jetsam1

I have found myself defending Hungary when back in the UK!!

I know local businesses around here are desperate for workers. Apparently it's a real struggle, nothing to do with pay levels of course.....

Ah well. I will try and get a formal course in the language and culture out of the way and hope my papers are all ok! If it comes to it retrain in agriculture and look for management level work alongside the bees. There's a degree at Szeged even taught in English! But that is the nuclear option

I will guarentee I will never work in a public facing job ever again!!! Though maybe restaurant/services workers get a modicum more respect than in the UK.....

scrubbedexpat142

The level of ignorance is startling (but not surprising). I took great pleasure in watching both my Mother, stepson & his Wife (30 years living in America) gradually becoming overawed as they toured Budapest!

jetsam1

I think we are pushing to 100-120 hives and try and maintain that. Sod the elbow, no choice in the matter! That should give a comfortable living.

(About to get creamed by the Student Loans Company as we both forgot all about each other and apparently they are horrific to deal with. So, I am considering using some of the proceeds from my house sale to just pay them off. I have the pre-2010 loans which are high only because my parents didn't have a lot of money and so I had to take on bigger debt. Not all that fond of having to report o them every year and try and either give an estimate of what I might make being self employed or try and get them to understand Hungarian tax paperwork. Either way will be a lot of fun I can quite possibly live without.The penalty charge will probably be high enough I may as well just pay them off.)

Just the HMRC is bad enough. I think I will ask them if I have to keep doing a tax return as I will have no income other than bank interest from the UK in the future.

Peter_in_Hungary

Surely the money is of more use to you than the Student Loans Company!
Whilst I have never been involved with such things (my 2 went to Uni here) I thought that you only paid when your income went over a certain level, which is unlikely to happen as a Hungarian bee keeper. - fill in the paper work and keep the money.
Whilst we hate paperwork we find that we can't earn money anything like as fast as the money that is generated by filling the correct grant type paperwork.

jetsam1

It looks like they are in enough chaos that it could be a major fight! I don't have anywhere near as much as the new students and they are going to charge me £100 a month for the last couple of years most likely and that will be around a third of what I owe so that sort of changes things. I will see what they say. Oh the threshold is around HUF 2.5 million (that's a big change, the threshold varies by country!!) which is lower than I would have liked. In all the upheaval I forgot all about them (I had got used to not thinking about them!) and the rules changed in the interim! There are some pretty serious horror stories about them..... Oh the house was owned outright in the UK so it's not like I have to cover a mortgage fortunately.

I will see what they say. Apparently they want to know where every last penny you have comes from....... And the forms seem set up for people who are away for a few months or a year not permenantly. My wife said to me if we do the bees well we will make it back soon enough. And we have a big enough field to grow silly amounts of potatoes.........

scot47

Jetsam,

Government offices and Ministries in Hungary or elsewhere in the former Bloc will NOT reply to an inquiry like this. Ever. Under any circumstances.

jetsam1

Well can't hurt to ask..................

scot47

As long as you do not expect a reply. Even then I would not be surprised if some Ministry has a file on "Troublesome Foreigners Who Post Us Annoying inquiries".

scrubbedexpat142

jetsam1

Maybe a little melodramatic.... Answer or not it is always worth asking. Hungary is still an EU country with this lovely thing called the rule of law, unlike the future of the UK it looks like.....

Anyway it has been decided that we build the bees up this year and I will go on a formal university language course over the Autumn and Spring semesters and then go for citizenship. According the the language lecturer I spoke too as long as the language skills are there it's not all that much of problem to do.

Nuclear option has been engaged due to the evidence that the UK government and opposition are utter shits.

scrubbedexpat142

Indeed, you have been of late!

& Citizenship will take you how long? Good luck anyway.

jetsam1

Assume the worst and you can't be disappointed. Seeing as the toddlers are in charge of the UK I can imagine a scenario where they do find a way to screw us all up. Imagine Rees Mogg as PM....

6 months is the average apparently from start to finish. I can begin the application from next year. The language course should get me from a standing start to B1 or B2 level and they said I was quite good with spoken Hungarian so should achieve a good level along with official student status and documentation.

scrubbedexpat142

Don't get me wrong. I absolutely support your intent & sympathize with your feelings (we are in the same boat, well close!).

jetsam1

I'm still just absolutely furious about it! It's taking over my life and so I need to do something to counteract the worst case scenario.

Getting citizenship also has an impact as by law any job must be offered to a Hungarian first. So, if you are Hungarian it makes it easier to employ you. Options. And as Hungary and the UK both allow dual citizenship it seems a very sensible thing to do.

I have been in a bad mood too as my children have given me cough that just won't go away so I haven't slept very much forthe last couple of weeks.

scrubbedexpat142

Like I said, I sympathize! Our dream (& yours and many others) was shattered by the referendum result (it has caused a huge rift between me and a significant member of my Family) and we have thought of little else since!