More FAQs Moving to Hungary

Hi guys, Could you recommend districts of Pest we might look to rent a furnished flat our first year and buy in the next year? At this point in time, I would recommend Dists. 5, 6, 7 (parts of), or 13. There are good and fair points about each district, but I would live in any of these on the Pest side. I do not know any of the districts on the Buda side, since we would not consider living there. One thing to keep in mind is that the trams stop at midnight, the subways at 11:00 pm and if you go to a late movie, you want to be able to catch a night bus to get home again. Some taxis are cheap, but if you are living on a budget, why waste the money? We are trying to work with HungarInvest at the moment. I sent them a snippy e-mail about their needing to learn how to work with foreigners if they want our investment dollars. I will report back on our satisfaction level. We are planning on buying our flat, but need to do some comparative shopping. We personally think that the older buildings have much more character than the new ones do. It adds to the cultural experience of it all. We love our flat. Like the States, they start high and you work them down. Our rent here is $500. a month, so it is to our advantage to buy it. Would it be safe to assume that we will not be able to rent for only 6 months? However, if we are not yet residents will we be able to rent for a year either? You most certainly should be able to rent for six months. It may not be the apt. of your dreams, but for six months, who cares? For a six month rental, you should probably think in terms of a much smaller apt. for two reasons. 1. The rent will be cheaper. 2. It will accustom you to living in smaller quarters. Large apts. do not rent well here. Ours was vacant for 6 months before we took it and the prior tenant was the owner's daughter. Apts. over 70 square meters are not rented by Hungarians. They cannot afford to rent/run a larger apt. If you buy a larger one, you will be dependent on ex-pats to rent to and this could be a financial risk. Unless a large apt. can be renovated into two apts. where one can be rented out, they do not sell fast either. Our apt. cannot be broken down to two since both bathrooms are next to each other. We don't intend to rent it out or to sell it for the near future, so it is not a concern for us. We have 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, a walk in pantry, huge living room and quite a large eat in kitchen, with a good size entry hallway. We rent out our large spare bedroom to Fulbrighters that need a night to a weeks lodging for 20 euros a night and we provide breakfast. Some day, Jean will include us on his web site for accommodations, but the summer is his busiest time. I have been editing the English of his site, but he does not have the time to make changes until the Fall. The lease laws have nothing to do with the Visa laws. They will give you a lease for 5 years if you want, but whether or not you can actually stay in the country is your problem. They will have all of your passport details to make sure that they collect from you eventually. Be careful of the agents that you use. All utilities go in the apt. owners name, not the tenant. When we first came, we rented off the Internet for fast service. The agent screwed us royally on the utilities and way overcharged us. When we asked to see bills, we were told that they were combined with other apts. that they managed and separating them and translating them was more than they were willing to do. When we moved, we found our utilities dropped considerably. Within your apt., you are responsible for repairs. The building itself is handled by the “homeowners assoc.” You can always have an apt. inspected like you would in the States to see if there are problems before buying. Having lived here in this apt. for over a year, we have a sense of what is what. Of course, one never knows either. One other thing to think about with buying. We just found out that most flats/apts. are sold unfurnished. What we did not realize was that also meant they also rip out the ceiling fixtures, the refrigerator, the stove, and anything else they like including the kitchen cupboards. It is not like the States, were you have to leave whatever is attached as a fixture. So, you need to consider furnishing a place too from top to bottom. Do you think that $1,000 is enough for basic monthly expenses if we own a flat. If you own your flat, it should be fine, but you have to consider the fluctuating exchange rates. When we first came it was 280 HUF to the dollar and everything seemed like we were paying with play money. Now it is 230 and we are more cautious about it. The opera depends on where need/want to sit. You can get seats for $3.00 if you are not prone to nosebleeds or you can spring for $20.00 seats. It does depend on the performance and the company too. Some are a little higher, but not all that much. Theater – Last year, we bought season tickets to the Merlin, the English speaking theater. The season ticket was $36.00 and include 6 performances with one bonus for a total of seven. The theater is small and it is first come, first to grab a seat theater. We have been pleased with most of the plays. “Stones In My Pocket” and “Two Blind Mice” were especially good. Movies – The highest priced one so far has been 1,000 HUF (about $4.00) depending on the exchange rate. There are cheaper ones, but they usually run the same English movie again and again or you have to wait weeks for it to arrive there. There is an English video store, you need to buy a VCR here since it is the PAL system. The VCRs here will play American videos as well as PAL, but not vice versa. There are usually tons of musical things that are free or under $5.00. You may not be able to see all that you want due to the cost, but there is plenty of free stuff to take advantage of. All other plays “CATS”, “Phantom”, “My Fair Lady”, etc are only in Hungarian. By the way, the opera house and the Merlin are closed during the summer due to no air conditioning. Being from 'the sunny South', we always have to ask about air conditioning. We monitor the temperatures in Budapest and it seems like it would be tolerable in the summers...warm days but cooler nights. July and August are by far the hottest months. It is not unheard of for the temp to be in the 90’s. Last year, we thought we were going to die and we came from Central CA where 105 is usual from June to September. It is the humidity, here which makes it unbearable. We have had a relatively lovely summer this year, but we still have had days that have approached close to 100 and the nights have not been cool. Yesterday was a scorcher. Now, I have to take a pause to stop laughing about the air conditioning. Okay, I am being snide, but WHAT AIR CONDITIONING???? The malls are not air conditioned, most of the movie theaters are not a/c’ed. Though interesting, the movies in the mall are. They were not last year. Have you been here in the summer? If you stayed at a place with a/c, unless it was a 5 star hotel, I would be shocked. The only places with a/c that we have been to are the embassy, 5 star hotels, and the theater in the mall. There are some casinos that advertise it, but we have never been. Window units are few and far between due to the very large windows. It would be hard to place a window unit in most of them. The a/c units that one of our friends have is a small unit, but they had to cut a hole over his kitchen door to install it to the outside. His electric bill skyrocketed. For the number of days that you really, really need it, we get by with a couple of fans. Pest has more traffic than Buda, but we have not had any problems with the air quality. It is far better many U.S. cities that I have been to, but since I have only been in the Atlanta airport, I cannot compare. If you have been to Athens, it is pure air here in comparison. As hot as it gets, I still drag my ass to the thermals on Tuesdays. What part of the year is considered the coldest? I would venture that January and February are the coldest. It was still cold in March, but all of the Hungarians said that this was strange since March it usually starting to be