What Visa for my wife ?

I am a bit confused, are you now legally married and can prove it with documents or are you still just dating?
Family reunification from my understanding is for HU citizens to either have their spouses live with them in HU or for children of HU citizens.
I think you should contact your new job for advice, the HU embassy nearest you or an immigration lawyer.
I have been legally married to a HU citizen for nearly 40 years, our son is a HU citizen and I am from the US. I had a very difficult time  with the resident permit paperwork in HU. I was first rejected!
As you have stated, you are only going to be living in HU temp., I am sure they have special visas for your situation,every case is personal and different. Family reunification is for people staying in HU long term from my understanding.
In HU the immigration office is not moved by family ties, only by money paid out and proper paperwork and lots of stamps. You have to follow exactly the rules as they say and it is hard for us here to tell you exactly what they may require of you for the proper visas.
In my case they could clearly see even my son was married in HU and I was listed as his mother on their official documents. They still acted like I had no rights in HU to stay with my family until all paperwork suited them. They can be a bit rough with us people from 3rd countries, all people not part of the EU. Even having money, a flat owned and bank accounts and sure monthly income from the US was first not enough for them. Every little paper detail must be perfect, see a lawyer if the embassy will not grant a visa.
If you want fast and easy, you need a lawyer. Took me over 6 months and allot of arguing, paperwork and running around to get my resident permit. You may not even be in HU that long if you go that route by yourself.

Thierson1 wrote:

Hello everyone

I'm Patrick, Cameroon national and I will be moving to Hungary (Budapest) this coming January and temporally residing there for work purpose. Actually I have been transfered to our subsidiary company based in Budapest. However, I've recently got engaged and I have been thinking how to process for my wife to follow me there as soon as possible. what is the easiest way and the shorter one?

If your company transfers you then surely they will take care of your visa and if your wife joins you, her visa as well.  To save hassle, if not already married,  if you marry quickly, then your visa should allow you to bring your family with you.

Hello Marilyn and Fluffy

I wanna Thank you both for contribution and wanna provide here more details or clarifications for you to better understand the situation and consequently for better advises.

I already have my residence permit approved and valid for 2 years (renewable) and will be moving to HU this coming january (alone). I officially got married when my application was still on process meaning I was still in single status when I submitted my application but we lived together for about 3 years and then recently get married.

Its hard to live seperated far away from each other and its also not a good idea to decline or disregard my job there in HU just to stay here with her. I see myself in HU for good if things are ok there and of course would need to have my love one with me there thats why im thinking on how to better process for her to be granted a visa to join me and live with me there...

My company cant help me for that unfortunately, I have to manage this by myself whether with an immigration lawyer services or not. By the way, just in case im gonna seek for a lawyer services, how much in average could I be charged for that? Is the success guarranted in that case? Any good lawyer you can recommand me? What to avoid and what to do in such situation? We both have set a target of 6 months maximum to reach the goal, is this possible? What are our chances considering that we are both 3rd country nationals?

By the way there is no HU diplomatic representation in our country, need to travel to the nearest country where there is and process whatever needs to be processed at the embassy or consulate which is not so easy too...

Again thank u all and have a wonderful holidays.

Gosh, this is stressful for you, sorry I don't really know much about legal issues.
I do not know any immigration lawyers, they do seem to flock and hang out inside the immigration office in Budapest.
My husband was just about to seriously talk to one before my papers went through.
Have no idea how much they charge for their services but you can be sure they will charge as much as they think they can get out of you.
You will need to have all your documents translated into HU for immigration services.
They have one official office where they do the translations, you must use their recomemned translators.
Those fees also can not be known for sure. They have no posted prices.
My husband argued with them about the costs to translate our marriage papers. Just one sheet of paper stating my parents names, where we were married etc.
A man my husband was talking with in the waiting area was from Romania, they charged him only $15. for the service, for my husband they charged $150.! My husband argued with them that it was BS. ( He thought they figured if your from the US then you must have money, Romania most people are not loaded with money)
2 weeks later when the paper was ready to pick up they gave my husband a $50. refund.
Guess all his screaming did some good after all.
Same with lawyers I would think, if they think you have money they will try to get all they can out of you.
You can call the HU embassy if you can not go in personally. Try that option first.
In any case, perhaps she can just enter HU as a tourist and lay low for 2 years. Not good advice I know but the heart must also be at peace, a long seperation because of a job is not good either.
Good luck, try calling . I am positive that if you have a  work contract and are legally married they must give her some sort of visa, even if she can  not get a work visa for HU.

