I'm passing this on from Jon O' Shaughnessy at the Consulate -

Jon's produced an infographic on the [url=https:
//www.
facebook.
com/photo.
php?fbid=407324472614777&
set=a.
150661608281066.
30758.
130010333679527&
type=1&
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notif_t=like:1qwpnafr]Consulate Facebook page[/url:1qwpnafr], showing various regions of Bulgaria and their estimates of the British permanent resident populations in each one. They really need people to help them on this as they believe they might be underestimating the number of Brits living here by a factor of 3 or more.

Jon assures me (and I believe him) that it's not a snooping exercise of any kind - they don't want details, they simply need to ensure that they have the resources to cover their obligations to us.

So help out 'Our Man in Sofia' and his team and get tagging!

Thanks
Philip

do the bulgarian government not provide figures for the consulate. last year a census took place in which all residents of all nationalities had to fill the census in.

i do have to add, that i did not take part in the census and even though there was a fine if you did not, i never had a caller or a form. when i went down to the municipality to tell them, they said no problem, it finished now. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

this is bulgaria. [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Quote :

do the bulgarian government not provide figures for the consulate?

Perhaps that's the problem! Well maybe a combination of that and the fact that there's probably a lot of 'undeclared' people here too at any given time..

The British Consulate Needs our help

Where are they when we need their help. I know a number of Brit's who required help, one way or another, and I can say it wasn't very forth coming from the British Consulate. Many have purchased property only to find that in some cases two other people have bought the very same property. Some might remember the Nickie West case, she was conned into buying property and when she couldn't get the keys because somebody had purchased the same property as her she asked for her money back, was then attacked and had to flee the country with bruises around her neck
When we had our villa stolen I contacted the Consulate to ask for help and got a letter back saying "
The Consulate do not get involved in domestic house disputes"
We only lost our home. I could go on but i won't except to ask, we the British people could do with a better understanding and more help from The British Consulate

willowsend wrote:

The British Consulate Needs our help

Where are they when we need their help. I know a number of Brit's who required help, one way or another, and I can say it wasn't very forth coming from the British Consulate. Many have purchased property only to find that in some cases two other people have bought the very same property. Some might remember the Nickie West case, she was conned into buying property and when she couldn't get the keys because somebody had purchased the same property as her she asked for her money back, was then attacked and had to flee the country with bruises around her neck
When we had our villa stolen I contacted the Consulate to ask for help and got a letter back saying "
The Consulate do not get involved in domestic house disputes"
We only lost our home. I could go on but i won't except to ask, we the British people could do with a better understanding and more help from The British Consulate

Must agree with you Bryan. We went to a meeting with consulate people and left rather miffed and bewildered. They want to know who is here but are as much use as a f**t in a colander. :Handshake:I sent them a facebook message and the reply I got was basically we do not want to know so I find the whole thing a bit of a farce. This whole exercise is like being in the UK a job for the boys. Still nice to know tax payers money is wasted here as well as in the UK

Mentioning tax is the operative word. My thoughts are that the Consulate want to know how many Brits are living in Bulgaria permanently so they can check up on anyone quite easily. No details needed???? When I was recently quizzed by a BA employee about my return trip to Britain (to do with the 90 day law as a 'not ordinarily resident of Britain) I was told, on enquiring why?, that it was info required by the Government.
The Embassy is staffed mostly by Bulgarians as I know for a fact when I went to renew my stolen passport years ago and from the response to my enquiry about some British Embassy involvement in our annual Rockfest. No help at all and went to the wrong department twice!!! I have more faith in dealing with any problems myself than the British Embassy.

I wonder what they actually do then? [You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

not really sure.

The new British Ambassador in Sofia had his first meeting with the Bulgarian interior minister

Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov congratulated Jonathan Allen on his appointment as British Ambassador to Bulgaria. They discussed the cooperation between the law enforcement bodies of the two states. Minister Tsvetanov emphasized that during the past two years, the contacts between Bulgaria and Great Britain became more active both on political and on operational level. He underlined further the support of the British partner in the actions carried out by Bulgaria for combating corruption and organized crime. “I am aware that the two countries work very well together and that we have a large scope of cooperation”, acknowledged in his turn Jonathan Allen. In his words, our country is an important partner in the combat against organized crime and the services in the two countries will continue working jointly.

I for one do not agree with the comment above. Quote:- Jonathan Allen, our country is an important partner in the combat against crime and the services offered in the two countries, we will continue working jointly, Unquote
All I can say is that I hope he does a good job and looks after our interests (Brit's in Bulgaria) better than the British Consulate did under the supervision of the previous Ambassador. Only time will tell

I must agree with you willowsend these government people are only really playing at it, to be honest I would even say the position they hold isn't a job in the real sense of the word, they only really pay lip service. I only help those who are prepared to help others and from my experience the Ambassador isn't on my list.