Spring-like. I was still wearing my winter coat into the middle of March and changed to a lighter coat around second part of March. I still needed a jacket until May, but it was not glove weather. The thermal makes you warm inside on the coldest day. Could we ask for the name of your Israeli friend's insurance company in the UK? I will have to call her for this, but that means at least an hour on the phone, so I will get back to you with this. Sounds like being Directors of a Corporation is an imperative. Does this corporation have to be profitable? Does it require taxation, reporting, other oversight by government? We have an idea for what our 'corporation' might be but it would not be a full time concern. Would that be a problem? Just like the States, you are given a few years to make a profit. The bad part is that by Hungarian law, you must have an accountant. This can turn into a hefty fee. Most that we talked to wanted the equivalent of $75.00 to $150.00 a month for services. They know that they have you over a barrel, so they can charge a high fee. Although, you may not have any business activity, your accountant still has to file monthly forms on your behalf, quarterly reports, and do your income tax. All of this is legally required. Yes, you have to pay taxes, but you can have write-offs similar to the States. It does not need to be full-time. When we started our company, we were shocked and horrified to find out that just because we owned the company, not only did we have to get Work Permits to work for ourselves, but we also had to compete with Hungarians for our own jobs. As part of the Work Permit process, we had to send a job description to the local employment office where it had to be posted for I think it was two weeks, before we were cleared for the jobs. I had forgotten about this piece until now. The employment office could have sent us a potential employee for our company even if they did not have the same qualifications that we did. We sweated those two weeks. In line with this, you have to produce all ORIGINAL diplomas, certificates, etc. that you want to be used to qualify you for your “company” job. They will not accept photocopies or transcripts, which is what we had with us. I had to fax all of our universities and get duplicated done since all of our originals were in storage. It was a nightmare. They also wanted one for every degree I received, which made it worse and very expensive getting the duplicates. They then have to be translated into Hungarian by a government authorized agency and notarized. Only lawyers here can be notaries. Since I am only at three pages, here is some info you have not asked for. There are low cost airlines moving into Budapest. Right now, there is Germanwings (one word) and is an offshoot of Lufthansa and Snowflake, an offshoot of SAS the Scandinavian airlines. Germanwings only flies from Budapest to Cologne at this time, but from Cologne, you can go many other places. These are similar to Southwest. If we had booked when we talked about it, we could have gotten a r/t ticket to Cologne for 19 euros or to Copenhagen for 49 euros. We waited to discuss it more and the flights sold out. We are however, leaving for Cologne tomorrow for 5 days on Germanwings. The cost was $145.00 r/t each. Still not bad, but could have been better. Ryanair and Easyjet are looking at Budapest, but I heard that Ryanair is going to start service out of Debrecen, Hungary in a few months. Debrecen is a three hour train ride from Budapest. Okay, I ran into page four and need to get some things done for a very early flight tomorrow. We will be back on the 29th, so mull over your answers, think of more questions and I will answer them when we return. Regards, Ryan

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FAQ - Moving to Hungary

We are asked questions about our move all of the time. We are happy to assist others. I am glad that Jean had the forethought to refer you to us. We will be more than willing to give you our take on things here in this grand city. Just for some info, we moved here in Dec. 2001. We had been here once before for less than a week at that time, while also traveling to the Czech Republic, Poland, Vienna, and Berlin. We left CA in August of 2001 with the intention of traveling for a year or so, then settling down on the Northeast coast in the Boston area. That was the hope at the time. Now let me preface all of the rest of this with the fact that Hungary will be joining the EU in May of 2004. All rules and laws will be different by then, but until then and most likely after that they will continue to change daily. When we arrived and still after the EU, U.S. citizens can stay for up to 90 days without a Visa. E.U. regulations are such now that U.S. citizens can only stay in the E.U. as an entity for 90 days every six months. That means after 90 days in any E.U. country/countries, we must leave for 6 months before re-entering. They are beefing up their inter-country passport control computers systems to make this much more of a hassle than it has in the past, Hungary included. When we came, we just crossed a border to have our passport stamped. This was not a problem at the time as we had U.S. friends living in Slovakia and Croatia, so we could take mini-vacations. Investigating things with other Americans and a lawyer, we were told that if we started a corporation here, we could be managing directors and not need Visas to stay. We found an attorney and did do this. The cost was $300.00 (at the exchange rate then, which was 280 Huf to the $). The day we had our last Notary stamp put on the papers, the attorney received a call from his office. His researcher told him that a law had just passed stating that we as corporation owners would still need Visas for staying in Hungary. Going from inflated to deflated in minutes, we then checked out that process, something the attorney said he did not do. We found an agency called Business Umbrella (since has gone out of business). They for a hefty fee, arranged Work Permits, which was necessary first and then our temporary Visas. At the time, they were the best deal cost wise around. We were constantly running around getting paperwork for them to submit our papers. The clincher was that the new law made it impossible to get your Visa without returning to the States. This was a cost that we did not want to deal with, but there was no choice. Up to January 1, 2002, you could go to any other country, go to the Hungarian Embassy and have your Visa issued. This right was taken away from Hungarian Ambassadors with a change in government. The law is now that you must apply in your country of citizenship for part of the process. Ron was newly retired in the States, giving us the time to travel, so he had to get a work permit to get a Visa. To get a work permit, you have to be accepted for employment from a Hungarian company. He found a language school to hire him as did I, but we both shortly thereafter, found university teaching positions. We flew back to NYC to the Hungarian consulate and submitted our applications. They were less than helpful and did not know the rules and laws that we were assured of from the agencies here. As public employees of universities, we did not have to pay the $50.00 fee for applying. We left with such bad feelings, that I was sure we would be denied and I was sick about it for weeks. Finally, they sent a letter to our NJ address that our Visa was ready. We had to UPS our passports to our friends in NJ who had to send them with a certified check to the consulate as if it were us doing it. The check was to cover certified mail to send our passports back to NJ. We were then in Hungary illegally during this time and without passports. Our friend then had to Fed Ex our passports back to us here. Unfortunately, the Visa was for less than a year due to some crazy system of how they calculate. Business Umbrella had since gone under during this time, but we followed our worker to the Ex-Pat Relocation Center (www.erc.hu) to finish the job. These darlings charged us $75.00 each just to register us with the local police, which is a legal requirement. If we had realized this ahead of time, we could have paid a Hungarian $20.00 to do it for both of us, but we were dumb in the ways of the land. We got along fine until this year when we had to renew it. ERC is just about the only game in town and the small others charged just about the same fees, so we bit the bullet and continued with them since they had all of our files anyway. We just got our bill and it was $1,700.00 for both of us. That was about 700. more than anticipated, but too late now. During the first year, we needed a physical for the Work Permit. Very simple, in and out. For the Visa renewal, we had to have a chest X-Ray for TB, HIV test, stool sample, Salmonella test, full physical exams. This was not covered by my Hungarian health insurance or Ron's stateside insurance. The jury is still out on how things will go next year when they join the EU. Although our Visa was renewed in June, ours expires the beginning of May due to the EU. No one seems to know yet if this will be more complicated or less. We do not know of any ex-pats who are living here without working for that almighty Work Permit, which is needed for the Visa. That is not true, there are some, but they are of Hungarian origin- children of Hungarian emigrants and the rules are different since they qualify for a Hungarian passport. Yesterday, I read in the Budapest Sun (www.budapestsun.com) that the law currently is that if you leave the country for 90 days, your Visa becomes invalid and then you must start the whole process again. The exception is if you have to travel for business and can prove that you needed to be out of the country for legitimate business reasons. This still has to be approved by the Ministry of Immigration. Now on to your specific questions: Are there any social groups for retirees? Although we have not looked, we do monitor the social events in the Budapest Sun weekly. There have not been any listed. I doubt that there would be a sufficient number of ex-pat retirees to make up a group. Being a gay couple, unless you speak Hungarian fluently, your gay options will be limited also. We do not have a gay network other than three friends who speak English. We are isolated from much/most of their social functions since we cannot communicate with the crowd and it is a burden on them to continually translate when they want to socialize. The gay scene is almost exclusively Hungarian speaking. There is one bar owned by an American (U.S.), but he speaks Hungarian. It is a drag bar, not exclusively gay, and definitely not our cup of tea. We rarely go to the bars. We did have an older friend who had been here for 4 years, he worked for the U.S. Embassy. He went to the bars all of the time and never had a good thing to say about them. He continued out of loneliness, but claimed that he never met one person there. We have built a community of friends, but mostly non-gays, non-Hungarian, or U.S. people here on Fulbright Scholarships, but they are all short-termers. Hungarians are very family oriented. It is difficult to get to know them well since they spend all of their free time with family. Even the gays are similar. Many gay men do not leave home until their late 20’s to early 30’s since they cannot afford to live on their own. Sharing an apt. or flat is not as common as in the States. We are interested in information about medical plans available in Budapest. The American Clinic offers a medical plan that costs currently 60,000 HUF a year (current exchange is 230 HUF to the $). This covers doctor visits, labs, and I think x-rays, but not for routine physicals. It does not include hospitalization. I know that you could buy Hungarian health insurance through the State, but I do not know the cost currently. It was around $150.00 a month. Doctors and nurse here are highly underpaid and you do not want to be hospitalized here unless you have someone to give “tips” to the doctors, nurses, aides, P/T, etc. If you don’t, you will sit in the bed and rot. I have heard this from a number of my students as well as Hungarian friends who have had experience. We have not, but we don’t discount the information. I have an Israeli friend who has insurance from London and pays 172 euros a month for the whole package. I am not sure what her coverage is, but do know that it covers hospitals. I think she has to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed with all services. Suggestions on good areas in which to rent with various services available, i.e., shopping, food, restaurants, etc. which one could walk to and from? If you like the Buda side, you are asking the wrong people. We are down to earth people and our experience is that the Buda side attracts mainly for corporate employees, embassy folks, and others with money to burn. The rents and cost of buying on that side are highly inflated and they get is since most ex-pats are being cared for by their companies and not paying out of pocket. If you are interested in the Pest side, we can discuss this further. As far as services go, we have 4 grocery stores within 2-3 blocks, a dozen restaurants, a post office, a department store, camera shops, bakeries, and an Indian clothing/food store. Within our one block, there are 3 convenience grocery stores, an Internet place, a dog groomer, a Spanish, Hungarian, and a Chinese restaurant., plus other assorted little shops. Businesses here come one day and are gone the next. The economy is not that stable for the Hungarians with the average salary about $400. U.S. a month. Within our block they are building a new apt. complex. www.center-homes.hu They are supposed to be finished in 2005. It is in Hungarian, but on the left, click on Akacfa and you will see the proposed project. We have a flat that is 114 square meters and was unoccupied for six months. Hungarians do not rent more than 70 sq. m. due to cost. If you are thinking of renting part of the year, you will need to think in terms of can you afford to have it vacant when you are not here. For foreigners to buy, at the moment, you have to have a corporation and the corporation has to do the purchase. This still has to have approval from some ministry or the other. We are buying our flat, but do not intend to rent it out for some time. There are no mortgages for foreigners, so if you buy, you have to do so outright. When they find out you are from the U.S., the price inflates, so it is best to have a Hungarian do the negotiating for you for renting or for buying. What would the average or range be for monthly living expenses in Budapest assuming we owned our own flat/condo? ADSL, satellite TV, cellphones service, gas, water, electricity, and other basic expenses. ADSL, IDSN, or Cable Internet connections are not available in all areas at this time. I have ADSL, but the only provider for this area was the phone company. I would have preferred Cable through the cable company since it would be cheaper. I pay about $50.00 a month depending on exchange rates, but the “business” pays it so it is a write off on Hungarian taxes. Mobile phone (cell phones is so American ; ) ) run us about $25.00 a month with a regular contract. To get a regular contract, you need a Visa or a corporation. The other alternative is a pay-as-you-go mobile. You buy the phone (you need a Hungarian to actually purchase it) and then you buy cards that give you talk time. It is now possible to do this through ATM machines. Gas has gone up twice in the last six months. It now runs us about $25.00 a month in the summer and more in the winter. We have radiators that are gas heated. Electric is about $30.00 a month. In our building, water is not metered, so we do not have a separate water bill. Every flat, whether you rent or own pays a “homeowners” fee to the building. In our building this covers water and building maintenance for the elevator, cleaning the halls, etc. We pay 10,000 HUF a month, but we understand that currently, it is 25,000 since they needed to do some work on the roof. In order to have a satellite dish, you have to have permission from your fellow building dwellers. No one in our building has one and we survive with BBC and CNN International and a few hours of Animal Planet in English. TCM is on at 9:00 pm every night in English. This is different depending on neighborhoods and cable