Thank you so much Marilyn, I really appreciate your contribution. You are really a helpful contributor on this forum. I hope to see you around in BP and talk in person with coffee

Advance Happy New Year.

Happy New Year to you and your wife as well.
It will all work out so try to relax and let things fall into place as they should be.
I know you must qualify for some sort of visa one way or the other. Perhaps they have a family dependent  type of visa for her. If so she may however not be able to take a job in HU if she is your dependent, I really don't know though.

Thierson1 wrote:

My company cant help me for that unfortunately, I have to manage this by myself whether with an immigration lawyer services or not. By the way, just in case im gonna seek for a lawyer services, how much in average could I be charged for that? Is the success guarranted in that case? Any good lawyer you can recommand me? What to avoid and what to do in such situation? We both have set a target of 6 months maximum to reach the goal, is this possible? What are our chances considering that we are both 3rd country nationals?..

I cannot answer most of those questions but if there's no embassy in your country, best to wait until you get here, then you should be able to find someone with the right answers. 

If she's a dependent, you are here legally and employed correctly, I do not see why they would object to her joining you as a dependent.   You could apply for a tourist visa for her for 90 days at the beginning so she could come with you. Then at least you two would be able to immediately apply in person while here where you can find the right help.

However, as Marilyn says,  be prepared for them to make you really work at everything you do and also try to remain as calm and as possible. Bureaucrats in Hungary (and many other places - especially the USA) can be very unfriendly, miserable and horribly rude.  Keep smiling as that sometimes seems to soften up. But then again, it's a rubbish job, dealing with visa applications.  (British English slang: a "McJob").  Keep an open mind as there is always the chance of an exceptionally OK person dealing with your applicaiton.  My own experiences date from before HU became and EU member country and it was always an unhappy business.  After 2004, I no longer had that experience.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Keep an open mind as there is always the chance of an exceptionally OK person dealing with your applicaiton.

Very true. It is a luck of the draw. There are good people everywhere.

I had really no significant problems with immigration and my residency permit.

However, nothing but frowning faces and incompetence at the National Health department when I had to apply for national heath as required by Hungarian Law.

Side note: US Immigration, the public bureaucracy that most US visitors meet and experience, is not typical of all US bureaucratic employees. It is a tough job, given the law and expectations therein, so do give them so slack for circumstances out of their control. Most US government employees, in fact the vast majority, are quite normal actually and are doing the best they can given their circumstances.

What really got me at the HU immigration office is  although they often had a different worker looking at our papers, we usually got this cute young man that could of been my own son. He looked just like my son , even had the same crappy attitude my son often gets, (See I don't just pick on strangers)
He was suppose to tell me what was going on in English but after every sent
ence I had to have my husband translate the young man's English back to me. He was terrible at English and I wonder how he passed his course in it.
In the  long run I just sat their and let the to of them hash it out in Hungarian, much faster and the days going there were long enough.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

...... He was terrible at English and I wonder how he passed his course in it......

Oh, tell me about it.  Mrs Fluffy is really very good in English after 20 years with me but only has the 2nd level (of 3) in English. She never bothered to take the highest level.  Her cousin, her brother and others have the highest level and they are borderline terrible.  I dunno how any of them managed to pass.  I am encouraging Mrs Fluffy to do the highest level exam but she has such a bad experience of "Rigo Street" (Hungarians will know what that is - English exam place) that she vowed never to return.  On the other hand, "Rigo Street" has been de-clawed now and other examination locations can be used. But the reputation persists.  I suspect quality has dropped a bit.

klsallee wrote:

....Side note: US Immigration, the public bureaucracy that most US visitors meet and experience, is not typical of all US bureaucratic employees. It is a tough job, given the law and expectations therein, so do give them so slack for circumstances out of their control. Most US government employees, in fact the vast majority, are quite normal actually and are doing the best they can given their circumstances.

