Before I left England I took the trouble to find out exactly how I stood in regards to obtaining a Hungarian residents permit. I wrote to the Hungarian Embassy in London, explained that my husband (who is a Hungarian citizen) and I were going to retire to Hungary so could they tell me what documentation I needed to reside there.

The Consul replied saying that as I was a British citizen I did not require a visa and when I moved to Hungary I could obtain a residents permit from my county immigration office then after 3 years, if I wished to do, so I could apply for citizenship.
I was, apparently, entitled to stay in the country for six months without a resident permit so when we arrived in Hungary in May 2003, I didn't feel there was any urgency to apply for one.

However, at the end of May, my husband and I drove to Szekesfehervar, where our county offices are, and went to the immigration office.
After waiting for about an hour we went into an office where a young girl was sitting behind a desk. My husband explained what we wanted but she insisted that she could not deal with my case as I needed a visa. He explained to her that I was a British citizen and as such I did not need a visa but she was adamant and said I was to go back to England and get one.
Needless to say, by that time my husband was getting a little cross and once again told her that we’d had a letter from the Hungarian Embassy in London informing us that I did not need a visa. She became very angry and said that she was the one who worked in the immigration office, she knew the law and she could not help us without a visa. I was furious and my husband was very cross by now. A few heated words were exchanged and.… well, we left.

We were quite at a loss as to what to do next. Then as we were driving home a Hungarian friend phoned to ask how we had got on. I explained what had happened and she said that she would try to find out what we should do next as she was sure we would not have to go back to England in order to sort it out.
A few days later our friend telephoned to say that, after talking to someone in the main Hungarian immigration office, she had been told that we should go to an office in Budapest and apply for the permit there. The only thing was that if I wanted to apply for a permit they said that I was obliged to report my address to the office within 4 days of arriving in the country.

I had been in the country for over a month by then so we drove to the border, got my passport stamped and reported to the immigration office within the 4 days.
We arrived at the Immigration office and after queuing for some considerable time we were given some forms, told to complete them, return them to the office together with 2 photographs, proof that my husband had adequate funds to keep me, recently paid house hold bills, my translated marriage certificate, my passport and an 18000 forint stamp.

No, they didn’t they want to know my address at that stage because reporting to the immigration office within 4 days of entering the country was not necessary now as it was only law while the police dealt with issuing residents permits – now they no longer deal with them the law is obsolete – I wonder why they didn’t know that at the head office?

A few days later we went back to the office with the necessary documents and were seen by an officer who issued me with a temporary permit. She told me to report back in one month’s time – on the date stamped on the permit.
On the allocated date we were back in the immigration office where, along with about 50 other people, my permit was taken away and an hour and a half later it was given out again stamped with a new date.

The next month was the same. By the third month we were beginning to suspect there was something wrong – we seemed to be waiting each month with Romanian/Hungarian workers so my husband asked an officer why this was so and when would my permanent permit be issued. He said everything was in order and I could have to wait up to 6 months for it to be issued.

Three days later we had a phone call from a lawyer in the Immigration office. He said my papers had been passed to him and he had realised that a mistake had been made, I was entitled to be in Hungary as I was married to a Hungarian citizen and I should have been issued with a permit straight away. If we went into the office the next day he would issue me with a permit.

We discovered that I had been waiting for a visa – I had to pay another 5000 forint for the permit but was told that the 18000 forint I had already paid would be reimbursed. But, validate the permit I would have to have a medical within 4 weeks and present a medical certificate to him.

The medical centre was in the North of the city and although we arrived early in the morning we were number fifty in the queue. Eventually I had a blood sample taken, I gave a stool sample, my skin was examined for signs of disease and I was sent to the south of the city for an x-ray to see if I had TB – total cost, nearly 20000 forint.
A week later we returned the medical centre to collect the certificate and luckily I had no problems so we delivered the certificate to the immigration office.
We were so relieved that it was all over and the next step would be in 3 years when I could apply for Hungarian citizenship – not likely – they had only issued me with a temporary certificate and if I didn’t want to have another medical I would have to apply for permanent residency within 3 months and they handed me another sheaf of forms to fill in.
I am just about to fill them in so I will continue this article as things happen.