Relocating to Romania

RedLagoon

RedLagoon

Orthodox Inquirer
Heritage
Is there anyone on the forum from Romania/living there? I'm considering the country as they don't have vaxx mandates for children and another plus is that they're largely Orthodox.

I've never been there so would appreciate your thoughts on safety, economy and the acceptance of new blood arriving.

Would love to hear your feedback.
 
RedLagoon said:
Is there anyone on the forum from Romania/living there? I'm considering the country as they don't have vaxx mandates for children and another plus is that they're largely Orthodox.

I've never been there so would appreciate your thoughts on safety, economy and the acceptance of new blood arriving.

Would love to hear your feedback.
Click to expand...

My wife is Romanian, and I stay there a little less than half the year most years. Let me know whatever specific questions you might have. I've travelled extensively through other Orthodox countries and may be able to point you in another direction, depending on what you're looking for. If you do move to Romania, I highly recommend moving to the northern part of the country (near Suceava, Botosani, Neamt, Iasi, etc). It's the most traditional and most hospitable part.

As a quick overview:

Safety: except for some gypsy dominated areas (eg, Braila) and some gypsy neighborhoods in Bucharest, the country is super safe. Even in these gypsy areas the crime/violence is a tiny fraction of what you would see in a typical American city.

Economy: it depends on what you do and where you are. Romania, like almost every country in the world in our modern times, is suffering from many of the same ills that anywhere else is suffering from. For example, it was relatively easy for older generations to buy a house, but today it's an almost impossible dream for most young people. In previous generations, it wasn't hard for people to stay in their village. Now, most people have to move to the city to find opportunities. One thing to keep in mind is that income taxes are extremely high (like over 45% when social security tax is factored in). There's ways to dodge this by having your own business though.

Acceptance: again, it's going to depend on the area and who you are. Some parts of the country are more hospitable than others. Bucharest is like any other capital in Europe (but with a lot of beautiful Orthodox churches) as far as acceptance goes. In general, Romanians tend to be kind and humble, but also quite distant with outsiders. If you get in with a good community (a good parish, a monastery, a gym, etc), however, this could completely change that landscape for you. Even more so once you learn Romanian. If you are able to make friends in America due to being socially adapted, then it probably won't be hard to make friends in Romania. If you can't make friends in America, then moving to another country is likely not going to solve this issue for you.
 
The Bulgarian village house we own is about 15 miles from the Romanian border near the Danube. My understanding is the cultures are very similar, particularly in the villages. I've spent a lot of time in Sofia and that village.

Go and visit. This part of the world is highly underrated in my estimation.

Definitely Orthodox. Churches everywhere. Very safe aside from gypsies as Cornelius mentioned. They typically aren't an issue outside their neighborhoods though, aside from pickpocketing. They prostitute their young daughters but that isn't so much a safety issue. It's nothing like America with violent street gangs and insane groups just assaulting/jumping people for no reason.

Larger cities are different than villages obviously. Cities will have the modern amenities, public transportation, walkable, most neighborhoods have a market, church, pharmacy and school. Decent infrastructure. Villages are tougher but money goes very far is buying a house/land. Many have seen the younger generation up and leave for work in the larger cities or elsewhere in the EU, so some are relatively empty. But villages also will have a market, church, pharmacy, school, playground, etc. No one bothers you. Many grow fruit/veggies and there will be at least a few who raise livestock and you can get the best meat you've ever had. It's quiet. Almost like a trip back in history.

Romanian is an easier language to learn though. And in general you'll want at least an elementary understanding. People can appear cold to outsiders but my experience is they are the most welcoming and hospitable people I've ever been around. They invite you inside and put their entire fridge on the coffee table. Offer whatever they have.

If you want more specifics on day to day, breaking in, work/money, cost of buying/renting, etc, happy to answer.

Again, I've only gone into Romania for a few day trips but Sofia and Bucharest are fairly similar EE capital cities and the village life In Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia is largely the same.
 
Interesting thread. Romania was a country I was considering back when I was single. Can anyone comment on the difficulty of learning the language compared to Spanish or Italian? I imagine it's somewhat more difficult because it's my understanding that it has case structures (nominative, accusative, dative, etc.) like German and Russian, although as a Romance language I'd guess that the vocabulary is relatively easy for a native English speaker.
 
scary_robot_music said:
Interesting thread. Romania was a country I was considering back when I was single. Can anyone comment on the difficulty of learning the language compared to Spanish or Italian? I imagine it's somewhat more difficult because it's my understanding that it has case structures (nominative, accusative, dative, etc.) like German and Russian, although as a Romance language I'd guess that the vocabulary is relatively easy for a native English speaker.
Click to expand...
It wasn't as easy as I thought it might be, but admittedly I didn't try very hard at all to learn and was overly confident or hopeful that knowledge of spanish would make it a lot easier. I'm not the best person to ask, but it would take some time, though it's among the better still if you do know a romance language. I'm a fan of the country, but I'm currently in the process of weighing how easy (how much time it takes, etc) any given place might be, since time is by far the biggest obstacle in choosing a country, which makes one have to really know and commit to it. Given the immediate future of Europe and not having as many connections there as elsewhere (which is also few if any), and with the distance, I find it to be a consideration but it didn't stand out tremendously. I had the feeling when I returned that it was more of a great place if you had easy connections, like if you had moved from there (knew the language, had family, etc) and wanted to move back now that the West is garbage, but you made and/or can make money still in the (more) developed world.
 