companies. The company is pre-determined by the neighborhood. Our cable bill for our basic services runs about $9.00 a month. Phone bill is about $20.00 a month. You are charged the minute that you place a call and they answer, even for wrong numbers. There are no packages like the States. Most people hardly ever use their home phone and use mobiles instead. It is cheaper. Also, most people use SMS messaging on their phones since it is cheaper than a call on the mobile. Oh, I forgot the HYPERMARKETS. These are Au Chan, Tesco, and Cora. All of them need a car to get to, so we don’t get there often without a car. They are similar to Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. with the exception that they make the largest of these look like small potatoes. I have never seen such large stores in my life. The prices are supposedly cheaper, but you still need to comparatively shop around. Food prices have escalated in the time we have been here. It was normal to spend $10.00 for about 3 days worth of groceries. Now, $10.00 will cover maybe two days. After the E.U. I have my fears that prices will soar. Projections are that property values will too! This should give you some food for thought, but I am more than happy to continue a dialogue with you. One more thing…Ron’s monthly retirement income is more than most Hungarians earn in six months, but that was not considered when he applied for the Visa. I know in some countries if you can show self-sufficient income, it is easier. Here is was not. What happens next year is anyone’s guess. Regards, Ryan

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More Questions About Our Move

We are asked questions about our move all of the time. We are happy to assist others. I am glad that Jean had the forethought to refer you to us. We will be more than willing to give you our take on things here in this grand city. Just for some info, we moved here in Dec. 2001. We had been here once before for less than a week at that time, while also traveling to the Czech Republic, Poland, Vienna, and Berlin. We left CA in August of 2001 with the intention of traveling for a year or so, then settling down on the Northeast coast in the Boston area. That was the hope at the time. Now let me preface all of the rest of this with the fact that Hungary will be joining the EU in May of 2004. All rules and laws will be different by then, but until then and most likely after that they will continue to change daily. When we arrived and still after the EU, U.S. citizens can stay for up to 90 days without a Visa. E.U. regulations are such now that U.S. citizens can only stay in the E.U. as an entity for 90 days every six months. That means after 90 days in any E.U. country/countries, we must leave for 6 months before re-entering. They are beefing up their inter-country passport control computers systems to make this much more of a hassle than it has in the past, Hungary included. When we came, we just crossed a border to have our passport stamped. This was not a problem at the time as we had U.S. friends living in Slovakia and Croatia, so we could take mini-vacations. Investigating things with other Americans and a lawyer, we were told that if we started a corporation here, we could be managing directors and not need Visas to stay. We found an attorney and did do this. The cost was $300.00 (at the exchange rate then, which was 280 Huf to the $). The day we had our last Notary stamp put on the papers, the attorney received a call from his office. His researcher told him that a law had just passed stating that we as corporation owners would still need Visas for staying in Hungary. Going from inflated to deflated in minutes, we then checked out that process, something the attorney said he did not do. We found an agency called Business Umbrella (since has gone out of business). They for a hefty fee, arranged Work Permits, which was necessary first and then our temporary Visas. At the time, they were the best deal cost wise around. We were constantly running around getting paperwork for them to submit our papers. The clincher was that the new law made it impossible to get your Visa without returning to the States. This was a cost that we did not want to deal with, but there was no choice. Up to January 1, 2002, you could go to any other country, go to the Hungarian Embassy and have your Visa issued. This right was taken away from Hungarian Ambassadors with a change in government. The law is now that you must apply in your country of citizenship for part of the process. Ron was newly retired in the States, giving us the time to travel, so he had to get a work permit to get a Visa. To get a work permit, you have to be accepted for employment from a Hungarian company. He found a language school to hire him as did I, but we both shortly thereafter, found university teaching positions. We flew back to NYC to the Hungarian consulate and submitted our applications. They were less than helpful and did not know the rules and laws that we were assured of from the agencies here. As public employees of universities, we did not have to pay the $50.00 fee for applying. We left with such bad feelings, that I was sure we would be denied and I was sick about it for weeks. Finally, they sent a letter to our NJ address that our Visa was ready. We had to UPS our passports to our friends in NJ who had to send them with a certified check to the consulate as if it were us doing it. The check was to cover certified mail to send our passports back to NJ. We were then in Hungary illegally during this time and without passports. Our friend then had to Fed Ex our passports back to us here. Unfortunately, the Visa was for less than a year due to some crazy system of how they calculate. Business Umbrella had since gone under during this time, but we followed our worker to the Ex-Pat Relocation Center (www.erc.hu) to finish the job. These darlings charged us $75.00 each just to register us with the local police, which is a legal requirement. If we had realized this ahead of time, we could have paid a Hungarian $20.00 to do it for both of us, but we were dumb in the ways of the land. We got along fine until this year when we had to renew it. ERC is just about the only game in town and the small others charged just about the same fees, so we bit the bullet and continued with them since they had all of our files anyway. We just got our bill and it was $1,700.00 for both of us. That was about 700. more than anticipated, but too late now. During the first year, we needed a physical for the Work Permit. Very simple, in and out. For the Visa renewal, we had to have a chest X-Ray for TB, HIV test, stool sample, Salmonella test, full physical exams. This was not covered by my Hungarian health insurance or Ron's stateside insurance. The jury is still out on how things will go next year when they join the EU. Although our Visa was renewed in June, ours expires the beginning of May due to the EU. No one seems to know yet if this will be more complicated or less. We do not know of any ex-pats who are living here without working for that almighty Work Permit, which is needed for the Visa. That is not true, there are some, but they are of Hungarian origin- children of Hungarian emigrants and the rules are different since they qualify for a Hungarian passport. Yesterday, I read in the Budapest Sun (www.budapestsun.com) that the law currently is that if you leave the country for 90 days, your Visa becomes invalid and then you must start the whole process again. The exception is if you have to travel for business and can prove that you needed to be out of the country for legitimate business reasons. This still has to be approved by the Ministry of Immigration. Now on to your specific questions: Are there any social groups for retirees? Although we have not looked, we do monitor the social events in the Budapest Sun weekly. There have not been any listed. I doubt that there would be a sufficient number of ex-pat retirees to make up a group. Being a gay couple, unless you speak Hungarian fluently, your gay options will be limited also. We do not have a gay network other than three friends who speak English. We are isolated from much/most of their social