Nah, no way. 

The same could be said of the Hungarians.  It takes a special kind of person to actively persue a career in the civil service.  I have intensive and extensive experience of working in the public sector with civil servants.  At the front line, the stress levels are enormous and the chance of violence when delivering bad news is commonplace but hey, there's no need for these people to take it out on the "clients".  The workers need to blame the politicians for the inane rules.  Smiles and helpfulness are free.

I think the problem is, (and totally) myself included, is that we've got a sense of entitlement.   I'm effectively a WASP (ok, marginal on the P) and therefore expect to be treated appropriately - i.e. with full on respect, not as some potential lawbreaker.   No doubt the same applies in reverse for those visiting Europe.   

I always contrast my welcome to Canada where the chatty immigration guy was more than relaxed and said, "Welcome to Canada".  That was enough for me to decide that henceforth for my recreational spending, USA, nay, Canada, yay. 

And of course, these days it's cheaper in Thailand or Bali anyway.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Smiles and helpfulness are free.

I agree. And my point was that smiles and helpfulness are free on both sides of the counter. Just because the clerk on one side is being a jerk today, does not mean one can not still be full of patience and free smiles while being the client on the other side of the counter.

And I have also worked as both a client and a civil servant, so have spent time on both sides of the counter -- so I especially have experience and knowledge that allows me to specially hate bureaucracy because of that -- but I still do not necessarily blame the person on the other side of the counter for being human in a tough job. In fact, I got more than one grumpy civil servant to smile with me with my good humor (except in Germany -- oddly  ).

fluffy2560 wrote:

I always contrast my welcome to Canada where the chatty immigration guy was more than relaxed and said, "Welcome to Canada".

Well... Canada is still a Commonwealth Nation, so maybe comparing WASP oranges with WASP oranges. 

Personally, the RCMP/GRC were pretty darn intimating to me at the Canadian border... But then again, I did not have a Commonwealth passport..... 

Funny you should mention Germany civil servants and customer service workers in general.
3 years ago while flying into Germany from Budapest on our way to Las Vegas we were delayed because of airline issues for 3 days in a hotel in Germany.
2 canceled flights out, lots of time waiting around in the airport before being shuttled for miles to a hotel to wait it out for the next day.
During all that hassle my bag was lost, or as the airlines like to say, misplaced.
I went to the lost luggage dept. in Germany at the airport to try and file a claim or at least bring it to their attention to start finding it.
The man working the desk was so rude, so bored and actually was swearing under his breath in German. About the rudest customer service worker I ever met in my life. I was calm and didn't get excited but decided right then and there that I would do everything in my power to never enter Germany again.
Not the first time we has issues with customer service people in Germany, sad too since my grandfather's people came from there,I have always worked in customer service myself in the US and know for a fact I would be fired in a second if I acted even half a rude as what happened to us in Germany.
Just never plan on going there again in this lifetime, took another route to the US this trip, cost a bit more but no Germany.

That trip took us 3 days to get from Budapest to Las Vegas and 5 days for my bag to arrive, almost had to start wearing my sons boxers because my clothing was getting low!

Yes, Canada is cool. They always are friendly at the airport and say welcome.
Canada is known for being friendly.
Still they have immigration rules.
Many years ago my older sister had a Hungarian boyfriend. They lived together for 6 months or so in Cal., He was registered in Canada, his point of entry to the western world after he escaped HU, this was in 1974 or 75.
She drove with him to Vancouver and lived there for a year or so.
They decided to go back to Calif.
At the boarder the immigration officer wouldn't allow him back into the US and they wouldn't allow my sister back into Canada.
Lots of hugs and tears, they had to break up at the boarder.
Their relationship fell apart after that.

klsallee wrote:

....And I have also worked as both a client and a civil servant, so have spent time on both sides of the counter -- so I especially have experience and knowledge that allows me to specially hate bureaucracy because of that -- but I still do not necessarily blame the person on the other side of the counter for being human in a tough job. In fact, I got more than one grumpy civil servant to smile with me with my good humor (except in Germany -- oddly  ).....

