Hello Everybody,
I am looking for assistance on steps to take in order to obtain a self employment visa here in Budapest.
As a brief introduction, I am a 35 year old American and have been living here in for 5 months. I have been running into trouble with gaining a long term stay visa. My first attempt at getting the work/residency visa has been nothing short of a total disaster. The process seemed simple enough, but the employer messed up the contract and workforce demand paperwork and I had to restart the process 3 times. The upside of this is that I have gotten temporary residency visas with my most recent being valid until November 21st.
I have been staying afloat by working at a couple different Hostels, but unfortunately they are unable to sponsor the visa. Checking with multiple language schools, there is plenty of opportunity and students available to teach as a Native English speaker with a TESOL certificate that I received through UNI-Prep, but in order to begin with them, I must first get a work permit as they too, will not sponsor a visa. For now, I have been applying to the Shared Service Centers with the hope that my English speaking will be needed enough to qualify me as a candidate for some job openings. If that goes well, it will be enough for me to finally get my feet planted and legal to be able to begin teaching.
While the search is ongoing, I have been researching the process of registering for the Residence Permit for the purpose of Gainful Activity.
Have any of you ever gone down this route or known somebody who has a little insight into the process?
From what I can tell, the it should be pretty straight forward, as the steps seem to be laid out in English. Its just a matter of determining which order to complete them. Any advice, contacts or personal experience will be greatly appreciated.