functions since we cannot communicate with the crowd and it is a burden on them to continually translate when they want to socialize. The gay scene is almost exclusively Hungarian speaking. There is one bar owned by an American (U.S.), but he speaks Hungarian. It is a drag bar, not exclusively gay, and definitely not our cup of tea. We rarely go to the bars. We did have an older friend who had been here for 4 years, he worked for the U.S. Embassy. He went to the bars all of the time and never had a good thing to say about them. He continued out of loneliness, but claimed that he never met one person there. We have built a community of friends, but mostly non-gays, non-Hungarian, or U.S. people here on Fulbright Scholarships, but they are all short-termers. Hungarians are very family oriented. It is difficult to get to know them well since they spend all of their free time with family. Even the gays are similar. Many gay men do not leave home until their late 20’s to early 30’s since they cannot afford to live on their own. Sharing an apt. or flat is not as common as in the States. We are interested in information about medical plans available in Budapest. The American Clinic offers a medical plan that costs currently 60,000 HUF a year (current exchange is 230 HUF to the $). This covers doctor visits, labs, and I think x-rays, but not for routine physicals. It does not include hospitalization. I know that you could buy Hungarian health insurance through the State, but I do not know the cost currently. It was around $150.00 a month. Doctors and nurse here are highly underpaid and you do not want to be hospitalized here unless you have someone to give “tips” to the doctors, nurses, aides, P/T, etc. If you don’t, you will sit in the bed and rot. I have heard this from a number of my students as well as Hungarian friends who have had experience. We have not, but we don’t discount the information. I have an Israeli friend who has insurance from London and pays 172 euros a month for the whole package. I am not sure what her coverage is, but do know that it covers hospitals. I think she has to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed with all services. Suggestions on good areas in which to rent with various services available, i.e., shopping, food, restaurants, etc. which one could walk to and from? If you like the Buda side, you are asking the wrong people. We are down to earth people and our experience is that the Buda side attracts mainly for corporate employees, embassy folks, and others with money to burn. The rents and cost of buying on that side are highly inflated and they get is since most ex-pats are being cared for by their companies and not paying out of pocket. If you are interested in the Pest side, we can discuss this further. As far as services go, we have 4 grocery stores within 2-3 blocks, a dozen restaurants, a post office, a department store, camera shops, bakeries, and an Indian clothing/food store. Within our one block, there are 3 convenience grocery stores, an Internet place, a dog groomer, a Spanish, Hungarian, and a Chinese restaurant., plus other assorted little shops. Businesses here come one day and are gone the next. The economy is not that stable for the Hungarians with the average salary about $400. U.S. a month. Within our block they are building a new apt. complex. www.center-homes.hu They are supposed to be finished in 2005. It is in Hungarian, but on the left, click on Akacfa and you will see the proposed project. We have a flat that is 114 square meters and was unoccupied for six months. Hungarians do not rent more than 70 sq. m. due to cost. If you are thinking of renting part of the year, you will need to think in terms of can you afford to have it vacant when you are not here. For foreigners to buy, at the moment, you have to have a corporation and the corporation has to do the purchase. This still has to have approval from some ministry or the other. We are buying our flat, but do not intend to rent it out for some time. There are no mortgages for foreigners, so if you buy, you have to do so outright. When they find out you are from the U.S., the price inflates, so it is best to have a Hungarian do the negotiating for you for renting or for buying. What would the average or range be for monthly living expenses in Budapest assuming we owned our own flat/condo? ADSL, satellite TV, cellphones service, gas, water, electricity, and other basic expenses. ADSL, IDSN, or Cable Internet connections are not available in all areas at this time. I have ADSL, but the only provider for this area was the phone company. I would have preferred Cable through the cable company since it would be cheaper. I pay about $50.00 a month depending on exchange rates, but the “business” pays it so it is a write off on Hungarian taxes. Mobile phone (cell phones is so American ; ) ) run us about $25.00 a month with a regular contract. To get a regular contract, you need a Visa or a corporation. The other alternative is a pay-as-you-go mobile. You buy the phone (you need a Hungarian to actually purchase it) and then you buy cards that give you talk time. It is now possible to do this through ATM machines. Gas has gone up twice in the last six months. It now runs us about $25.00 a month in the summer and more in the winter. We have radiators that are gas heated. Electric is about $30.00 a month. In our building, water is not metered, so we do not have a separate water bill. Every flat, whether you rent or own pays a “homeowners” fee to the building. In our building this covers water and building maintenance for the elevator, cleaning the halls, etc. We pay 10,000 HUF a month, but we understand that currently, it is 25,000 since they needed to do some work on the roof. In order to have a satellite dish, you have to have permission from your fellow building dwellers. No one in our building has one and we survive with BBC and CNN International and a few hours of Animal Planet in English. TCM is on at 9:00 pm every night in English. This is different depending on neighborhoods and cable companies. The company is pre-determined by the neighborhood. Our cable bill for our basic services runs about $9.00 a month. Phone bill is about $20.00 a month. You are charged the minute that you place a call and they answer, even for wrong numbers. There are no packages like the States. Most people hardly ever use their home phone and use mobiles instead. It is cheaper. Also, most people use SMS messaging on their phones since it is cheaper than a call on the mobile. Oh, I forgot the HYPERMARKETS. These are Au Chan, Tesco, and Cora. All of them need a car to get to, so we don’t get there often without a car. They are similar to Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. with the exception that they make the largest of these look like small potatoes. I have never seen such large stores in my life. The prices are supposedly cheaper, but you still need to comparatively shop around. Food prices have escalated in the time we have been here. It was normal to spend $10.00 for about 3 days worth of groceries. Now, $10.00 will cover maybe two days. After the E.U. I have my fears that prices will soar. Projections are that property values will too! This should give you some food for thought, but I am more than happy to continue a dialogue with you. One more thing…Ron’s monthly retirement income is more than most Hungarians earn in six months, but that was not considered when he applied for the Visa. I know in some countries if you can show self-sufficient income, it is easier. Here is was not. What happens next year is anyone’s guess. Regards, Ryan

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Frequently Asked Questions about our Move

