Difficult questions for re-emigration to Hungary

Real estate prices are about the same in these past years, slightly higher maybe? Not much though.

Food prices have about doubled.

Alcohol and cigs, I have no idea about since we do not smoke and only drink light beverages if any.

A driving license for a wheelchair, no not that strict just yet although I have witnessed a few wheelchair run ins in my time in Vegas.

Have to watch those speed limits.

I would think the weather in Turkey is much better overall then in Hungary. More warm months and real beaches close by.

I am a huge fan of Turkish tv series, think they respect their elders a bit more then over here in Hungary.

I know one thing for sure even if it was possible to rebuy back your old home, it just would not feel the same as you remember.

    As you know I left with my wife to Turkey (Alanya/Mahmutlar) almost 3 years ago (life is good, but rules are changing too often (residency permit for example))I was happy or sad to see that our prior property was again out for sale (lets see how the price is develops), if at a good price (ie significantly less than we sold it for) we might consider returning back to Hungary (still good memories). -We liked our Hungarian house quite a bit (and still good connections with former neighbours)-Getting some financial profit in the process helps-How does it works with changing back the driving license to Hungary (I have a Turkish one in between)-My health could be better (lets see how it goes) (do I need a driving license for an automated wheelchair)-Does anybody have experience on remigration?-What has changed in Hungary (expenses (energy) etc) over the last few years (not too much I think)-....Any feedback is appreciated.      -@cdw057

I don't think you'd have any trouble being here. You're an EU citizen and entitled to be here under the EU Treaty.   I've never heard about driving licenses for electric wheelchairs.  But if you've got a driving license, that would cover it anyway.

There's higher prices for energy, perhaps double from when you left.    There must be subsidy in operation - electricity is something they can control as it's not an import - probably - 70% of electricity here is nuclear (I believe). 

Fuel prices have been creeping up and down.  After the EU election,  fuel is going up again.  It's about 600 HUF a litre for either petrol or diesel.  They kept the price low and then immediately raised it.   

It sounds quite interesting to buy your old house back again for less than you sold it for.

Long term there could be some political disruption but probably insignificant to your plans but will have an economic effect.  In the EU elections, Hungary had 21 people as MEPs, the majority Fidesz (Orban) but now the new party Tisza (Magyar Peter) has 7 seats and is taking middle ground positions with membership of the EPP. Orban left this EPP centre group.   So probably  when the next general election comes around, Fidesz is probably going to be diminished and Tisza would take quite a chunk.  It might be a sign that multi-party is being reestablished.  Perhaps not in the next election but by the one following.  Orban was fined EUR 200M for illegal immigration practices and 1M EUR per day for ongoing non-compliance deducted from EU funds destined for Hungary.  OV might find the people object to him throwing 1M EUR away each day.  If OV was out, I could see any ruling centre ground party bringing in the EUR as a Fidesz spoiler and by implication reversing the decline in the HUF and acting as a inflation stabiliser.  That could be quite interesting.  Could even be profitable considering your house purchase.

@fluffy2560 As for buying the house back (I have just to be patient), when selling the property (to Russians) we already indicated this is a Hungarian/German street. Not what they expected and in my view they could have reached out more (just my view).

Hungary is not a country where you can hire anybody for EUR 3 per hour, contacts are also needed and one has to accept to pay a minimum wage. (I have no problem with that)

@Marilyn Tassy On climate and temperatures, I think Hungary is better. 40C is a bit too much, as a side note rain in Alanya is (annually) heavier than it is in Heviz. Best seasons (very good though) are spring and autumn.

In Hungary we also experienced very high temperatures, but 40C + for weeks is really much (good we have airco), but I wake my wife at 5.30 so she can still walk and swim, but even in the morning it is 30C

IDK, no place is perfect unless you are talking about some areas of the tropics.

Lived in Hilo and that is right in the middle of a rain forest .Rained every single day even if it was only for 10mins.

Rainy season was cool, dark and overcast all day long, foggy to mucky.