For what it's worth, some anecdotal info regarding the language - I had a friend who did two years in the Peace Corps in the Romanian-speaking part of Moldova. He said he was largely fluent after his two years there but said his counterparts in the Russian-speaking areas of Moldova got no where with the language after two years.
 
Romanian is on duolingo I believe. Unlike Bulgarian. So that's a good place to start.

In general there is no better motivator to learn a language than living where it is needed. Lessons in places like EE are dirt cheap. Can find stuff online too to assist. But you pick up a lot with local language tv on. Hearing the language everywhere you go. You don't have to worry about learning Cyrillic which I found was a challenge as written is much tougher than print.

The language in Romania frankly shouldn't be much of a concern. It would be like learning Italian, French or Spanish. Easier than moving to and learning Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Greek, etc.
 
RedLagoon said:
Is there anyone on the forum from Romania/living there? I'm considering the country as they don't have vaxx mandates for children and another plus is that they're largely Orthodox.

I've never been there so would appreciate your thoughts on safety, economy and the acceptance of new blood arriving.

Would love to hear your feedback.
Click to expand...
I relocated to Bulgaria and I heard mainly good things about Romania. Serbs praise Romania for her strong faith, which I cannot say about Bulgaria. The gypsy-infestation is the worst in Europe but is something you can work around. Just don't be a lazy Anglo who comes into the country without any intention of learning the native tongue. First, it is disrespectful to Romanians and, second, you make your life 100 times more difficult than it needs to be. Romanian is a Latin language and is easy to learn.
 
NobleSavage said:
I relocated to Bulgaria and I heard mainly good things about Romania. Serbs praise Romania for her strong faith, which I cannot say about Bulgaria. The gypsy-infestation is the worst in Europe but is something you can work around. Just don't be a lazy Anglo who comes into the country without any intention of learning the native tongue. First, it is disrespectful to Romanians and, second, you make your life 100 times more difficult than it needs to be. Romanian is a Latin language and is easy to learn.
Click to expand...
I don't know how much of Bulgaria you've seen but the gypsy problem there is just as bad. In recent years many of them left for Western Europe so that helped a bit. But the demographic prognosis for Bulgaria and Romania is not great as you can see in this map below, due to Turks and especially gypsies having many more kids than the natives.

1698964383077.webp
 
Bulgarians are clearly not having enough babies, although you can say that for a number of countries.

One dynamic we've personally seen is a rise in the number of Bulgarians who left for Western Euro countries, returning to Bulgaria. Obviously with more money too. And with the ability to earn online/remotely, fewer need to leave to earn for a Western Euro/USA company.

But gypsies pump babies out like they get paid for it. Because they do. And they have no understanding of contraception. I agree with AnalystGreen though that they've been leaving for Western Europe. My last couple trips to Sofia I see far fewer gypsies than before.
 
Rainy said:
Bulgarians are clearly not having enough babies, although you can say that for a number of countries.

One dynamic we've personally seen is a rise in the number of Bulgarians who left for Western Euro countries, returning to Bulgaria. Obviously with more money too. And with the ability to earn online/remotely, fewer need to leave to earn for a Western Euro/USA company.

But gypsies pump babies out like they get paid for it. Because they do. And they have no understanding of contraception. I agree with AnalystGreen though that they've been leaving for Western Europe. My last couple trips to Sofia I see far fewer gypsies than before.
Click to expand...
Gypsies prefer naive Western Europeans because Balkan peoples long ago became wise to their schemes. I believe much of this exodus is permanent.

I took a flight from Geneva to Sofia that was full of gypsies. Upon arrival, a border guard questioned some gypsy kids with Bulgarian passports. They didn't understand, they could only speak French and the gypsy tongue, because their parents didn't teach them Bulgarian as they have no plans to move back.

Sorry to derail this thread with talk of gypsies. I'm just irritated because they make us look really bad with their thieving and scamming throughout Europe. You read in the DailyMail that "Bulgarian" or "Romanian" citizens were caught by British police, and half the time they are gypsies. The US still maintains a visa regime for Bulgarians and Romanians exactly for this reason, while all other EU nationals get a waiver.
 
The Andrew Tate saga should be clarifying with respect to the Romanian police and judiciary, which is controlled by globohomo and who took him down when he got too popular among young men (to be clear, I'm not a fan of Tate and think he is a terrible role model, a human trafficker and a criminal -- but he was only taken down for political reasons).
 
analyst_green said:
Gypsies prefer naive Western Europeans because Balkan peoples long ago became wise to their schemes. I believe much of this exodus is permanent.

