Immigrating via consulate in U.S. or Legal firm in Budapest?

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I was also a bit curious, have you ever visited Hungary before. Do you know of any relations still living here?

I have never been to Hungary, but I lived among Hungarians in my youth. I was not allowed to go to any communist block country for 20 years due to my security clearance, so it will be a treat for me! I do have relatives there, but have never met them. That too will be exciting!

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

It is always interesting to see what someone thinks about Hungary their first time visiting. You may try to squeeze a visit over here in the springtime when it is really nice outside if you have not been here before.

That is my plan Marilyn~  To visit in the spring next year.

And of course once you've got your citizenship squared away you'll pretty much be able to live anywhere in Europe, so you'll have lots of options if Hungary turns out not to be your cup of tea.

zif wrote:

And of course once you've got your citizenship squared away you'll pretty much be able to live anywhere in Europe, so you'll have lots of options if Hungary turns out not to be your cup of tea.

Exactly! Best comment so far. 

Spain....

Italian or Croatian coast....

The South of France....

The Greek Islands (especially Corfu).....

Options are a wonderful thing~

It also hasn't escaped my attn that Prague is fairly close. I do speak Czech fairly well. But that's a decision for another day!

zif wrote:

They will keep whatever you give them. So if you want to keep the heirloom documents you need to get new originals from the source or ask the consulate to make certified copies to send to Budapest. You'll have to confirm that LA will do this.

I just called the consulate, and told them I am applying under right of blood, and asked about original HU documents. They do not keep the originals. They will make copies, and I keep the originals. I don't know if this is a change in process, but their explanation was that they can verify HU documents by copy, but not US documents, which is the reason the US ones need to be certified (only).

zif wrote:

As to the U.S. documents, normally only fairly recent certificates can be apostilled. So you may have to get some new certificates if the ones you now have are too old.

Only certified copies of US documents will be accepted, but they do not need to be apostilled. So I believe I have everything in order, with the exception of my US marriage certificate, which I will get when in Los Angeles, as the license was issued in LA county.

randy.moller wrote:

Options are a wonderful thing~

It also hasn't escaped my attn that Prague is fairly close. I do speak Czech fairly well. But that's a decision for another day!

Budapest is leaps and bound a better place to live than Prague

randy.moller wrote:

I just called the consulate, and told them I am applying under right of blood, and asked about original HU documents.

Thanks for the updates. I, for one, was really wondering about earlier comments about this. When I applied for residency, they requested the originals, but then just made copies of my original documents, and I got to kept my originals.

Maybe if someone handed over their originals but did not get their originals back, maybe they should ask for them....