Still, nothing like the sound of rain on a tin roof .Loved it.

We are seriously considering a trip to SE Asia .

Time to do it is now or never.

If we like it, we may think about staying for good at a later date.

Was trying to convince our son to move from where he is in Japan to Okinawa.

People live a long time over there, well into their 100s.

Selfish of us, have he and his wife move there and work while we visit and enjoy the ocean.

My brother was stationed there in the USAF and loved it.

I think Turkey is having a heatwave.  And so are we.

    @fluffy2560 As for buying the house back (I have just to be patient), when selling the property (to Russians) we already indicated this is a Hungarian/German street. Not what they expected and in my view they could have reached out more (just my view).
Hungary is not a country where you can hire anybody for EUR 3 per hour, contacts are also needed and one has to accept to pay a minimum wage. (I have no problem with that)
   

    -@cdw057

IDK, would you really want back your old house knowing the flaws it might have and knowing someone else may or may not of made some changes?

If we ever sold out, backed up and moved from Hungary, we would never come back.

There are so many other interesting places to move to.

|nteresting though, I saw the old home my parents owned in the 1950's in Conn. was up for sale.

I still remember the address even though I was only 4 when we moved to Ca.

96 Landers Ave.

Had a huge backyard where the old neighborhood would ice skate in our yard every winter. Had a stream running through the back and woods.

Looked on google map, house has been added onto over the years and the woods now have more homes built.

It would be just sort of heartbreaking to buy it back because things are never the same, lighting in a bottle, does not last , things change and people come and go.

Perhaps now a condo would be more to your liking since you have mentioned some health issues.

Too much work around the house with land to care for.

@cdw057

Food prices and basically all retail prices are increase by a day.

Overall some 200 - 400% now compared to cc. mid 2021.

Like even paper tissue were about 99 Huf/ 100 pieces, now hardly find under 350 Huf.

Or bakery stuff more likely 3 - 5X price at least in Budapest where it is either in the hands of western retail chains or the Albanians. 

Utilities remain constant because the governmental stabilization/ subsidies for residental.

@sjbabilon5

I heard Klara Dobrev -  a HU MEP - say in an interview that unit energy prices are far higher in HU than anywhere else in the EU.

She blamed the lack of transparency over the Paks nuclear power station upgrade and high premiums due to Russian loans and paying too much to source Russian energy.

The FIT Feed In Tariff for solar is lower now I believe. I suppose it's to force purchase of nuclear energy form Paks rather than making your own free energy from the sun.

@fluffy2560

Unit prices can both highter and lower than averages elsewhere.

Actually the deal was: they do guarantee a fixed price: both losses and profits are on the state/ major producers. Stability for the possible highter prices.

About solar: I do prefer the more reliable than that.

Actually in Hungary there are good conditions to utilize geothermal - far better than solar or wind based.

Also solar quite an illusion about durability, used materials, or real costs when there are no subsidies like now worldwide. Seems like more about a hype and being trendy which already generated a buble.

Nuclear power also among the greatest and most effective ones - well in case the plant is modern enought and not in hight risk areas (like earthquakes, tsunamis, etc...).

    @fluffy2560Unit prices can both highter and lower than averages elsewhere. Actually the deal was: they do guarantee a fixed price: both losses and profits are on the state/ major producers. Stability for the possible highter prices. About solar: I do prefer the more reliable than that. Actually in Hungary there are good conditions to utilize geothermal - far better than solar or wind based.Also solar quite an illusion about durability, used materials, or real costs when there are no subsidies like now worldwide. Seems like more about a hype and being trendy which already generated a buble. Nuclear power also among the greatest and most effective ones - well in case the plant is modern enought and not in hight risk areas (like earthquakes, tsunamis, etc...).        -@sjbabilon5

Yes, fixed price intended to smooth out the highs and lows and return on investment.  UK is suffering from badly set fixed prices on it's new nuclear plant.  My crystal ball says it'll end up being taken over by the state because it makes no sense to sell at the prices agreed.   Investors projections usually think about the election cycle timing - only 5 year periods to make a difference.

