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Hungary: Hungary in the EU after the UK has gone:
In Hungary's case it isn't a total meltdown because we didn't evey transition to the Euro and have relatively low economic demands. A large amount of the EU funds are used for trivial things anyway so losing it will only hurt those at the top siphoning off the funds for their personal benefit. It is not all good and it looks like the rubicon is going to be over forced acceptance of economic refugees. Hungary (and Poland) will never accept a forced solution. With Italy facing imminent economic collapse and France not far behind the ECB cannot support this enormous credit based economy. The debts are simply too high now. With the US pushing and the EU agreeing for an all out war with Russia it could collapse in one day should some idiot somewhere in the military decide to do something stupid. I do not believe the EU will survive into 2020 at least not as it is structured unequally now.
Hungary: UK person moving to Hungary after Article 50 is triggered:
http://www.theweek.co.uk/brexit/73161/brexit-what-will-happen-to-eu-citizens-who-live-in-the-uk
It cuts both ways and will depend entirely how the EU treats EU citizens and in your case, Hungarians, living in the UK. If the UK doesn't grant citizenship or permanent resident status to Hungarians then it definitely won't happen here in the reverse. However, nothing stops you from proceeding with getting a resident visa based on a home purchase which is what the rest of us third worlders (I am from the US) have to do. Basically, you must provide proof of medical insurance, a return flight ticket receipt, proof of income, etc. More or less proving you will not be a burden on the Hungarian government. You also must get permission to buy a house which took us 6 months to get after our Visa was issued.
My advice would have been to do it before the Brexit happens but I think it is now too late as it will happen by the end of March. So, watch and see how the UK treats the EU citizens living in the UK and you can see where it is heading. Last, Hungary is extremely slow to adopt EU rules, if they adopt them at all. Often they just prefer to pay the fines instead of following the mandates from Brussels. So, your only guidance will be from the UK side and Hungary might take a year or more to determine how to treat UK citizens living in Hungary. Generally, they give back to Hungary more than they take in for services so are a net gain to the economy. This will be the real deciding factor.
Hungary: Hefiz/Keszthely?:
It is a good choice to retire to. Heviz would be possibly nicer than Kesthely but housing prices would be commensurately higher as well. As for being closer that is debatable question. It is physically closer than other towns on the lake but perhaps longer to travel if you are considering Vienna. Graz would be closer and is a nice place to visit. The nearest decent skiing is still a ways inside Austria at Semmering. It is 2 hours away for us and probably 90 minutes from Kesthely. The area has some benefits and is a definite tourist destination with all that encompasses.
There is a largish British expatriate community as well. Other towns to consider would be Badacsony which is nce as well or further towards Budapest in towns like where I live Balatonfured although Csopak and Alsoors are nice as is Balatonalmadi. The Western end of the lake has a growing Russian community as well. For whatever reason the oligarchs in Hungarian society, particularly the young and rich Fidez members are pouring money into our town which has some benefits as well as drawbacks.
We like it here as it is 15km to Veszprem which has a University, a Medical Center, and some major shopping. Kesthely has good shopping and a hospital but the medical center is over in Veszprem. Balatonfured also has the National Cardiological Center and the Oncology center has just opened in Veszprem.
We are more or less equidistant to the airports in Vienna or Budapest and both are roughly 2 hours away. From Kesthely the trip to the Budapest airport would be 40 minutes longer for you than it is here in Balatonfured. Generally flights are cheaper into Budapest than Vienna or Bratislava. I like it here in our area of the lake as it is particularly scenic with the Tihany peninsula and the Badacsony national park but there is plenty to see in Kesthely as well. From Kesthely you would be closer to Sopron and Szombathely which are nice places to visit.
It all depends on what you want to have around you. Lake Balaton is a great place to retire to and we have been extremely happy here for the past 7 years.
But one drawback with the popularity of these towns is that real estate prices are climbing rapidly. I understand there is a rapidly growing community of Germans leaving Germany to get away from the Muslim immigrants which is addition to the wealthy Budapestians and Russians is another factor driving real estate prices up. Apartments are in the highest demand as most people now don't want to deal with a garden. We have seen some newly built apartments here in Balatonfured sell for over 1 million Euros while entire houses are still in the 250,000 Euro range. Go figure.
