Family Reunification Steps?

Hi Respected Hungarian Community of Expats,

I have been living in Hungary for almost two years. I work here -- on work permit. I recently got married with my fiance from my home country. Now, I want to bring her here. I researched and I only found that I need to submit the Single Permit for her along with Appendix 2 for Family Reunification. But what other things do I need to send? where do I apply first? As in should I apply here at the Immigration Office and then send her documents for Embassy within my home country?
My actual question is, how to initiate the procedure. I've gotten all the required documents mentioned in the bmbah website. And a little bit of insight about the high level process would be of great help.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Would be helpful to see where you are actually from, what job do you have, what income (big income would certaintly help). In general I have to say the post is very generic (could apply to most countries within the EU). I hope you have a good job (if you have no reason to panic (your employer should help you, not a forum)).
Again very unclear and I have to say I am a bit sceptical.

I come from Pakistan.
I am a Software Engineer working for a multinational firm here for an indefinite period (Residence Permit renewed at every two years)
Income is good enough like in the bracket of 600-700.
The employer is not helping because they say that when I was single at the time of accepting their offer and my paperwork for Hungary, thereby, I have to handle this as my own personal problem.

That is a shame, but if you are good of course they want to keep you, easy I would say. My employer has helped me (and other colleagues) to move from Netherlands, to the UK, to Luxembourg (one can argue that was/is EU only) but some of the others were helped to move to Australia and HK as well.
No question about give your loyalty and they will help (if you are good).
I resigned myself and my employer helped setting up a company in Hungary and took care of some consultancy jobs.

Work hard/very hard for a time and they will arrange all (you are good (I assume) in mindset and delivery). Why to do things yourself if your employer has the means, if they can use the (your) time you spend on bureaucracy good for them (and you).

If they do not help, my conclusion is you are either not as good or your employer is not good.

In my life I have learned that being loyal and hard working with your employer pays off.

cdw057 wrote:

....
If they do not help, my conclusion is you are either not as good or your employer is not good.

In my life I have learned that being loyal and hard working with your employer pays off.


Just a thought...maybe OP is an agency worker effectively.   Temporary employment but no other services like spouses.

I worked for a Dutch multi-national and they couldn't do enough to help me at the time.  But it was a long time ago.  They might not be quite so friendly now.  I mean that it's changed a lot and YMMV.  Loyalty isn't now considered that vital in some countries like the  UK, USA etc. Moving is almost considered a necessary way to advance or being posted overseas anyway.

@fluffy2560, agency worker? You can degrade more if you'd like though. And, it's not temporary employment, :) I suppose you shouldn't think of others as yourself.

@cdw057: It's not in the company's policy. I thought it was easily understandable. The company doesn't have a policy to separately file for spouse papers. That's it. That's why I need to do it. Please don't school me on if the company should do it and if I should work hard, I am working good enough that I am still here. On top of that, if you know the process, please enlighten me and don't side track this post. It's UI is already quite ugly.

Thanks for your time.

Really a shame you spend time on bureaucracy, i worked 12-14 hours per day in the past. My employer spent his time in return. (Outrageous in my view if your international company does not help you out). But it is just me probably having strange expectations.
Your answers have been very clear and easy to understand, not understandable though.

But your choice, good luck, I am not your employer and will not spent time (many people are much more experienced and/or qualified than I am to give advice), I would say if your employer does not want to do it, just hire a lawyer (he really should be used to it and give assistance (and give some substance to any filing))

I am happy for you that you feel good about your job though. (I hope your employer does as well).

ShayanAhmad wrote:

@fluffy2560, agency worker? You can degrade more if you'd like though. And, it's not temporary employment, :) I suppose you shouldn't think of others as yourself.

@cdw057: It's not in the company's policy. I thought it was easily understandable. The company doesn't have a policy to separately file for spouse papers. That's it. That's why I need to do it. Please don't school me on if the company should do it and if I should work hard, I am working good enough that I am still here. On top of that, if you know the process, please enlighten me and don't side track this post. It's UI is already quite ugly.

Thanks for your time.


Why Hungary?

ShayanAhmad wrote:

@fluffy2560, agency worker? You can degrade more if you'd like though. And, it's not temporary employment, :) I suppose you shouldn't think of others as yourself.

@cdw057: It's not in the company's policy. I thought it was easily understandable. The company doesn't have a policy to separately file for spouse papers. That's it. That's why I need to do it. Please don't school me on if the company should do it and if I should work hard, I am working good enough that I am still here. On top of that, if you know the process, please enlighten me and don't side track this post. It's UI is already quite ugly.

Thanks for your time.


Aw come on, don't feel trolled.  You didn't tell us your total circumstances and we don't know what is going on with you or your employer.   There's also a different expectation especially in almost all the EU.

In European circles and companies we've always expected full assistance from the company including all family members to move countries. That's always been the case that happens.  In my own career, it's happened to me multiple times.  We usually refer to it as a package - it might include removals, housing, vehicles, settling in allowances, healthcare, children's schooling and exit strategy.   I would never say be sent to Papua New Guinea or even Saudi without having all of these items ticked.  In return for that, we might agree a 3 year contract.

There's nothing wrong with being a sponsored agency worker. It's de rigeur in many parts of the world.  It happens here too - people get recruited in Hungary en masse to go and do work in other places.  They even lay on charter planes to bring labour in from places like Romania etc.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Aw come on, don't feel trolled.  You didn't tell us your total circumstances and we don't know what is going on with you or your employer.   There's also a different expectation especially in almost all the EU.

