Welfare law in Hungary - any help appreciated

As a resident of Hungary from the US, I had to sign papers stating I would never try to apply for any gov. aid.
My husband is a HU citizen so if anyone can get aid it would be him since he is a citizen and a senior person.
He has too much income to ever get any help however, thankfully.
He has told me that the gov. gives funds to poor people with children , something I believe to be 48,000 forints a month, less then $200. In fact I think everyone with a child can get this money not just the poor. Just saying some people have allot of kids just for the gov. handout.Of course that's only for citizens of HU.
Almost all the street sweepers and trash clean up people working in parks are on welfare, they must work for their 48,000Forints a month.
I doubt they can pay rent with that unless there is 10 to a flat.
Seniors with low income can get a free meal daily in a center center if they qualify they also deliver a meal a day to seniors or shut-in's who can't travel to the senior center.
There are shelters to sleep in but it's not a hotel, it's for homeless people with strict rules of conduct and operating hours. Just a place to lay your head and out in the morning.
I personally wouldn't even think of coming to Hungary if welfare is something you think you may need anytime.
We used to go to a old movie house in Budapest and for almost his entire life this man was a worker at the movie house. Took tickets, cleaned up, showed people to their seats, he was a trip he really did the full service of running that place.
They closed the movie house down and he was lost.
Sounds like SK has a better social program then HU does.
We ran into him once on the st. and he told us he was picking up trash in the city park for 48,000F. He had his own small flat so at least he had a paid off place to stay. We even saw him once in the  park picking up trash, didn't bother him because we didn't want to shame him or anything, sad stuff.

DavidCastor wrote:

I'm a Slovak citizen planning to move to Hungary because of cheap property prices and other personal matters. I have Hungarian ancestry and my father has taught me some Hungarian, I have troubles with my vocabulary however, but I can hold up a basic conversation without issue. ...... so I was wondering whether the situation in Hungary is in any way similar or comparable.

Any help is appreciated, I'd be very grateful if anyone took the time to answer my inquiries. Thanks ahead.

I cannot answer you question but why don't you want a normal job? 

I'm just asking, not judging.

There's a shortage of skilled persons here as they've all left for other countries.  Your written English is pretty good, you could always go to another country and find work surely?

Anecdotally, we know from others claiming benefits the money is terrible.  They are hardly able to live unless supported by other family in some way.  It's not an easy situation for those in sticky situations.

DavidCastor wrote:

cheap property prices

First of all, it is important to put that into perspective.

Yes.... You can buy a cheap property in Hungary. But that does not mean that property is livable. And by livable, I mean legal right to declare that property as your residence. A lot of those cheap properties, especially in the countryside, are "weekend" houses and do not come with a residence permit. To upgrade them to a legal residence often costs quite a bit. And without a residence, most anything in Hungary, even public support is almost impossible to get.

And if you can afford to buy and renovate property.... the social welfare office may wonder why you are asking for social help.....

DavidCastor wrote:

Here in Slovakia the requirement is either to do community work for at least 30 hours per month or bring proof of active job search to the employment office each month, but they do not have the ability to force you to take a job and stop the assistance if you refuse. .

Been a while since I was informed of the law. And the laws here change all the time. Heard (don't know if true or not) the government re-crimalized homelessness recently for example.

But, basically, as I understood the law, your social payments could be completely cut off if you did not do at least "community" work -- which often meant sweeping streets and picking up garbage ... no, you didn't get to choose the work you do. And the "pay" is indeed terrible.

If you can claim a medical disability, that is another issue entirely.

But to get the current requirements (and even if you are eligible if not a Hungarian citizen), you should contact a local social welfare office in Hungary. If you don't speak Hungarian, then hire a translator -- maybe money well spent.

klsallee wrote:

....And the laws here change all the time. Heard (don't know if true or not) the government re-crimalized homelessness recently for example....

Yes, they did - see this (and other news articles searchable in Google).    That's news from today.