Well... Canada is still a Commonwealth Nation, so maybe comparing WASP oranges with WASP oranges.  ...

German "Beamter" (civil servants) are a law unto themselves.  They can actually fine you for insulting them because,  in their official position, you are therefore insulting the state.  So your insults have to be personal, not wide ranging.  Even the phone company employees used to be civil servants. Imagine customer service being run by civil servants AND facing irate customers?  Laugh a minute I am sure.

The Commonwealth thing is a bit of a nonsense and conveys no privilege at all.   I think the Canadians are just more laid back, that's all and of course, there are lots of  British people in Canada so it's familiar. The WASp angle is about entitlement.  When I have to queue up in Asian airports, I find it inconvenient and in the Middle East, I am positively annoyed.    If people come from a G8 or even G20 country,  we should all be fast tracked.

As an aside, strangely, the UK is rapidly importing Canadian comedians recently for some reason .     And I seem to notice Canadian comedians seem to be very successful recently in the movies too.  No idea why.

All I know for sure is I was the one being insulted in Germany not the worker who's job it was to work the lost luggage desk.
No matter, I have had my only public displays of anger while I was in Germany.
Never started it but made sure I finished it.
Had to actually call a rude women a Nazi my first trip to Germany while on a train, long story but the ticket agent was smart enough to remove her from our car.
No one insults my 2 year old baby while he's sleeping. Many Germans I find act like they have special rights to be rude just because they are German. Sad really had my first fight in Frankfurt, the place where my family comes from.
So much for feeling like I belonged there in any way.
Must of been a good reason why my grandparents got out of Dodge in the 1870's.

fluffy2560 wrote:

The WASp angle is about entitlement.  When I have to queue up in Asian airports, I find it inconvenient and in the Middle East, I am positively annoyed.

How do you feel at, for example, VDA? Personally, I don't mind the queue; it gives me time to finish some good bagels before boarding. At DXB, I also don't mind the queues, as  I just wait for them to thin out and enjoy another fine coffee. 

Waiting is just an opportunity to enjoy something else.

fluffy2560 wrote:

The Commonwealth thing is a bit of a nonsense and conveys no privilege at all.

Yeah. Okay. 

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

Never started it but made sure I finished it.

Good for you. 

Wow, that statement makes me sound like Gemma from SOA!
Not really...
Grew up with a single Mohawk/German mother who had 6 kids, we had to learn to settle our own scores early.

Could everyone please get back on topic before admin take notice and perhaps close this thread.

klsallee wrote:

.....How do you feel at, for example, VDA? Personally, I don't mind the queue; it gives me time to finish some good bagels before boarding. At DXB, I also don't mind the queues, as  I just wait for them to thin out and enjoy another fine coffee. 

Waiting is just an opportunity to enjoy something else.

VDA (north of Eliat?) I don't travel to but DXB, yes, I was there a couple of days before Xmas.  I usually spend my time catching some Zs in one of the airport hotels during the layover.   DXB used to be one of the worst airports to spend time in queues at.  It's not very good now but the visa situation has eased.  It's an overloaded airport.  The new one they have built might work out better.

I spend quite a lot of time in airports and I do not enjoy it now. Now it's just something I have to tolerate.   If you hang about in the queues and it's a European flight on smaller aircraft there won't be any space left for your carry on.  Grab it while you can!

I used to travel to Damascus a lot (before the war!) and it was an absolute zoo there.  The only good thing was they didn't give a damn about the luggage allowances and accepted almost any amount.  They would only accept visas issued in the UK, even though I travelled from BUD which was a shame but then again, the Consul in London became quite friendly and it was chance to do some shopping back home.  Mrs Fluffy and the kids could get their visas cheaper here in BUD so there was an upside.

stumpy wrote:

Could everyone please get back on topic before admin take notice and perhaps close this thread.