We are asked questions about our move all of the time. We are happy to assist others. I am glad that Jean had the forethought to refer you to us. We will be more than willing to give you our take on things here in this grand city. Just for some info, we moved here in Dec. 2001. We had been here once before for less than a week at that time, while also traveling to the Czech Republic, Poland, Vienna, and Berlin. We left CA in August of 2001 with the intention of traveling for a year or so, then settling down on the Northeast coast in the Boston area. That was the hope at the time. Now let me preface all of the rest of this with the fact that Hungary will be joining the EU in May of 2004. All rules and laws will be different by then, but until then and most likely after that they will continue to change daily. When we arrived and still after the EU, U.S. citizens can stay for up to 90 days without a Visa. E.U. regulations are such now that U.S. citizens can only stay in the E.U. as an entity for 90 days every six months. That means after 90 days in any E.U. country/countries, we must leave for 6 months before re-entering. They are beefing up their inter-country passport control computers systems to make this much more of a hassle than it has in the past, Hungary included. When we came, we just crossed a border to have our passport stamped. This was not a problem at the time as we had U.S. friends living in Slovakia and Croatia, so we could take mini-vacations. Investigating things with other Americans and a lawyer, we were told that if we started a corporation here, we could be managing directors and not need Visas to stay. We found an attorney and did do this. The cost was $300.00 (at the exchange rate then, which was 280 Huf to the $). The day we had our last Notary stamp put on the papers, the attorney received a call from his office. His researcher told him that a law had just passed stating that we as corporation owners would still need Visas for staying in Hungary. Going from inflated to deflated in minutes, we then checked out that process, something the attorney said he did not do. We found an agency called Business Umbrella (since has gone out of business). They for a hefty fee, arranged Work Permits, which was necessary first and then our temporary Visas. At the time, they were the best deal cost wise around. We were constantly running around getting paperwork for them to submit our papers. The clincher was that the new law made it impossible to get your Visa without returning to the States. This was a cost that we did not want to deal with, but there was no choice. Up to January 1, 2002, you could go to any other country, go to the Hungarian Embassy and have your Visa issued. This right was taken away from Hungarian Ambassadors with a change in government. The law is now that you must apply in your country of citizenship for part of the process. Ron was newly retired in the States, giving us the time to travel, so he had to get a work permit to get a Visa. To get a work permit, you have to be accepted for employment from a Hungarian company. He found a language school to hire him as did I, but we both shortly thereafter, found university teaching positions. We flew back to NYC to the Hungarian consulate and submitted our applications. They were less than helpful and did not know the rules and laws that we were assured of from the agencies here. As public employees of universities, we did not have to pay the $50.00 fee for applying. We left with such bad feelings, that I was sure we would be denied and I was sick about it for weeks. Finally, they sent a letter to our NJ address that our Visa was ready. We had to UPS our passports to our friends in NJ who had to send them with a certified check to the consulate as if it were us doing it. The check was to cover certified mail to send our passports back to NJ. We were then in Hungary illegally during this time and without passports. Our friend then had to Fed Ex our passports back to us here. Unfortunately, the Visa was for less than a year due to some crazy system of how they calculate. Business Umbrella had since gone under during this time, but we followed our worker to the Ex-Pat Relocation Center (www.erc.hu) to finish the job. These darlings charged us $75.00 each just to register us with the local police, which is a legal requirement. If we had realized this ahead of time, we could have paid a Hungarian $20.00 to do it for both of us, but we were dumb in the ways of the land. We got along fine until this year when we had to renew it. ERC is just about the only game in town and the small others charged just about the same fees, so we bit the bullet and continued with them since they had all of our files anyway. We just got our bill and it was $1,700.00 for both of us. That was about 700. more than anticipated, but too late now. During the first year, we needed a physical for the Work Permit. Very simple, in and out. For the Visa renewal, we had to have a chest X-Ray for TB, HIV test, stool sample, Salmonella test, full physical exams. This was not covered by my Hungarian health insurance or Ron's stateside insurance. The jury is still out on how things will go next year when they join the EU. Although our Visa was renewed in June, ours expires the beginning of May due to the EU. No one seems to know yet if this will be more complicated or less. We do not know of any ex-pats who are living here without working for that almighty Work Permit, which is needed for the Visa. That is not true, there are some, but they are of Hungarian origin- children of Hungarian emigrants and the rules are different since they qualify for a Hungarian passport. Yesterday, I read in the Budapest Sun (www.budapestsun.com) that the law currently is that if you leave the country for 90 days, your Visa becomes invalid and then you must start the whole process again. The exception is if you have to travel for business and can prove that you needed to be out of the country for legitimate business reasons. This still has to be approved by the Ministry of Immigration. Now on to your specific questions: Are there any social groups for retirees? Although we have not looked, we do monitor the social events in the Budapest Sun weekly. There have not been any listed. I doubt that there would be a sufficient number of ex-pat retirees to make up a group. Being a gay couple, unless you speak Hungarian fluently, your gay options will be limited also. We do not have a gay network other than three friends who speak English. We are isolated from much/most of their social functions since we cannot communicate with the crowd and it is a burden on them to continually translate when they want to socialize. The gay scene is almost exclusively Hungarian speaking. There is one bar owned by an American (U.S.), but he speaks Hungarian. It is a drag bar, not exclusively gay, and definitely not our cup of tea. We rarely go to the bars. We did have an older friend who had been here for 4 years, he worked for the U.S. Embassy. He went to the bars all of the time and never had a good thing to say about them. He continued out of loneliness, but claimed that he never met one person there. We have built a community of friends, but mostly non-gays, non-Hungarian, or U.S. people here on Fulbright Scholarships, but they are all short-termers. Hungarians are very family oriented. It is difficult to get to know them well since they spend all of their free time with family. Even the gays are similar. Many gay men do not leave home until their late 20’s to early 30’s since they cannot afford to live on their own. Sharing an apt. or flat is not as common as in the States. We are interested in information about medical plans available in Budapest. The American Clinic offers a medical plan that costs currently 60,000 HUF a year (current exchange is 230 HUF to the $). This covers doctor visits, labs, and I think x-rays, but not for routine physicals. It does not include hospitalization. I know that you could buy Hungarian health insurance through the State, but I do not know the cost currently. It was around $150.00 a month. Doctors and nurse here are highly underpaid and you do not want to be hospitalized here unless you have someone to give “tips” to the doctors, nurses, aides, P/T, etc. If you don’t, you will sit in the bed and rot. I have heard this from a number of my students as well as Hungarian friends who have had experience. We have not, but we don’t discount the information. I have an Israeli friend who has insurance from London and pays 172 euros a month for the whole package. I am not sure what her coverage is, but do know that it covers hospitals. I think she has to pay out of pocket and get reimbursed