PaulinEger

Thank you

enter

Thank you Peter I will ignore all other info

PaulinEger

My visit to the immigration office was much easier today. After a fair bit of messing about online with Enter Hungary, I was in and out in 15 minutes this morning. There were 2 different members of staff working today and they were very pleasant. Hopefully, I'll get my card in a couple of weeks.

PaulinEger

Well, out of the blue, I received a phone call yesterday afternoon from a woman from immigration. She would like to meet for an informal interview. She offered to come to my home but we agreed on meeting in Eger on Friday. She said not to worry and they hold these interviews with all applicants now.
I contacted another English guy and he said that he'd been interviewed by the same woman, although I've not heard of this before.

PaulinEger

Has anyone else gone through this?
I also received another email today from 'enter Hungary ' asking for more information regarding how many days I've spent outside Hungary in the last 3 years.
I'm trying not to be paranoid but I feel that I'm being questioned more than most.
Comments please.

sykes108

Yes, it does seem that definately something unusual is going on. I applied on June 21st in Budapest, the lady only asked me to fill out a couple of extra questions that weren't required on the online form I had previously submitted. I think they were questions on any debts, and any dependents. She said they didn't desperately need to know this, but it would speed up processing. Just got my letter last Monday, confirming I am approved, and now waiting for the card in the post. No interview, no questions on days outside Hungary.

I do get the impression that different offices do seem to want to do things a little different to others. Or more likely some immigration offices know less than others about how it should work for British people.

Jack_Russells4ever

PaulinEger, I would not worry about a visit or meeting with someone from their office. When I moved here they dropped by unannounced for a visit in the deead of January. There were 3 women who turned up on my door. I guess they dropped by to make sure my accomodation was livable and to make sure I actually resided here at the address I posted on the forms. They asked me 2 questions about my application and then procede to spend another 20 minutes or so talking about my dogs and asking me about things back home.

I do remember somewhere on the foreigners office website a question about wanting to know how much time you spend out of the country during a 3 year period of time but I cannot find it now but I think they just want to make sure your actually living here and not using your address here for legality and working or residng else where in the E.U. Unless you have been gone for long periods of time your probably okay.

PaulinEger

Thanks for the responses.
I had an unannounced visit about 2 or 3 years ago when I upgraded from the old residence permit to the newer one. I wasn't at home but played good cop/bad cop apparently and grilled my wife for some time.
It's not as though I've only recently arrived or am applying for the first time. I've lived and worked here for 13 years. I expected it to be a much simpler process.

PaulinEger

So, I had my meeting this morning over a coffee in a cafe. The woman was very nice and the whole process took about an hour and was very laid back and informal. We even share several aquaintances.
She did ask for quite a lot of additional information though and made a lot of notes. She wanted to know about my whole life, family, education, marriages, work history, financial information and future plans.
At the end of the meeting she said that everything was fine and that she had 15 days to complete her part and submit everything to immigration and they would then make a decision on my application but said not to worry as everything was in order
She also said that she didn't work for immigration but the equivalent of the secret service and she would need to do some background checks.

Sachina

So you're a "person of interest" then? Do you think someone, possibly with a grudge against you could have reported you to whoever she works for?

Years ago, my father was interrogated by the UK tax man because one of our neighbours thought we lived beyond our means.

PaulinEger

The woman was really nice and implied that the information she asked for was required by every applicant at the moment.
Having said that, I mentioned to my wife yesterday that I wondered if someone had said something (untrue) to the authorities about me to make my application more difficult. That person is a known troublemaker who has spread many lies about us....and he's a family member over here.

scrubbedexpat142

Paul, for what it's worth, we were asked exactly the same sort of very detailed background questions, about 9 months after we landed, by a very nice duo. No repercussions.

sykes108

For anyone who has recently received their letter of approval, or is expecting to soon, you should expect a bit of a wait for your new residency card.

I have been waiting 2.5 weeks for mine since I got my approval notice, so I rang the immigration office today. Apparently their is a huge delay in the processing of the cards. This is partly to do with delays in various other 'authorities' (don't know what these are exactly) that have to process the new status too! Bureaucracy!

And apparently there is an issue with the card manufacturer as well. So while the approval process of 30 days is unaffected, the lady said that instead of a couple of weeks, it could take 4 - 8 weeks after you receive your letter before you get your actual physical card.

The lady confirmed to me that the new status is guaranteed once you have the letter of approval, no future steps with these 'authorities' change that. And that your current 'EU' card is valid until the new card is physically in your hand.

Sachina

Thank you for the information.

I received a letter on the 8 th July saying that my application had been approved and I'd receive the card shortly via registered post. I'm still waiting.

As a Hungarian friend has tried several times unsuccessfully to contact the office I might as well tell him not to bother any more.

sykes108

With luck yours will be ready soon. She said 4 or 5 weeks was most likely, but even 8 weeks was still possible.

Please post on this thread when it arrives, and then it can give an ETA for mine and others.

It took my wife 68 call attempts today to get through, over the space of nearly 5 hours!