DeanR

New user here so please be gentle 😀
I'm hoping you guys can help and guide me with a planned move to Hungary from Cambridge, UK.
Me and my Hungarian wife are planning to move to Hungary (destination TBC) in approx 18 months time. My other half hails from Gyula in the east but this is an isolated town with not much employment so our sites are set on the Budapest/Balaton area.
I speak VERY little Hungarian so I have big concerns about potential employment for the First 12-18 months while I immerse myself in the Hungarian language. I currently work in the uk as a supply chain specialist in the fmcg industry.
What are job prospects like for non hungarian speakers? Think I know the answer 😀
Can anyone recommend an area to live around the Budapest area... would prefer outside of Budapest. Székesfehérvár seems a very nice town and also has some good employment prospects? Can anyone advise on this particular town and area? Or advise anywhere better?
would appreciate your feedback and look forward to speaking/typing to you all over the coming months.

wolfi

Wish you luck!
What about Esztergom or rather one of the surrounding villages and smaller towns?
We have a lot of industry here partially based on the Suzuki plant.
Are you thinking of and do you have the money for buying a house?

DeanR

Yes. We will be looking to buy. Not sure we can do that outright but we would certainly have a min 50% deposit on a mortgage (depending where we end up of course) We thought renting or a motor home might be best until we found the right place. The motor home idea being that it allows you to stay in more places without the commitment of a rental property.
I had heard about the Suzuki factory. Suzukis are everywhere in Hungary! I also heard Mercedes set up their A class production in kisckemet (please forgive my poor hungarian spelling) recently? So may be another option?
I assume you came from the UK? Could I ask how your move to Hungary went? And any big obsticles you found? We're you a hungarian speaker before arriving?

wolfi

Dean, I'm German but with strong connections to Britain. One of my sisters married an Englishman and now they live near London but travel to Germany and Hungary often.
I also traveled to London several times a year for my collection of Science Fiction books.
Around 20 years ago i bought a "summer house" near Héviz, found a wonderful Hungarian woman and now we live part of the year near Esztergom because it's not too far from Budapest where her young ones live.
But we were already retired when we met, both being born in WW2 ...
We still are living part of the year in Germany.

Joetography

I can't give much help, but my gf is Hungarian and we plan on making the move from Preston in 2023. At first we will stay in Debrecen, but if we can make it a permanent move we will re-locate to Budapest and the surrounding area. As it'll be better for work and more things going on there.

wolfi

Joe is right - jobs are concentrated in the big cities - of course especially in Budapest. Our young ones eg wanted IT jobs outside BP (the cost of living is quite high there) - but no way.

Joetography

Although Debrecen is a smaller City it does have a lot of English speaking jobs available (I'm always looking) BT...yes British Telecom. Deutsche Telekom and several more have help desk type jobs. Also in 2023 (maybe '24) BMW are opening a large plant. So jobs should be available.

wolfi

Populationwise Debrecen is the second largest city after Bp (around 200 000 people), it also has a large university and several large companies, that's true.
So you can't really call it a "smaller city" ...
Pécs might also be interesting.

FenTiger

I moved to Hungary nearly four weeks ago. My wife is Hungarian. We are both retired so can't help on the employment side. We sold our UK house and plan to buy in a village south of Miskolc. I will post more information when I've got time and my laptop is in front of me. I'm using my smartphone!
Briefly, if you're selling a property in UK and moving over to Hungary on contract completion day you'd need alot of planning and a Plan B, and possibly a C & D.
​​​​​Anyway, I'll post later. I had quite a lot of help from this forum.

jetsam1

I am of working age and moved here nearly 5 years ago now.... !!!!

OK, in terms of jobs there are always loads of English language jobs in Budapest being advertised. If you have a second language that will make for a better salary.
At the moment we are all working from home and it does sound like this may be a more common way of working in the future hopefully. I would be aware that costs for property are mental in Budapest itself but if you keep an eye on areas outside in Pest Megye along the train lines it might not be too bad for a commute.

