Advice for moving to Budapest?

Hi,

I would by now rate English as the second language, tied closely with German as Russian declines.
Downtown, nightlife, you won't have much trouble.
Bureaucracy, forms, grocery shopping: you might need help, but you seem like someone who will make friends in no time :-)

For the rest, you really should pop over for a week or so to get a feel for yourself. Neighborhoods and thus prices vary on a much smaller scale than just Buda vs Pest, it's finer grained than districts. Try couchsurfing/bewelcome to keep it cheap and make it real.

MikeyMcD wrote:

The only thing that scares me is the language barrier, especially as someone who works online and relies on outside chatting to meet people. Am I right in saying English isn't even Hungary's 3rd language? Is it a case of more people speak English in Budapest specifically since it's the capital of Hungary?

Id say its a mixed bag. Not everywhere people speak english. In the tourist areas in Budapest you wont have a problem. But consider that many young people who do speak foreign languages leave the country to work abroad since wages are extremely low here and the old people just learned russian.

For example in T-Mobile shops they usually dont speak english... Try vodafone...

I dont know who you will rely on with your business so i cannot make any further comments. Im sure you will find someone to help you and for sure Budapest is a great city!! If you want you can PM me for further info/help if needed. I live here for 3 years already and made a lot experiences with bureaucracy and hungarian life and way of business from a strangers perspective

Can anyone confirm whether I would need some sort of residency certificate to stay for a year? I lived in Albufeira in Portugal for 3 months this summer and to stay beyond 3 months you had to apply for a residency certificate so wanted to see what the deal was for Budapest.

There is a so called "adress card" - "lakcimkartya" which will register your name to an adress which you probably should get because its needed for most contracts with mobile phone providers etc.

You just go into an okmányiroda (gov office) and show them your rental contract and id card/passport etc and you will get one.

Hope that helped.

MikeyMcD wrote:

What's the weather like in the winter months i.e. Jan-Feb/Nov-Dec. Being from Glasgow I'm used to pretty cold winters but wasn't sure if it's more extreme in Budapest.

Compare this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest#Climate

And this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow#Climate

Thanks for the responses folks!

szocske: I'm thinking about coming over for a few days sometime in November/December so will make sure to get a good look around the city, and no doubt hit up some of the spa houses too!

TornadoHH: No problem, this "lakcimkartya", is it mandatory if you plan on staying in Budapest beyond 3 months? Do you know if to get a residency certificate you need to have a tax/fiscal number? Thanks

klsallee: haha yeah, that would have been the straightforward thing to do, thanks!

MikeyMcD wrote:

TornadoHH: No problem, this "lakcimkartya", is it mandatory if you plan on staying in Budapest beyond 3 months? Do you know if to get a residency certificate you need to have a tax/fiscal number?

I guess its mandatory.

If i remember correctly for me it worked like in this order:

Registration card (NOT needed anymore)
Lakcimkartya (ID card and rental contract)
Tax card (ID card / lakcimkartya / and work contract)
Social Security Card (ID card, lakcimkartya, Tax card,work contract)

Has been 3 years ago tho. BUT if you work online anyway maybe its the easiest to just avoid the whole registration process / changing social security system / double taxation agreements apply etc ... Not saying you should do it...

If you become resident in another EU country these things will change.

hi guys please consult on Expat.com page my company under immigration consultancy for any help

https://www.expat.com/fr/entreprises/eu … migration/

Thank you

Nico