with all services. Suggestions on good areas in which to rent with various services available, i.e., shopping, food, restaurants, etc. which one could walk to and from? If you like the Buda side, you are asking the wrong people. We are down to earth people and our experience is that the Buda side attracts mainly for corporate employees, embassy folks, and others with money to burn. The rents and cost of buying on that side are highly inflated and they get is since most ex-pats are being cared for by their companies and not paying out of pocket. If you are interested in the Pest side, we can discuss this further. As far as services go, we have 4 grocery stores within 2-3 blocks, a dozen restaurants, a post office, a department store, camera shops, bakeries, and an Indian clothing/food store. Within our one block, there are 3 convenience grocery stores, an Internet place, a dog groomer, a Spanish, Hungarian, and a Chinese restaurant., plus other assorted little shops. Businesses here come one day and are gone the next. The economy is not that stable for the Hungarians with the average salary about $400. U.S. a month. Within our block they are building a new apt. complex. www.center-homes.hu They are supposed to be finished in 2005. It is in Hungarian, but on the left, click on Akacfa and you will see the proposed project. We have a flat that is 114 square meters and was unoccupied for six months. Hungarians do not rent more than 70 sq. m. due to cost. If you are thinking of renting part of the year, you will need to think in terms of can you afford to have it vacant when you are not here. For foreigners to buy, at the moment, you have to have a corporation and the corporation has to do the purchase. This still has to have approval from some ministry or the other. We are buying our flat, but do not intend to rent it out for some time. There are no mortgages for foreigners, so if you buy, you have to do so outright. When they find out you are from the U.S., the price inflates, so it is best to have a Hungarian do the negotiating for you for renting or for buying. What would the average or range be for monthly living expenses in Budapest assuming we owned our own flat/condo? ADSL, satellite TV, cellphones service, gas, water, electricity, and other basic expenses. ADSL, IDSN, or Cable Internet connections are not available in all areas at this time. I have ADSL, but the only provider for this area was the phone company. I would have preferred Cable through the cable company since it would be cheaper. I pay about $50.00 a month depending on exchange rates, but the “business” pays it so it is a write off on Hungarian taxes. Mobile phone (cell phones is so American ; ) ) run us about $25.00 a month with a regular contract. To get a regular contract, you need a Visa or a corporation. The other alternative is a pay-as-you-go mobile. You buy the phone (you need a Hungarian to actually purchase it) and then you buy cards that give you talk time. It is now possible to do this through ATM machines. Gas has gone up twice in the last six months. It now runs us about $25.00 a month in the summer and more in the winter. We have radiators that are gas heated. Electric is about $30.00 a month. In our building, water is not metered, so we do not have a separate water bill. Every flat, whether you rent or own pays a “homeowners” fee to the building. In our building this covers water and building maintenance for the elevator, cleaning the halls, etc. We pay 10,000 HUF a month, but we understand that currently, it is 25,000 since they needed to do some work on the roof. In order to have a satellite dish, you have to have permission from your fellow building dwellers. No one in our building has one and we survive with BBC and CNN International and a few hours of Animal Planet in English. TCM is on at 9:00 pm every night in English. This is different depending on neighborhoods and cable companies. The company is pre-determined by the neighborhood. Our cable bill for our basic services runs about $9.00 a month. Phone bill is about $20.00 a month. You are charged the minute that you place a call and they answer, even for wrong numbers. There are no packages like the States. Most people hardly ever use their home phone and use mobiles instead. It is cheaper. Also, most people use SMS messaging on their phones since it is cheaper than a call on the mobile. Oh, I forgot the HYPERMARKETS. These are Au Chan, Tesco, and Cora. All of them need a car to get to, so we don’t get there often without a car. They are similar to Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. with the exception that they make the largest of these look like small potatoes. I have never seen such large stores in my life. The prices are supposedly cheaper, but you still need to comparatively shop around. Food prices have escalated in the time we have been here. It was normal to spend $10.00 for about 3 days worth of groceries. Now, $10.00 will cover maybe two days. After the E.U. I have my fears that prices will soar. Projections are that property values will too! This should give you some food for thought, but I am more than happy to continue a dialogue with you. One more thing…Ron’s monthly retirement income is more than most Hungarians earn in six months, but that was not considered when he applied for the Visa. I know in some countries if you can show self-sufficient income, it is easier. Here is was not. What happens next year is anyone’s guess. Regards, Ryan

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Berlin

We took off for a quick trip to Berlin due to the budget airlines cheap, cheap offers. We found a hotel through an Italian website. It was nicely located with restaurants and the metro just a couple of blocks away, but the beds were unreal with a hollow in the middle. They must have know something was wrong, they added another bed during the time we were out on the first day. The other issue was that everytime we turned on the water in the room, the pipes SCREAMED and not from the water running, but from the water draining. It did not matter if it were hot, cold, or coffee being poured down, there was a groan and howl like someone was being killed. The breakfast was good and the room large, but the rest of the guests kept to themselves. No one spoke to anyone outside of their own group. Our smiles did not get us anywhere. Just some highlights, we bought the Berlin card, which includes transportation and admission to some attractions. Right after we bought it we booked the four hour walking tour for the next day, then went to the zoo. There was no charge for the zoo that day since it was an anniversary. The admission on our card was useless. The walking tour was great and the guide was very knowledgeable, but four hours is four hours. He mentioned a great deli like in the States if anyone needed a deli fix. We knew that was where we were going to head when we broke for lunch. As we walked, he kept talking up this deli. I had corned beef on rye with mustard, a side of cole slaw, and a large dill pickle already ordered in my head. My mental images were drooling, it had been so long since I had this. When we did break from lunch, 3 and one half hours into the four hour tour, Ron and I practically ran in the direction of the restaurant. As we entered, something struck us as different. Perhaps it was the menu? There was nothing deli-ish on it. No corned beef, no roast beef, no pickles. We ordered some sandwiches, but nothing like we had dreamt about. When we sat down, I happened to look at the small print on the napkin. This was a chain franchise operation out of Austin, Texas. What does Austin know for Jewish delis? We never continued with the last half hour of the tour. The highlight was the Jewish Museum. It was/is magnificent. We did not get there until late, but we stayed until closing. This is a must do again when we return. We also want to see the Holocaust Memorial. It was just being put up. During the day and at night, there was a festival in the main area by Zoogarten station. People were performing on high wires. There were beer and food booths around. We sat with a bunch of young tough guys who wanted to know all about California. They were fun.