If you have any IT skills you won't have any real issues. Many of the Multi Nationals and some local companies all have English as the corporate language.

I gave up self employment last September and had 2 interviews, 8 call backs and one concrete offer within two weeks of making applications. So it is not so bad but keep salary expectations realistic.

My background is geological sciences but I got a reasonable starting IT Support job and so far so good.

Property prices are very high in Budapest hence why I am enjoying living outside of Pest County and getting Budapest salary! I am hoping it will continue and I don't need to commute any more.

PaulinEger

Hi, my suggestion would be to get yourself a TEFL and think about teaching for a local language school or privately, either face to face or online. Working hours are flexible, no need to speak Hungarian and you can earn a much higher than average salary. It's not for everyone but if you can do it, it can be rewarding. Plus, outside of Budapest there is far less competition and being a native speaker will command a higher hourly rate.

jetsam1

TEFL can cost a lot of money to do though. And there are no gaurentees of work, or even if the salary is going to be all that good. Potentially could end up self employed which is a whole barrel of issues as well. I would be wary of language teaching personally as I do know people who have done it and found it to be challenging and not necessarily in the good way. Teachers also get almost zero respect from anyone here it seems like as well.

Peter_in_Hungary

You don't say what your qualifications are. It might be easier to get advice if you said what you do now. (assuming you don't mind working in the same field).
I can't offer advice about jobs as we came here 26 years ago and life was different then. We have never had a real job since moving here (SWMBO, self employed translator/interpreter, me, self employed farmer, both now pensioners)
What I would advise is that if you are within 10 to 15 years of pension age then try to get residency this year as it will ensure that your UK state pension is not frozen.
We are on the north side of the Balaton near Tapolca. Its a good area but not much industry. If you are in to teaching then there are some English language schools in the area, (main stream schools that teach the curriculum in English) that welcome native English speakers but a qualification is needed.
Son in law is a civil engineer and works for a Budapest firm but lives half a kilometre down the road. He has been doing 'home office' for 2 years now, a long time before the virus made it fashionable.
My son (Mech Eng masters.) works for an American firm (oil and gas industry) in Székesfehérvár where English is the company language.
If you get the right property then tourist lets can provide an income in this area.

PaulinEger

You've been talking to the wrong people.
We've been here for 12 years and teaching for the whole time with no previous experience. As I said, it's not for everyone, it depends on your personality as to whether you'll be successful. Qualifications are not always an issue as, if you're in demand, the school will work around it if they can (but not always the case):
I've done everything from nursery, primary school, secondary school, private language school, business English to private one-to-one and group lessons. Face-to-face and online. Worked for myself and for others. The money is usually much better than the average hourly rate and the hours less than a normal working week and more flexible.
Where I live teachers get plenty of respect as it it considered a professional career.
TEFL is not expensive if you know how to go about it. Online courses can be done cheaply and are accepted in most places.
Being self employed costs me about 57,000ft per month in taxes, contributions and bookkeeping fees.

cathyg

I would echo what PaulinEger has said about teaching, I have also taught in a school for several years having had previous experience of working with young people and running training courses, My role was to encourage children to speak as I am not a qualified English teacher. You will find that native English speakers are highly valued here with parents wanting their children to speak with native English speakers. You can make a living this way if you want.
We live near Veszprem and often go to Szekesfehervar which has everything you might need. It also has excellent transport links to Budapest if you want to commute. I don’t know about living there but it has a beautiful old town.
We have family who live near Gödölló which is east of Budapest. Again lots of people commute to BP and there is also quite a bit of Industry around there.
Even though some jobs are advertised in English outside of BP you still need to speak hungarian. I would start learning now rather than wait until you move over here. I am not sure what sort of work permit you will need after Brexit. GE a has quite a big presence here so it might be worth keeping an eye an the international company websites for jobs.
It’s all about research research research.
Good luck!