Buying a property and Immigration to Hungary

sg2010 wrote:

Hi,

I am new to the forum and considering to immigrate to Hungary. I was told by a lawyer friend that I need to buy a property at Hungary first and then apply for the residence permit, I am not sure whether this is true or not because I cannot find such information on the official Hungary immigration website.

I can only find that there is visa type "LONG TERM VISA (VISA TYPE D) - PURPOSE OF PROPERTY IN HUNGARY". Does that mean if I buy a property, I may get this "Visa Type D", and then get the residence permit?

Thanks!

I don't believe this to be true at all.   Is this friend who is a lawyer the one is selling the house?  Be careful, lawyers here are sharks as much as many others.   

The immigration web site has removed a lot of things so it's basically useless to find things out. 

You cannot get residence on the basis of owning property here but in theory, you can with investment.  However, I thought this was being withdrawn here in HU.

If you have money, you can buy residence here (unless they stopped it) or somewhere else in the EU.  Plenty of research material available if you search for it.

fluffy2560 wrote:

sg2010 wrote:

Hi,

I am new to the forum and considering to immigrate to Hungary. I was told by a lawyer friend that I need to buy a property at Hungary first and then apply for the residence permit, I am not sure whether this is true or not because I cannot find such information on the official Hungary immigration website.

I can only find that there is visa type "LONG TERM VISA (VISA TYPE D) - PURPOSE OF PROPERTY IN HUNGARY". Does that mean if I buy a property, I may get this "Visa Type D", and then get the residence permit?

Thanks!

I don't believe this to be true at all.   Is this friend who is a lawyer the one is selling the house?  Be careful, lawyers here are sharks as much as many others.   

The immigration web site has removed a lot of things so it's basically useless to find things out. 

You cannot get residence on the basis of owning property here but in theory, you can with investment.  However, I thought this was being withdrawn here in HU.

If you have money, you can buy residence here (unless they stopped it) or somewhere else in the EU.  Plenty of research material available if you search for it.

Hi, thanks for your reply. He is an immigration lawyer but didn't talk much about the detail on how to do this.

Meanwhile, I also google around, and saw this article "€80k Hungarian Golden Visa Has “Been on the Market For Months” – Is it Legitimate?" . According to this article,  "That legal basis is the 2007 law on the Stay and Entry of Foreigners, which allows third-country nationals to obtain residency in Hungary if their stay and entry is predicated on “national economic interest”. "..."While this amendment was repealed in 2017, the broadly defined law remained in place, leaving the door open to immigration on the basis of “national economic interest”, the interpretation of which, Hungarian immigration professionals inform Investment Migration Insider, is now left to the discretion of the Immigration Office, who evaluate such applications on a case-by-case basis."

Therefore, it seems that this is doable in theory ("national economic interest” principle) but the decision is made by the immigration office case by case. I am not sure about the success rate and haven't found any real case though.

sg2010 wrote:

....

Meanwhile, I also google around, and saw this article "€80k Hungarian Golden Visa Has “Been on the Market For Months” – Is it Legitimate?" . According to this article,  "That legal basis is the 2007 law on the Stay and Entry of Foreigners, which allows third-country nationals to obtain residency in Hungary if their stay and entry is predicated on “national economic interest”. "..."While this amendment was repealed in 2017, the broadly defined law remained in place, leaving the door open to immigration on the basis of “national economic interest”, the interpretation of which, Hungarian immigration professionals inform Investment Migration Insider, is now left to the discretion of the Immigration Office, who evaluate such applications on a case-by-case basis."

Therefore, it seems that this is doable in theory ("national economic interest” principle) but the decision is made by the immigration office case by case. I am not sure about the success rate and haven't found any real case though.

Quite simply, I don't know as these things do not apply to me.  We do know the BMBAH (immigration) web site has changed considerably in the past year such that hardly any information is available now.

But remember your immigration lawyer gets paid regardless of of success or otherwise.

In any case, from memory, I thought it was considerably more than 80K EUR - like 500K EUR or something and has to be in government bonds for X years, not in real estate property.  If it was a business, like a hotel or a factory or something which creates employment, then this used to be a possibility using a limited company where the immigrant person became the CEO and obtained the resident permit as the owner/operator.

sg2010 wrote:

I need to buy a property at Hungary first and then apply for the residence permit

This is totally, absolutely and completely not true.

Yes, you need to have a residence in Hungary to get a residence permit, but you can rent an apartment for that purpose and show the immigration office the rental contract.

However.....

sg2010 wrote:

"LONG TERM VISA (VISA TYPE D) - PURPOSE OF PROPERTY IN HUNGARY".

It looks like you want an immediate long term visa. If you told the lawyer that, then he is trying to give you options to "get around" the "normal" visa process. The normal visa is good for a year. You have to annually renew it. Trivial to do and usually automatic. And after enough years spend in Hungary, if you learn the language and pass the tests, you can apply for citizenship. But you seem to not want to be bothered by all that, and want a quick, long term solution. Or am I wrong?

sg2010 wrote:

€80k Hungarian Golden Visa

Well, if you have enough gold, consider the investor residency permit in Switzerland. Or just buy an EU passport in Malta -- then you an easily move to Hungary and live.....

In any case, I would not bother with any Hungarian lawyer for "facts". Ask your question at the nearest Hungarian consulate or Embassy.