For some of these technologies, it's batteries (howsoever implemented) which will make it worthwhile.  The unit price should be extremely stable as the raw material is free.  Wind is quite good but again, how to store the power?   Plenty of ideas for that - molten salt, pumped storage, etc.   Geothermal is good - Iceland has used it for years.

The obvious idea is to mix it up with plenty of diversity.  Distributed power production is the name of the game for resilience.   I just read Ukraine is opening more solar plants and wind plants now as they have resilence the Russians cannot bomb.

Oh, and BTW, I just read Ukraine is no longer pumping Russian oil to Hungary.  End user prices are bound to rise.  I think HU's dependency on Russian oil makes no sense now.  Cheaper diverse sources elsewhere.

Marilyn Tassy

Hello thank you for your comments and history from USA... With your permission we want to ask you regarding the step by step application  starting in Hungary to receive USA SSA.GOV bank deposits and

the annual audit life dead tracking also face to face document identifications to obtain International Direct Deposit I.D.D. from SSA.GOV..  Another method is the USA SSA.GOV  Direct Express  DEBIT Master Card

application from inside Hungary...

Take your time research this inquiry has been clouded by isolated, scattered, untrained remarks also

USA citizens who have applied inside USA borders retaining USA phone, bank, mail address are not

qualified to answer USA SSA.GOV start up processing from inside Hungary.

Reading your past relocation coments i.e. Mexico requires 51,000USD for long term retirement in a bank

or 180 day border runs for new visa stamp. It is the problem with USA passport entering every foreign

country government restricted to 90 days temporary foreign government Immigration stamped  renewable visa inspections.  The USA passport is not a foreign country old age retirement options it is a temporary visa

We are in Thailand and one year visa renewable cost in a interest paying bank account monitored by Immigration police every 90 days address include wife etc.  about 23,500 USD  or do border runs 90

days.  Cost of life inside a high rise ocean view condo rental about 1000 USD or less retired outside of

Bangkok includes GIGA Wifi, car, motor bike, eat out every day and spa sauna club membership etc.

In a nut shell below cost of Mexico retirement but in same sun shine every day

Wish we could swap places. My husband wants to sell out here and live in a nice high rise in Thailand!

Honestly I let my husband handle almost all of our banking and official business;

I called the US SS office from Hungary when it was my time to collect SS from the US. They sent me some forms if I remember correctly.

Our main bank is in the US. We went in person on a visit to give them our HU info and contact info. I would think you could do the same with a phone call or online.

We do not fully trust HU banks so we keep our funds on the low side here and send over funds as needed from the US.

We are thinking of just selling out here and renting a more modern apt; for 6 months and heading to warmer climates during the winter months.

So far it is just talk on our part. Have the means just not the energy.

One thing though, if you qualify for Medicare, for those over age 65 in the US and do not live in the US or its territories, be sure to inform them of it or they will automatically take it out of your monthly SS payments.

They will not except US medicare here in Hungary so it is useless to pay for it. You will need to prove you had coverage while out of the US if and when you ever want medicare. If not they will charge more per month depending on how long it had lapsed from your time of not having it. No way out, they start charging at age 65 for pat B unless you send the card back to them and let them know why you do not need it. You will be sne t a part A card which does not cost anything. Part A is just for hospital stays in the US and does not cover any doctor fee or tests or meds.

   
    @fluffy2560Unit prices can both highter and lower than averages elsewhere. Actually the deal was: they do guarantee a fixed price: both losses and profits are on the state/ major producers. Stability for the possible highter prices. About solar: I do prefer the more reliable than that. Actually in Hungary there are good conditions to utilize geothermal - far better than solar or wind based.Also solar quite an illusion about durability, used materials, or real costs when there are no subsidies like now worldwide. Seems like more about a hype and being trendy which already generated a buble. Nuclear power also among the greatest and most effective ones - well in case the plant is modern enought and not in hight risk areas (like earthquakes, tsunamis, etc...).        -@sjbabilon5

Yes, fixed price intended to smooth out the highs and lows and return on investment.  UK is suffering from badly set fixed prices on it's new nuclear plant.  My crystal ball says it'll end up being taken over by the state because it makes no sense to sell at the prices agreed.   Investors projections usually think about the election cycle timing - only 5 year periods to make a difference.