Hungary: Driving license:
Sorry to say that I went through the exact same problem and I still do not have a valid Hungarian license. The test is now available in English .... sort of. It is a long test of 175 questions, many of which are highly technical and some are heavily weighted. You get 45 seconds per question but you can go back and use any unused time for ones you skip. The problem is the test is translated from Hungarian and IMHO it looks like somone used Google translate which scks badly. Worse, the Minister of Interior's wife is who did the translation so good luck in complaining. It isn't cheap to take either and I have failed it twice now. I got 64% both time which isn't sufficient. Actually, given how horrible it was that isn't too bad. Often the questions were completely unintelligible and you can sort of figure it out by the available answers but you only have 45 seconds so you have to be quick. I am not joking but I had one question with 4 possible answers and all were identical and I mean verbatim. I complained to the proctor who of course could do nothing.
I ended up flying back to the US to renew my license as it is just cheaper in the long run. It is ridiculous but this is where we are at. The EU has implemented reciprocity for US licenses (and I assume Canada as well) but Hungary has refused to implement this so until Fidez is voted out and a better government put in place this is going to be the way it stays. I have an acquaintance who is an official English translator for the Hungarian government in Budapest (hence why I know about the wife doing the translations) and he told me 2 years ago that of the 250 or so people taking the test all except 2 have failed. The same is true for the same test in Spanish and German. He did offer me to take intensive training with him as he has the master book of 2500 questions possible on the test and you can memorize all of them. The cost was 100,000 HUF. I declined. These are the 2 people that passed who bought the test book and memorized it. I am just not that motivated.
There is probably some "other" way to get around this problem given that corruption in government is massive but I haven't bothered to look into it. I am more or less okay with my US license as long as I leave the EU every 90 days. So far, this hasn't been a big problem for me. Most cops just freak out when they see a US passport and US driver's license but I drive well and don't break any laws, ever. Hungarians hate people who do things like use turn signals, don't tailgate or speed recklessly. Actually, given how difficult and expensive it is to get a license I am shocked how terribly they drive. It is a real paradox or it means a lot of people use extra-official ways to get licenses.
What really sucks is my wife who is a dual American/Russian citizen and also has a US driver's license (Virginia) was given one without any problems as she handed over her Soviet Driver's license which expired in 1992. Go figure.
So, my advice is to choose between taking the test in Hungarian, flying back to Canada to renew your license there, or figure out who you can negotiate this with.
Last I heard they were negotiating a verbal test for people with dyslexia and that a translator might be acceptable in this case. So, that might be one other option but you will need a physician to state your are dyslexic. You have to get a physical anyway so you could do it at that time. You still need to take 6 months of driver's lessons (again you can negotiate that with the driver's ed instructor) and you must take the practical test in his official training car and you will need an official translator to accompany you. All of this is quite expensive so in a way it is cheaper to fly home, especially if you have a reason to go back for other business etc.
I am hopeful that Fidez will become a distant memory in 2018 and Hungary might just decide to become a part of the EU again and then my license will be acceptable.
Hungary: Winter tires:
http://www.blackcircles.com/tyres/winter-tyres/laws-and-legislation
Not required but you are required to have snow chains in the car in Winter. I brought over from the US a Toyota Prius which had all season tires. But, we then bought a new car here and of course it only came with special "run flat" summer only tires. So, we ended up buying a second set of tires for Winter. The cost to switch over is negligible at 5,000 HUF and where we live is a guy with a truck and all equipment who comes to your house to do it so very painless. As Peddington says though, it may still be a requirement by the insurance company. Speaking of which we were surprised by a substantial rate increase this year which incorporates a new "sneaky" accident tax implemented very quietly by Fidez.
Hungary: Hungarian pension:
This relates to what I was saying before about medical coverage in Hungary. They are tied together. A I said before when I enquired about getting national health coverage now that we are permanent residents, I was told only if we sacrificed our US Social Security and took the Hungarian pension in lieu would we then be eligible for national health coverage. It is a complicated formula but is essentially 33% of the average of the last 10 years of employment and a minimum of 20 years employment plus age 62.5. How that equates I have no idea but I am certain it would be tough and would require also paying in the employers contribution. I wouldn't recommend it unless you really badly need Hungary's medical.