This homeless law thing has been going on since 2013 but I believe that it's now a constitutional amendment which is a surprising use of a constitution which while founding the state, usually has enactments to protect the population.

Seems like there's no end to extremist behaviour in this small country.

klsallee wrote:

DavidCastor wrote:

cheap property prices

But to get the current requirements (and even if you are eligible if not a Hungarian citizen), you should contact a local social welfare office in Hungary. If you don't speak Hungarian, then hire a translator -- maybe money well spent.

Yes, this is probably the way to go.

klsallee wrote:

DavidCastor wrote:

cheap property prices

Yes.... You can buy a cheap property in Hungary. But that does not mean that property is livable. And by livable, I mean legal right to declare that property as your residence. A lot of those cheap properties, especially in the countryside, are "weekend" houses and do not come with a residence permit. To upgrade them to a legal residence often costs quite a bit. And without a residence, most anything in Hungary, even public support is almost impossible to get.

And if you can afford to buy and renovate property.... the social welfare office may wonder why you are asking for social help.....

Surely if you purchase a house in a village it will classify as a viable residence? The houses in some smaller villages are actually much cheaper than the more isolated cottages  (tanyák) in the countryside

Either way, thank you all for your replies, you have been helpful. I'm having some trouble with the site however, when trying to access some pages or editing my posts constant errors come up, don't know why that is...

Public /gov. benefits are only for HU citizens.
I have mentioned so many times that i have been married for over 40 years to a HU citizen and am not allowed to ever apply for any gov. aid , have to be a citizen first.
In the US just about anyone can get welfare but HU is not a rich country and they try to take care of their own first, as should be.
Owning property in Hungary does not move anyone up the ladder as far as immigration works in Hungary.
I applied as the wife and mother of HU citizens and was rejected at first , a paper mix up but still...
No fun to be mailed a message to leave HU within 90 days.
We proved we had no need to ever work in HU, would not take benefits, owned a property in Budapest, had my own health coverage, had steady monthly income from the US , bank accounts in HU with the required amount to apply for resident card in the account.etc. but still was not able to get even a resident card for over 6 months and allot of hassle.
Of course most people apply for just a short term resident permit, my case was for 5 years and now it's a 10 year permit.
Every case and situation is different, I was only told to apply for a 5 year permit and nothing shorter because of my marriage status, the same status that caused long delays in my papers being processed.
Immigration is always the first place to get real answers to any questions.
Of course if you menton you are even thinking of welfare, they will show you the door out of HU.
It doesn't matter what we say on this site, it's all up to the paper pushers in immigration.

Marilyn Tassy my brother has gained Hungarian citizenship via ancestry. Our great-grandfather was born in Austria-Hungary and my brother speaks Hungarian fluently, my Hungarian may be a bit more rusty, but I think it'll do regardless. So getting citizenship theoretically shouldn't be that much of a problem.

I remember you mentioning having HU roots.
Just saying they only give welfare to their own citizens as far as I know.
Believe me, it isn't all that much help.
My grandmother was born in former HU territory in what is now SE Poland.
My father  was born there too in the same area, same tiny village of 150 people.
He was born in 1921 after the land boarder changes.
Still... Almost cousins with Hungary... Suppose I am half Slav, Carpatho Ruysn., eastern Slav or Rus, so many names even Lemko.
Have allot of Hungarians in the family tree as well.
Still, they gave me a hard time at immigration services, sort of hurt my feeling really.
I suppose if I really, really tried maybe I could become a Polish citizen through my father but seems like too much trouble at this late time in my life.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

....
I suppose if I really, really tried maybe I could become a Polish citizen through my father but seems like too much trouble at this late time in my life.

Why don't you do it? 

You can then get some benefits as an EU citizen and you won't need to bother with immigration.

Be a little project to do it.

Do you know regrading copy of disability welfare
From treaty countries for dual citizenship holders?
(Parent)