For some of these technologies, it's batteries (howsoever implemented) which will make it worthwhile.  The unit price should be extremely stable as the raw material is free.  Wind is quite good but again, how to store the power?   Plenty of ideas for that - molten salt, pumped storage, etc.   Geothermal is good - Iceland has used it for years.

The obvious idea is to mix it up with plenty of diversity.  Distributed power production is the name of the game for resilience.   I just read Ukraine is opening more solar plants and wind plants now as they have resilence the Russians cannot bomb.

Oh, and BTW, I just read Ukraine is no longer pumping Russian oil to Hungary.  End user prices are bound to rise.  I think HU's dependency on Russian oil makes no sense now.  Cheaper diverse sources elsewhere.
   

    -@fluffy2560

My husband did mention something about gas prices for heating going up this winter because of the Ukraine thing. We bought another air fryer to cook with. Cheaper and cleaner with less oils used with the fryer then turning the oven on for hours. Cooked an entire duck in the fryer last night. Nice and brown and evenly cooked.

One thing I forgot to mention.

The US embassy here in Budapest does handle SS.

They have an agent that just handles SS issues.

You may need to male an appointment with them.

Marilyn Tassy

Marilyn Tassy

Marilyn Tassy

Yesterday 18:09:44

Report

#14

6087

Budapest

Wish we could swap places. My husband wants to sell out here and live in a nice high rise in Thailand!

Honestly I let my husband handle almost all of our banking and official business;

I called the US SS office from Hungary when it was my time to collect SS from the US. They sent me some forms if I remember correctly.

############################################################################

Hello Thank you for SSA information

We replied twice here but this new expat java tracking security trashed the reply so try again before log out

from here it is a mess with all these LOGIN IDENTIFY trackers following your data so ok.

The USA SSA.GOV offers two methods of payments one is a direct deposit, signed by your bank manager,

in a foreign country and mailed back to Baltimore P.O. Box SSA.GOV International operations.

The problem we have is that paper Express mail and delivery tracking, delivery with a signature from SSA.GOV is and was refused, by the new policy declared by the USPS managers.

Their new policy is to confirm only the city where the paper mail was entered from a foreign country and do not verify a face to face a signed delivery back to the sender!!  We was told USPS cut costs of delivery back to a foreign country?..

Here is the SSA.GOV Direct deposit forms. Very sensitive and private papers flying around the globe

https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-1199.html

For this reason we try to sign up and use GoDirect a USA Treasury issued SSA.GOV Debit Master card that

is available monthly deposited SSA,GOV money for use at any foreign Master card affiliate ATM traveling machine local country. We was informed the USA Treasury colects 3% of ALL USD leaving the country and

standard wire transfer from USA banks add this to their fee also on top of other fees of commerce.   

https://godirect.gov/gpw/

Changing directions about your husband he can stay active as a vocational school instructor operating in a machine tool shop, teach on large lathe.

If not you may suggest a 90 day visa free tourist vacation air flight to Thailand.

We can help with an orderly travel,  explain how to locate ocean condo rental, food markets, 85 cent taxi buss travel, etc  etc etc after you arrive at Suvanhabhum Bangkok International airport . After 90 day Immigration

stamp visa go take hourly,  air-con buss 1.50 USD  travel  south to Chon Buri, Pataya etc. step by step.  Locate

your high rise ocean condo balcony and order wine and food to start your vacation. There are many many

English speaking retired living in Thailand the USA Embassy declared 1.3 million USA citizens visit last year

and 84,000 USA citizens stay Thailand retired.  Ok  give it a test drive over Christmas in Thailand...   

https://www.webcamtaxi.com/en/thailand.html

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Our main bank is in the US.