Hungary: Senior health insurance:
It is very hard to answer that question. In our case, we moved here as retirees with a 5 year visa then became permanent residents. I plan to convert that to full citizenship when I turn 65 in 2 years as the language test is waived at age 65. Both my wife and I are retired and receive both military pensions and US social security. I looked into receiving government health coverage and they told me we would have to surrender our US Social Security and take Hungarian pensions instead. The difference is nuts as the minimum pension is something like roughly $200 a month. So, obviously, we didn't do that. We have (arguably useless) military Tricare Overseas health insurance but we lose that at age 65 as we refuse to pay the Part B Medicare premiums. We are cash only for medical here which is far cheaper than paying the Part B premiums. Even with major medical expenses including surgeries we have never spent more than $3k in a year and that is paying cash. You only have to prove insurance if you are asking for a retirement from a third country (not in the EU) so as to not put a drain on the government resources. But, a natural born citizen might be in a different category than we are and perhaps you don't have to surrender your SSA to get National medical.
Hungary: Viktor orban:
You have to look at this issue carefully. If you mean Muslim refugees then the answer would be an overwhelming yes. This country still very vividly remembers that the real end of the Hungarian monarchy ended with the Turkish invasion which also ended up with about half a million dead and 160 years of horror. This ended with the "rescue" by the Habsburgs and Russian monarchies and effectively ended the Hungary as an independent nation except for a brief period. The resultant involvement in WWI ended up with Hungary losing more than 2/3 of their territory. So, one could blame the Turkish invasion (in a simplistic way) as the root cause of all of their modern troubles.
BUt, it goes further than that. Hungary is proud to be Hungarian and want Hungary to stay that way. They have a good immigration policy which requires proof of independent income or a necessary job skill. Economic refugees are not welcome from any group.Most of these immigrants are not who they say they are and the vast majority are not fleeing from a desperate situation. Most are coming from refugee camps in Turkey where they were already safe therefore do not qualify as refugees. Additionally, most came through Greece, a member of the EU, therefore are required to be processed there. The actual verification of identity and status can take years (as the DoS spokesman said 2 days ago regarding US immigrants). Hungary has a very small immigration workforce so processing 15 a day is about all the can handle. On top of that, last year's influx out of roughly 200,000 refugees only 20 qualified as actual refugees.
Additionally, unemployment here is sufficient to supply able bodied and trained workers for all expected needs so no new immigrants, especially untainable ones, are needed. Germany is a good example of this problem. Of all the immigrants accepted by Merkel there is a 99.7% unemployment rate because they are unemployable and untrainable. Hungary cannot nor should they be expected to support people like this. Life is tough enough here without the additional costs to support immigrants. Hungary is better served to support their own population rather than people coming from other nations who add nothing to the Hungarian economy.
Hungary: Meet the disgrace:
This is not a new phenomena. Before Obama it cost roughly $100k to become an ambassador to a minor country like Hungary. Now it costs millions and/or be a bundler for other donations. Only in particularly sensitive and/or important countries do real (professional) ambassadors get appointed. I had contemplated doing this before but now it costs millions. The same for a night in the Lincoln bedroom. American politics has always been for sale. Is it any wonder that the median net worth of a Congressman is $7 million on a salary of $190k? Try and find the salaries for diplomats. Us government employee pay scales are legally open to public scrutiny except for DoS. Also, try and examine what the racial and sexual ratios are for DoS. All of that is kept secret. I wonder why?
Hungary: Criminal Activity:
Hmm. When we first moved here we were renovating two houses we purchased here (on the same property) and my wife's wallet was stolen by one of the workers and they charged up in 2 hours $25000 in credit card expenses and cleaned out our bank account. Very quick and professional and all charges run through a false company at an address which doesn't exist. Eventually a thief was caught and prosecuted and subsequently sentenced to 5 years in prison; however, he isn't the actual thief but rather someone earning their bones for the organized crime which is rampant here as it is on so many other places including the US. A very strange tale.
We haven't had any other problems in the 7 years since. But, I do have friends who have had various property crimes. One man had all his copper rain gutters and downspouts stolen. This type of theft seems fairly common and they have no problems stealing anything that isn't tied down. The same for stealing everything in a vacation house during the winter. Property theft is among the highest in the world yet violent crime is nearly the lowest and really extremely uncommon. Gypsies are a real problem and it isn't racist or an exaggeration to say so. They really do fit the stereotype here. I wish it weren't so, but it is and nothing the government has done, which has been a lot, has changed the pattern of crime from Gypsies. Of course there are other criminals but the Gypsy problem is constant and a real thorn here.
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