I took a flight from Geneva to Sofia that was full of gypsies. Upon arrival, a border guard questioned some gypsy kids with Bulgarian passports. They didn't understand, they could only speak French and the gypsy tongue, because their parents didn't teach them Bulgarian as they have no plans to move back.

Sorry to derail this thread with talk of gypsies. I'm just irritated because they make us look really bad with their thieving and scamming throughout Europe. You read in the DailyMail that "Bulgarian" or "Romanian" citizens were caught by British police, and half the time they are gypsies. The US still maintains a visa regime for Bulgarians and Romanians exactly for this reason, while all other EU nationals get a waiver.
Click to expand...
There is awesome Serbian movie about Balkan gypsies and their shenaningans in Western Europe "Time of the Gypsies", made by famous Serbian director Kustirica. It reminds of Fellini movies a bit. Serbian Kustirica himself got a bit of gypsy ancestry, go figure.
 
Does anyone know the situation with planning permission in Roumania, or Bulgaria? Or other countries in the area? Somewhere where you could purchase a large tract of land and build a town.


Tagged: @Liviu , @Rainy
 
Cynllo said:
Does anyone know the situation with planning permission in Roumania, or Bulgaria? Or other countries in the area? Somewhere where you could purchase a large tract of land and build a town.


Tagged: @Liviu , @Rainy
Click to expand...
EU/EEA citizens can buy land in Bulgaria. Foreigners without those passports can buy an apartment but not a house as technically they can't own the land it resides on. As an individual.

The common workaround for this and plenty of realtors/attorneys can advise on this is to just register a company in Bulgaria and buy the land via the company. This isn't frowned upon by Bulgaria. This is how Brits, Americans and Russians commonly do it there.

As for buying a large plot of land and turning it into a village. I'm sure you could if you found the land and there was a willing seller. The problem as I see it is most habitable land is already divvied up between private, state and municipal. The land around villages is already owned by large manufacturing companies who farm it for whatever they farm.

What would be feasible in my eyes as foreigners buying village houses and renovating/rebuilding the houses is common, is just doing that on a larger scale. In the village we have a house as an example there are many abandoned homes. Old generation died and the younger lives in the larger cities or abroad. This is common across villages. The kids who now own the properties are begging to sell them for 5-10K. But theoretically someone could easily buy up 3, 4, 5 or more house next to one another. We've actually thought of buying the properties on both sides of our house there and building a huge wall around it. There is no issue with that.

The upside here that starting from scratch doesn't have is the basic infrastructure is there. Even if you entirely rebuild a house the foundation, pipes, electric, streets are there, as is the village school, church, market, pharmacy, etc. These villages are begging for people to renovate/rebuild. They all have a mayor. Seriously, I would just take the mayor out for a cup of coffee and get to know them. They'll quickly be on your side and assist. Foreigners who buy and renovate in villages are looked very favorably upon. This sort of thing is refreshing for them as they deal with all the gypsy crap.

So I guess long story short, buying land and building somewhat of a private/gated community within a village is entirely possible. And frankly not very expensive compared to other places.
 
Romania has the highest percentage of Roma (Gypsy) population (The nearby Bulgaria and Hungary are not far behind).

Since most readers here are from the US - let's clarify.
Most Romani (Gypsy) born-and-bread in the US are well-integrated into the American society, most of them are middle-or even upper-middle class. (The most famous example being the late actor Yul Brynner).
In Eastern Europe most Roma live in poverty. While many of them are law-abiding citizens, sadly some of them turn to crime. The town and cities in Eastern Europe (which includes Romania) with high percentage of Roma population tend to be the ones with lots of crime (not all of them recorded in the statistics). "Affordable" areas nearly often have high percentage of Roma and high levels of crime. If you move there (or anywhere near it) as a outsider (particularly as a foreigner) - you are likely to be victimized.
Safer towns, cities, and neighborhoods in Romania are actually nearly as expensive as some parts of Western Europe (a prime example being the county's second most populous city, Cluj-Napoca).
Before someone (like one guy back in the RVF days) start with false compartmentalization : some of these neighborhoods in EE are way more dangerous to an outsider than many Black-majority neighborhoods in some US cities.

Just something for you to consider as a reality check...
 
In Southeast Europe, Gypsies make up only a few percent of the population on average, they live in their own favela-like suburbs and do not mix with the local population. They ARE a criminal element, but it comes down to petty robberies of state property, and they mostly stay away from private property and the local population.

So in general, except for some rural places and a few locations where they are more concentrated than usual, they are practically invisible and you will generally not encounter them or have any problems with them unless you look for it yourself. It is enough to avoid their favelas.

Also, lately they have been migrating en masse to Western Europe, where there are more and more of them, and I heard that they are a much bigger problem there.
I say this as someone who lived in SE Europe for many years, so I know this firsthand.

Migrants from the Middle East are a much bigger problem, as everywhere else in Europe.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top