IDK, sounds like allot of confusion for you.

I dislike dealing with any official things.

My heart skips a beat when I even get a notice of something good from any office.

Yes, my husband is a  bit of a perfectionist with machining. He said in the past he would not mind teaching to the right person. Not for money so much but to pass on a skill that is almost lost.

Hard to find the right person though. Even our son was not able to get it.

Husband had to throw him out of his shop and lock the door!

Afraid he would hurt himself by not paying attention every second.

Best wishes with the banking issues.One tip , the HU post office is slow, super slow.If anything is important send it with a private carrier.

My cousins wife is from Thailand, he taught in Thailand ages ago. They both worked in education in the US; My cousin has a PHD in the subject.

They go to Thailand all the time to visit her family;

He gave me some tips on where to stay temp; etc; if we ever gt there that is.

They visited us here in Hungary twice.

....One tip , the HU post office is slow, super slow.If anything is important send it with a private carrier.

    -@Marilyn Tassy

Tell me about it. 

I posted a letter to the UK last Friday.  It was sent registered (signature needed).   It's still not there.   It took about 5 days to leave the country.  It's worse since Brexit (obviously) - we used to get UK mail here in 3 days.  I don't expect my HU to UK letter to arrive there for 3 weeks.  Courier would also take 5 days and cost 6 x as much.

    ....One tip , the HU post office is slow, super slow.If anything is important send it with a private carrier.    -@Marilyn Tassy

Tell me about it. 

I posted a letter to the UK last Friday.  It was sent registered (signature needed).   It's still not there.   It took about 5 days to leave the country.  It's worse since Brexit (obviously) - we used to get UK mail here in 3 days.  I don't expect my HU to UK letter to arrive there for 3 weeks.  Courier would also take 5 days and cost 6 x as much.
   

    -@fluffy2560

Hmm, I should ask if my brother ever received my greeting card; Mailed it back in early June.

Not even worth paying extra for a faster delivery, they most likely stick it in the same bag as the snail mail.

Thank you every body for comparing global paper mail delivery in person verification...  We realized this

after wasting time and also paying extra postage at the local post office, they was anxious to collect aditional

fees for delivery confirmation but was not informed the extra postage stamps are lost in translation entering

a foreign country border.  Most foreign countries have computer optical scanned machines over conveyor belt driven runways sorting mail destinations.  This problem is at the point of foreign country city random selected air city entry.  The optical mail sorting machines  determine destination perhaps from a zip code before mail

is handed to a postman driving a truck or motor bike, completely unaware they must get a signed delivery

from a hand ful of selected paper mail stuffed inside their delivery bag. This is all speculation not confirmed

facts beyond the USPS announcement it takes longer to deliver certified mail and USPS also proposed the

cost of all stamps to be increased in the future.     

Understand the problem is more money and USPS money challenged by instant internet email communication using Skype etc free phone calls but the adoption of the internet by all foreign government

related business offices is further prejudiced by lack of training, not available top down decision making, afraid of job loss from opening mail on top of a desk and psycho security hacking excuse used to refuse

contact with government ofices over faster internet contact from citizens .

Marilyn Tassy

Yesterday 12:05:19

#21       

What is available to communicate face to face with government offices using security camera versus email

can be adopted to communicate with al your family and friends with a smart phone or home computer

and some day may be adopted by governments to conduct citizen business. Why al this rambling for our

mail problem with  USA SSA.GOV  wel they just announced 2024 by a new SSA.GOV Chairman that we

can conect with them face to face using Microsoft Teams secured software?? Slow but steady every thing

is changing for sure every where we look

We have posted above LIVE real time cameras operating inside Thailand. Select where your cousin is

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we now disapear as we are busy today swim and sauna and shopping

    Thank you every body for comparing global paper mail delivery in person verification...  We realized this
after wasting time and also paying extra postage at the local post office, they was anxious to collect aditional
fees for delivery confirmation but was not informed the extra postage stamps are lost in translation entering
a foreign country border. 
   

    -@tamas0

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