Joetography

Good evening.
My name is Joseph and I'm planning on moving from Preston to Debrecen in 2023 with my GF Emese.
My question relates to the residency application. If anyone could help that would be fantastic.

So here's the plan. I will be 38 and Emese a little more than I am in 2023.
We will have a house in the UK with no mortgage and plan on renting it out and should see approx 150k huf/month.
Emese will get a job and I will be actively seeking work too.
Emese owns a small flat, no mortgage.

The question is, I see they ask for proof of income/savings when applying for residency. But as I will not have active employment when we move, how much savings is acceptable? Bear in mind we will get 150k huf/month from the UK house.

Have I missed anything obvious that could affect our move?

Thanks in advance

hobgoblins

Hi Joseph, it's one of those that all depends on who you get to see in immigration on the day, what mood they are in and how busy they are, it would seem.
When I went to immigration, it was very busy and there was only one staff member dealing with everyone as her colleague had to go off to do a private interview with a young couple. I had all that I needed with me so that helped, my savings at the time were around £1500 but there was no proof of income as such on my bank statements ... I just explained that as a photographer, many of my clients prefer to pay in cash ... she was happy with that ... but on another day or with another member of staff ... hard to tell ... but in your case I would think that if you have a copy of the rental agreement for your UK house showing that you will be getting an income from that rental, then that should suffice ...

Joetography

Thank you for your reply.
It's such a shame that it could depend on a persons mood that day!
I hope to have approx £5k in savings and with the rental I should be ok...maybe.haha.

After visiting in 2017, I can't wait to visit again in May next year.

Pulaski

By 2023 Brexit will be done and dusted, so there will be no freedom of movement, so won't you need a spouse or partner visa? .... I believe you will.

I doubt you will need a lawyer, but there are some pointers on this lawyer's web page, and if the info there is correct, you will need between £7,800 and £10,400 to meet the savings requirement for a visa.

FenTiger

I know the feeling about not being able to wait to visit Hungary again. I am moving permanently in next few weeks to a village near Miskolc. We will be living with my Hungarian wfie's mother until we find a property.

As per the post above take a copy of the tenancy agreement as proof of income. I am not sure if you may need to get it translated into Hungarian. Someone else on here might be able to advise on that. Both my wife and I are retired. I have NHS pension and my wife a private pension which she has yet to draw on. I won't be able to get the UK state pension for another six years, same with my wife! As 2023 is a long way off I would recommend building up your savings to take into account inflation. I am not sure if HF 150k per month income from renting out your house would be enough to live on, especially in Debrecen, as it is the second (maybe I'm wrong on this) largest city. Bear in mind you will need to put aside some reserves for repairs to your UK house. And who will be looking after it when you are in Hungary? A letting agent? If so, you need to factor in management fees. Have you thought of what will happen if you have a bad tenant who doesn't pay the rent? You have to consider the worst case scenario as well as much as the best case scenario.

FenTiger

I haven't read up on what happens after Brexit but he is right in saying that by 2023 Brexit will be done and dusted, including no freedom of movement unless you are visiting for a holiday and there is a reciprocal agreement between the UK and Hungary tourists will not need a visa. You will need to look into the entry requirements after Brexit. My Hungarian wife came to the UK back in 1990 before Hungary joined the EU. She had married a UK guy, not me, so was able to enter the UK but there was an immigration process she had to go through. I suspect had it been the other way round pre-EU any Brit would have had to go through a similar process to enter Hungary. So best to look into the entry and residency requriements to enter Hungary in 2023.

hobgoblins

Things will certainly change but it will probably just involve a few extra steps ... after all, third country nationals from places such as China and the USA still buy up property and live in Hungary currently so it shouldn't be too difficult to do for Brits post Brexit. One thing that will be a pain is for Brits who are required to obtain a Hungarian driving licence .... whilst for now a UK licence can be exchanged for a Hungarian one, in future they may well have to take a Hungarian driving test to obtain a new licence !

wolfi

Joseph, if you won't be married to your Hungarian girlfriend you might get problems.
I've read somewhere that even for short visits you'll need a permission to enter the EU (like ESTA for the USA).
Have you thought about health insurance yet?
PS:
In case you're wondering - I'm a German living part time in Hungary - with strong contacts to the UK, been there almost a hundred times to visit friends and family - my sister married an English guy and they live near Gatwick now.

FenTiger

Wolfi is dropping hints

Jack_Russells4ever

Joseph, when we applied for Residency, we were told we had to have £1000 per month of pension income per person (adults) or other provable sources of income, plus expat health insurance if not covered by a state scheme, 12 months of bank statements will be requested. I have heard without a steady source of income you may be required to have £50K in savings. As mentioned above sometimes it seems that it varies depending upon whom you interview with. I have also heard the number £20K I suspect because of Brexit many things related to Residency for UK nationals will change. You are smart to be researching and asking questions now so you won't get a big disappointment.

FenTiger

£1,000 per month per person. I assume this is for non-Hungarian citizens only?

Pulaski

He needs to research/ Google <hungary spouse partner visa>, which is how I found the link above, but really he needs to look for a Hungarian government web page, as based on my experience in looking at visas for other countries, lawyers/ third party web sites are often unreliable, and are either wrong when it comes to details such as savings and income amounts, or make the process sound difficult and complicated (when it usually isn't), so that you will contract them (lawyers) to "help" you with the process.

The process for getting a visa for a spouse/ partner is likely very different from the process for some random American or Chinese citizen getting an investment visa, and I would be more than happy to bet the price of lunch on a spouse visa being dirt cheap, with a low savings requirement, compared to an investment visa for someone who just fancies living in Hungary but doesn't have a Hungarian spouse to sponsor them.

I expect that the process to get a spouse partner visa will be a bit more than "a few extrra steps", but not unduly onerous. The key things to look for, and be preapred for are:

[1] The cost of the visa i.e. the fes paid to the Hungarian government,

[2] the amount of savings that would be required if you are going to rely on savings,

[3] the amount of income required, if you choose the income route, and how that can be met - would rent from the UK be allowed? How long do you have to have had the job for? (it can be 6-12 months in the UK for someone to sponsire their non-EU spouse to live in the UK, depending on whether they are employed or self employed). It is possiible that your spouse/ partner might need to return to Hungary ahead of you and find a job before applying for a visa is possible,

[4] Can you apply from within Hungary, i.e. arrive and then take care of the visa paperwork? (The UK does not allow applications from within the UK, and the US makes it difficult to apply from within the US, but conversely it seems to be quite easy to apply for Canadian visas from within Canada), and

[5] How long does the process take? This is especially important if you will have to apply ahead of arrival and wait for your visa before traveling to Hungary to settle, and if the period is a long time, you should also check if you will be allowed to visit Hungary during the time that your visa is being processed? By way of comparison, it currently takes 2-3 months to get a spouse visa for the UK and over a year for the US, but it could be a lot less for Hungary, and back in 2000 my wife's application for a spouse visa for the UK was processed by the following day.

enter

If that's the truth #1000/person plus savings, income has gone up massively since our day a few years ago, wow

Jack_Russells4ever

That was what we were told in 2016

Jack_Russells4ever

It was £1000 per person OR £50K in savings NOT both