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Stockholm

Okay, this will most likely be short since September is creeping up and I need to start preparing for my courses. I have been very lazy this summer. Living in Budapest has quickly become a perk for budget travelers. We not have 7 budget airlines that fly out of here. Taking advantage of this, I booked my partner and I on Snowflake Airlines to Stockholm. Before you snicker, this is the low cost off-shoot of the better known SAS Airlines. We were able to get tickets for 45 Euros each way, per person. When taxes were added, it was a total of 305 Euros round trip for two. Still not a bad deal. Since we had heard and read how expensive Stockholm is, we decided to limit our stay to four nights. My thinking was that at this airfare, this was just enough time to sample and we could always return again. We arrived in Stockholm and found we had a few choices to get to the city center. We could take the Express train for 180 SEK one way and it would take 20 minutes. There was an airport bus that was 150 SEK and would take 40 minutes and of course there were taxis which would have been prohibitive for budget travelers. We chose the Express train and were pleasantly surprised that there was a "Summer Special" until August 30th. Two tickets were 200 SEK. The express train is a modern, sleek, clean and fast subway type train. The end point is the Central Train Station in Stockholm. From there, we took a subway (one one-way ticket was about $7.00) to our hotel, which was a boat. From the subway, we had to walk three blocks down a hill to the water and our boat hotel was easy to find. There are many boat hotels there. We stayed at the Rygerfjord www.rygerfjord.se. This is listed as a hostel/hotel and they actually have two boats next to each other. I strongly recommend a regular room if you are claustrophobic. The 'hostel' rooms were without windows and looked smaller than some submarines that I have been in. Our room had a porthole, but it was small. There was a double bed and a second bed that came down from the wall. The bathroom was inclusive. The shower was right across from the toilet, so everything was cleaned when we showered. We had to negotiate our moves in the room with each other due to such a small space. Fortunately, we each had only a carry-on suitcase or we would have needed another room. The room was about $50.00 a night and well worth it for the comfortable bed and the view of the city hall from our porthole. Breakfast in the mornings were an additional $8.00. We paid for the first morning and decided to see what it was like before paying for the remaining mornings. As it turned out, the breakfast was a major bargain. There was a large buffet with six different breads and toppings, four different cheeses, five meats, three kinds of fish, juices, coffee, tea, and other things that I am not remembering. It was all you could eat and the dining room was very pleasant. They also have many tables with umbrellas outside and you are invited to sit there and eat if you wish. Our first morning, walking away from the subway stop we arrived at, about three long blocks and a staircase away, there is another subway station. We went here to purchase our Stockholm Cards. http://www.stockholmtown.com/templates/TwoColumnSPListing___6456__EN.aspx Usually, I am not a fan of city cards since my experience is that they are not worth the value unless you rush through places. Due to the free transportation included on all buses, trams, subways, and commuter train, it was a no brainer. We chose the 72 hour card for SEK 540. Not only is the transportation free, but it includes free parking (we did not need this), free entrance to more museums than one would have time to see in a two week vacation, and TWO boat rides. On their website, they list the normal price of admissions so you can make an educated decision on the cost effectiveness. Just for the free transportation, it is well worth the price. You receive a very nice book with all of the attractions offered and it is in Swedish, German, and English. I did not realize that Stockholm was a city of 14 islands with 51 bridges connecting them. As they say, there are only three islands that are usually of interest to tourists. I must admit that I am not a seafaring person. I am not all that enthralled with ships and boats and their riggings, etc. I wanted to see the city and taste the culture, but I did not expect much thinking it would all be focused on boats and shipping history. This is where the Stockholm Card was an added bonus. Since I did not have to pay for admissions, I was willing to give museums a try that I would not have ordinarily gone to. One example of this is the Vasa Museum. This is a ship that set sail in 1628 and sunk before leaving the harbor. It was a masterpiece of workmanship for its time, but it stayed under water for 333 years before it was rescued and restored. After watching the movie in English, I was enthralled and we spent two hours in the museum. On the same 'campus' there is the National Museum, a real treasure, and a museum dedicated to Swedish Children's Literature. Being an educator, I had to see all three. It was wonderful. We took both boat rides. One was impressive, the other was just nice to be on the water and see the views. We went to all of the Royal buildings, many other museums, and sights. We estimated that on admissions alone, we saved over $150.00 each with the card. With the cost of transportation, it was a huge savings. We were told that 95% of the Swedish people speak English as well as another foreign language. They could not have been kinder. People would offer assistance when they saw us looking at our map. The museums are open long enough hours that you do not have to rush through to get to more than two in a day. We took our time and enjoyed what we saw. Food prices were comparable to San Francisco. Once we got over the sticker shock coming from Hungary, we felt more comfortable with the cost of things. It was shockingly hot there, some days reaching into the 90's F. Many told us this was their hottest summer in memory. Would I return? No doubt about it and with Snowflake Airlines here, even a short get-away is worthwhile. If you are traveling there from the US, you need at least a full week to get a good taste of the city. It is incredibly beautiful. I will send a link to my online photo album at Ofoto.com and those whose want to may see them there.

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