In European circles and companies we've always expected full assistance from the company including all family members to move countries. That's always been the case that happens.  In my own career, it's happened to me multiple times.  We usually refer to it as a package - it might include removals, housing, vehicles, settling in allowances, healthcare, children's schooling and exit strategy.   I would never say be sent to Papua New Guinea or even Saudi without having all of these items ticked.  In return for that, we might agree a 3 year contract.

There's nothing wrong with being a sponsored agency worker. It's de rigeur in many parts of the world.  It happens here too - people get recruited in Hungary on masse to go and do work in other places.  They even lay on charter planes to bring labour in from places like Romania etc.


Must say, I agree 100% with what you wrote here, they are my experiences as well.  It all ended when they made me redundant 25 years later, but that was 18 months short of retirement, so I got my mortgage paid off and early retirement - win, win.

@SimCityAT: Because I work here. Where else would I bring my wife? :|
@cdw057: Bringing a lawyer is never a good idea especially against the entity on whose payroll I dwell.
@fluffy2560: Let me explain...

There is a time (t1) when I signed the contract with the company. I was then in my home country. I received my VISA papers, went to the embassy and I received my VISA. I came to Hungary. Spent 18 months here. And now I am getting married. Thus, would want to bring my wife here.

The company says the policy to support the spouse/children is ONLY when at `t1` I had a spouse (and/or children). If I didn't have a spouse at t1, the company mentions that they are not going to go through the extra mile to bring my wife. They just say, it's not in their policy to bring wife afterwards and that I would have to support on my own. But they would have totally supported at the time of my relocation to Hungary.

Thus, bringing a lawyer against this policy is totally bonkers and does not express wise decision making here.

Here is my situation with you guys so far: I am in an emergency ward with a chronic pain and you guys are questioning me why I got into this world in the first place.
It'd be a lot of time and energy savior if we cut to the chase and I get around with paper compilation and filing.

Two strokes: the company WILL NOT support it, and I want to know how should I proceed with it. Is it soo difficult to get answered for? :(

I hope I make sense now.

The suggestion of a lawyer is not against your company but to arrange for the papers you need. There are professionals out there and should should make use of them (and pay them of course). With a good paying job like yours it should not be too much of an issue to hire on. (Should not be too expensive I would think)
And yes for amateurs like me it is not too easy to answer how to deal with this situation and NO and I still do not understand why your employer does not help you situation at start of not my employer would also have helped me if I got married in between. The quickest is to ask for professionals (like lawyers) to help you.
Sorry for the emergency ward. I hope you will stay alive and healthy, emergency ward sounds serious. (Good to hear that Hungary can still provide properly in these Corona times).

@cdw057: Emergency ward was a metaphor.

Anyways. Do you guys have any good immigration lawyer?

Lawyer depends on budget of course, but helpers.hu have a phone number (and speak English) , also I would imagine that the Pakistan embassy can help out.

ShayanAhmad wrote:

@SimCityAT: Because I work here. Where else would I bring my wife? :|
@cdw057: Bringing a lawyer is never a good idea especially against the entity on whose payroll I dwell.
@fluffy2560: Let me explain...

There is a time (t1) when I signed the contract with the company. I was then in my home country. I received my VISA papers, went to the embassy and I received my VISA. I came to Hungary. Spent 18 months here. And now I am getting married. Thus, would want to bring my wife here.

The company says the policy to support the spouse/children is ONLY when at `t1` I had a spouse (and/or children). If I didn't have a spouse at t1, the company mentions that they are not going to go through the extra mile to bring my wife. They just say, it's not in their policy to bring wife afterwards and that I would have to support on my own. But they would have totally supported at the time of my relocation to Hungary.

Thus, bringing a lawyer against this policy is totally bonkers and does not express wise decision making here.

Here is my situation with you guys so far: I am in an emergency ward with a chronic pain and you guys are questioning me why I got into this world in the first place.
It'd be a lot of time and energy savior if we cut to the chase and I get around with paper compilation and filing.

Two strokes: the company WILL NOT support it, and I want to know how should I proceed with it. Is it soo difficult to get answered for? :(

I hope I make sense now.


Yes it does.  If only we'd known this at the beginning.....

Ok so I don't know about non-EU nationals bringing a spouse but  EU nationals are entitled to bring their non-EU spouse (i.e. married or civil partnership spouse) and family with them.  There's an EU directive on it and that's been discussed before. 

I don't know if this applies to work permit holders but you might find some examples of how that also applies via Mrs Google.

I doubt any of us here really can give you an answer.
Every case is different.
I thought family reunification was meant for people with Hungarian roots who wished to bring in a spouse or family member from another country.
Never knew it was also for people outside of HU citizenship who only had a work permit.
My husband is Hungarian , my son too, in fact they are both dual citizens of the US and HU.
We retired in HU about 12 years ago, I was still too young at the time to collect SS with my work history so my HU husband sponsored me as his dependent.
We owned property in HU, had n loans on it .
Had everything immigration wanted , health coverage, bank account, funds in the bank.
I was still given a notice to be deported because of one little paper mix up with the post being slow.
They even told me at the immigration office where marriages are registered that I was down in their books as the mother of a HU citizen.
Yes, sounds like a long hard day in store for you at the immigration office, actually a few trips over there are in order.
They do not  do anything fast.
You really do need to show savings in a bank here, saw a HU show where a HU women's husband was deported because they could show funds for his support.
There is a company in Hungary called, Hungarian Helpers. I looked at their site recently.
They can help in these matters and they have a price list on their web site.