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Applying for Residence Permit as Freelancer with intermittent income

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sqzr
  6/17/2017 00:32 EST

Anyone applied for the Residence Permit as a Non-EU citizen and gets their income from online/outside Hungary?

Whats your experience with the process and is there very little chance someone in these circumstances will be successful in their application? I'd love to hear peoples experience with the Residence Permit application in general.

Information:
I'm a software developer from Australia looking to relocate to Hungary (or the Czech Republic) under the Residence Permit. My income is intermittent and comes from international clients so I wont be locally employed in Hungary. I have lots of savings to get by for more than a year.

I know more about the Czech application process than the Hungarian. I'll list here the Czech process which is quite tedious, is the Hungarian process similar? Some of the requirements for residency include; show income of atleast $1400USD paid into your bank account monthly, evidence of a house/apartment you are renting in the country, a letter from the landlord, health insurance cover, pay health 'tax' every month, pay standard taxes every month, get a form from Australia that shows no criminal record, must have interview done in an embassy outside of CZ.

In general, I'm canvasing what is involved in the Hungarian process for a non-EU citizen that will not be locally employed.

peddington
  6/17/2017 16:51 EST

In my experience the process you described is very similar in Hungary. Of course you can apply for ONE year residency/visa which is less tedious and you only have to prove income and/or savings a place to live and some type of proof of health insurance. Incidentally I was told in one office that about 6,000 USD in saving would meet the requirements but as everything don't hold your breath. Incidentally one would need about 2000 USD to do OK or little less if you bought a flat or house!

borschelrh
  6/18/2017 00:29 EST

I agree with Peddington. The process here is a bit more flexible and can be done at the nearest immigration office. I did mine at the embassy in DC but we brought my mother here and did it in Veszprem instead. The visa was fast but the Permanent Residence permit is a lot harder and much more expensive requiring official translations of all documentation. The bottom line is they don't want anyone coming here who will be a drain on government resources which is more or less the same idea everywhere. They also don't want anyone coming in who might take a Hungarian's job. There are some weird minor requirements you didn't mention like proof of a return ticket etc. But, these are somewhat a formality. I do notice a general increase in nationalism and some resistance to foreigners (of any kind) in the population which might also be reflected in government offices. I am finding increasingly that being an American is now a liability.

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