Hello all, I am a UK resident thinking of moving to Hungary to live and work. I am in my early 60s and I work mainly online as a graphic designer for UK clients. Does anyone have any experience of getting a Hungarian residence visa? I have done a lot of research and think a visa for gainful employment is the one to go for. I'd plan to start my own limited company. I know there is a digital nomad visa but this is just for one year, extendable for another year and I would like to settle in HU long term so the nomad visa is too short. I'd like to buy a house as well, somewhere a couple of hours south of Budapest, which I assume is permitted if I have a residence visa (and money!). Also (sorry to ask so many q!) I have been told health care is slow and often not easy to get quickly, so I'd plan to have private health care. Is private health care worth getting and should I expect to pay a lot?
Thanks in advance for replies!

First things first ... the normal route to take would be to spend some time in Hungary, get a feel for the place, ask lots of questions whilst in Hungary as to whether it is suitable for your needs, find a property, buy the property and then you will be entitled to a residency visa ... but as to whether that would be a regular residency that entitles you to work, I'm not sure but I'm presuming that would be the case ....

You can buy a house with a residency permit. You need permission but this is usually a tick box exercise, pay the fee and get the rubber stamp.

A couple of hours south of Budapest is a bit of a flat area - not for me!

The Hungarian health service is IMO good.
Last year I needed to use the blue light service and got one in about 6 mins. and we live rurally (on a farm). The hospital apologised for keeping waiting for a couple of hours as someone had got to the operating theatre just before me. I was in hospital for 4 days, service good, food not! (apparently it is better if you say you are borderline diabetic and gluten intolerant - now I know!!) Follow up care was good with about a 1 hr wait to see the consultant at appointment time (2 days then 4 days then 2 weeks then 4 weeks after the event) And the subsequent physiotherapy was apply one week and start the next.

For elective procedures, I went to see a consultant dermatologist (5 week wait) about a mole. He said no problem but if you want it removed nip down to A&E and gave me a bit of paper. I went down to A&E had a half hour wait and they did the job there and then.

There is no appointment needed for our GP, you just rock up to the surgery and with about a 5 - 40 min wait you get seen.

I cite the above for you to compare with the UK NHS.
The days of needing to bribe the health workers to get service have long gone. If I were in your position I would get into the Hungarian health service asap, and you can always go private if you feel the need.

I can't comment on visas as we have been here almost 29 years now (Oops doesn't time fly) so my visa experience is out of date.

I second Peter's comments re the health service. Unfortunately my Wife has had to resort to it for three separate issues over the last couple of years and the service & care / treatment has been exemplary.

Personally, I've had mixed reactions to the health service here. It is generally much faster than the UK but there are certain things that still need improving. Cleanliness, complete lack of privacy curtains and tying patients to hospital beds to name a few.
Also, it used to be the case that you had to wait 9 months from arriving here before you could join the health service. I don't know if it's still the same.
There are plenty of positives to living here, however.
Have a look around first and decide where you'd like to stay. We live in NE Hungary and bought here because of family ties, without visiting any other areas. We're now in the process of trying to buy a small farm near Szeged as we love it down there.

Interesting comment about cleanliness. Our local hospital, most of which is 50/60 years old, is basic & functional in the extreme, nothing pretty but it is immaculately clean, I know, I have had long enough to study the environment!

Don't get me wrong, things have improved massively in the last 16 years since we arrived but my local hospital in Eger has a terrible reputation, despite it's modern appearance. I used to know a guy who had to go for dialysis 3 times a week and if he arrived close to the end of a shift the staff didn't always use clean equipment for the next patient!!!