property — an inherited house, an old flat, a country place — will not receive the €207.58 monthly allowance. It exists for people who will be renting.
The practical consequence: if you own a property in your home town and are thinking of going back, the arithmetic looks one way. If you are moving to a neighbouring municipality where you will rent, it looks quite different.
Funds are reimbursed against documentary evidence. That means the lease and the payment records have to satisfy several conditions that an ordinary rental arrangement often overlooks:
If you are renting for the first time, the tax side is worth reading too — what the landlord owes and what belongs in the contract is set out in our guide to letting property.
The exact figure depends on the reference used for "the average national salary for the relevant year", which will be fixed in the application guidelines. For scale: on preliminary NSI data, the average gross salary in Q2 2026 was €1,444 — six of those come to roughly €8,660.
Add up to €480 for moving costs and up to €2,491 in accommodation allowance over a full 12 months, plus the daily travel payments, and you arrive at the talk of a package above €10,000 for one family. The figure is indicative — the actual base will be clear when the guidelines are published.
The application guidelines will settle several points: exactly which settlements count as a qualifying place of origin, how the new employment is evidenced, how the self-employed are treated, and whether the accommodation allowance is suspended if the participant changes address mid-period. We are not going to speculate on any of these — we will return to the subject when the terms are out.
One limit is already clear: no incentives are paid to people who started work under other programmes, and the new employment must begin after the application is submitted.
The measure is small in scale — 1,050 participants do not move a national market. But its direction matches what we see anyway: while transactions have contracted nationally, interest in smaller settlements is holding up rather better than the headlines suggest.
There is a second effect that owners in small towns tend to underrate: a tenant with guaranteed means for 12 months, a properly drafted lease and payments through a bank is precisely the profile this market lacks. If you have an empty property in a municipality under 50,000, the autumn is the moment to get it ready to let, rather than leaving it for "one day".
Relocating is a logistics exercise as much as a property transaction. For us that is standard scope: drafting the lease with the inventory and the particulars an institution will require; checking title and encumbrances before you sign; arranging viewings so they happen in a single day; and preparing the paperwork you will be asked for when claiming your costs back.
We work across the whole country, including the smaller municipalities where online listings are thin and most deals still run through local contacts.
If you are considering a move under the programme, or you own a property in a smaller settlement that you would like to let — call us or come into the office. We will look at the specific case and tell you what is realistic.
Terms are as announced by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy as at 21 August 2026 and remain subject to the published application guidelines. Average salary figures are preliminary NSI data for Q2 2026. This material is for information only and does not replace individual legal or accounting advice.