There ought to be a way to cross post ("rethread?") to another thread so the discussions can continue under some other category.  But you are right, it does wander and there's about 3 or 4 of us  (including me) who are mainly responsible.

stumpy wrote:

Could everyone please get back on topic before admin take notice and perhaps close this thread.

Or maybe, and more simple, when one of us strays off topic we can just warn the future reader with an



emoticon. 

fluffy2560 wrote:

it does wander and there's about 3 or 4 of us  (including me) who are mainly responsible.

Those of us who have been to far too many conference "socials" and cocktails parties I suspect.....

klsallee wrote:

.....Those of us who have been to far too many conference "socials" and cocktails parties I suspect.....

....Or those who just don't know when to shut up! Me included!

See wandering....again....

Hello everyone,

I want to remind you that the topic of this thread is about information on the type of visa. Can you please do not go off topic.

Thank You,
Regards,
Naomi.

My wife's residency visa application was pretty painless, just that it took a few weeks to go through. As for money being paid - it was 1500Ft stamp duty. Not too onerous. And, yes, the papers have to be filled out and be done so correctly.

I am mainly writing about the hassles of getting into the national health insurance. There is a crowd that can be found at www.elintezzuk.hu - I recommend them. Specialize in obtaining all sorts of official documents for their customers, ones for which you would normally have to spend half a lifetime in some dingy office somewhere. You pay a fee, not cheap, but extremely reasonable for the service provided, time saved and high blood pressure avoided, sign an authorization form, provide copies of the necessary documentation (passport, etc. - they will tell you what is required and elintezzuk.hu takes it from there. Used them on a number of occasions (TAJ card, EU health card, etc.) and found them unfailingly fast and efficient.

Too bad the name of this helpful co. has been blocked.

Not it hasn't, just my mistake. Sorry! Did it from memory. The correct address is:

elintezzuk.hu

NOT .com

Can do a huge range of things, but you do need someone who understands Hungarian to be able to browse through the website.

Cheers!

i married a hungarian guy and i am starting my residence card document papers.  You are right at all because its a quite difficult to get the residence card.  Before, my husband had work in Shaw (England) but we need tolive together and he lefted his work and still search in Hungary and to process my residence card.  The immigration asked sallary slip from company for one of a requirement to get residence card.  Now, my husband still searching for a work in Hungary.  I've been in Hungary for just 20 days and it is stressfull also for me in this situation

Sorry  don't really have an answer for you.
Let's hope he finds a job soon.
You must prove to immigration that you have enough income to live on without taxing their welfare system. They need to see money in the bank and know income is coming in.
It's stressful with immigration even if you have a job and money, they are very picky and stress the small details just to keep you guessing what they will do.
You can however apply for an extention to stay in Hungary if you run out of time, usually I think it's 90 days then they give you a bit more time to leave unless you pay for to stay longer. It will workout if you stay on track and he finds a job.
I have written many times on how mixed up things got for me with immigration services and I am married to a HU citizen, have a child that is HU and we have income every month from SS in the US.
I will be going through heck soon myself this June when my 5 year resident permit needs to be renewed, I am sure they will hassle me just because that's what they do.

My wife had her five year visa expire in November.
Received her permanent residency card without any problems at all, well within the three month deadline prescribed by the law. Just had to be sure we answered all the questions and ticked all the boxes.
And the civil servants were actually most helpful and very friendly.

That's good news for you, is she from the USA?
I think they put us  through the ringer, not fans of the stars and strips.

we put 6 thousands dollars to my husband's account and show it to the immigration office, but they asked for the sallary slip from the company where my husband work..
So, thats right to get a new job first for my husband this month. And he had interview last few days and will start to work in Esztergom.   Next month, we will try again to go to the immigration to show them the sallary slip and to start the process of my residence card and i hope no more difficult things after all.