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Practical information

VISA/RESIDENCE PERMIT

Dear Students!

Before starting your studies at the university, you must ensure your legal status in Hungary. The process varies depending on your country of origin. You will find the necessary documents and some useful information about residence permits on the second page of the registration sheet. It is important to note that minors are not allowed to apply, only an authorised adult representative.

If you are a citizen of an EU/EEA member state (including EU countries, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, and Liechtenstein), you can travel to Hungary without a long-term study visa. However, you must obtain a registration card for the duration of your studies. For more details, visit: Registration certificate for EEA Nationals. 

If you are a citizen of a non-EEA (European Economic Area) country, you are required to obtain a residence permit and register your accommodation upon arrival in Hungary. You may also need a visa.  

It is crucial to thoroughly understand the process for obtaining a residence permit for study purposes (and a residence permit visa if necessary). Before submitting your application, carefully review the relevant sections on the official website of the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing. For those who will be applying for their residence permit in Budapest, the University staff will be happy to help you. If you have any questions about the procedure, please contact one of the following: 

Important information: Non-EEA citizens who need a visa must apply for a residence permit at a Hungarian embassy or consulate in their home country, along with the visa. Those who can travel to Hungary visa-free must apply for a residence permit online after arriving in Hungary. 

Upon your arrival in Budapest, you can arrange your registration card (for EEA citizens) or residence permit (for non-EEA citizens) online via the Enter Hungary website of the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (formerly the Immigration and Asylum Office). This website allows you to manage registration cards, initial residence permit applications, residence permit extensions, and accommodation reports. 

Please note that from January 1, 2023, all applications must be submitted online (or in the case of a D-visa, at a Hungarian embassy or consulate) and cannot be submitted in person at the office. Exceptions are made only in special cases or in situations of force majeure, supported by a request for equity.

Banking in Hungary

You may want or need to open a bank account in another EU country. If you study at HDU with a Hungarian governmental scholarship (e.g., Stipendium Hungaricum), you are required to open a Hungarian bank account where your scholarship will be transferred.

How to open a bank account?

The bank is free to choose whether or not to accept your application. That is a private business decision for the bank. Before opening a bank account, the bank needs to get to know its potential clients. This may require more due diligence in assessing bank account requests from non-residents. Some banks may therefore have a policy not to accept non-resident customers. To open a bank account, you must present your passport and another identification document (such as a driver’s license, tax card, etc.). If you are a non-EEA student, it is usually necessary to have a valid residence permit and address card to open a bank account, although some banks allow foreigners to open an account with just the presentation of a passport.

In Hungary banks are typically open on weekdays from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Banks are not open on Saturdays except for some branches in shopping centres.

ATMS-s (Automatic teller machines)

ATMs can be found anywhere in Hungary and Budapest. Hungarian banks charge a commission for using ATMs. Note that higher service charges might apply for using an ATM that is not operated by the bank that issued your bank card. You don’t have to worry about exchanging Hungarian Forint before your arrival and carrying cash with you. ATMs are widely available in major cities, and they accept Visa and MasterCard.

Banks in Hungary

In the list below you can find several banks which offer bank services in Hungary.

TAX card

IF YOU RECEIVE A SCHOLARSHIP FROM HUNGARIAN DANCE UNIVERSITY, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO APPLY FOR A TAX CARD AFTER YOUR ARRIVAL IN HUNGARY.

Keep in mind that you will not receive your scholarship until your tax identification number is uploaded to the Neptun system.

HOW TO REQUEST A TAX CARD?
STEP 1

Fill in the form (‘T34) https://mte.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/DATASHEET-22T34-Hungarian-only.pdf online at home. Download the form in Hungarian and English. Please note, that only the Hungarian form can be officially filled. (Here you can download the information sheet on how to fill out the form.) https://mte.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/17T34_DATASHEET_FILLING_OUT_INSTRUCTIONS_2017.pdf

After you fill out the form, print it.

STEP 2

Please bring the completed ‘T34 form to the National Tax and Customs Administration (Nemzeti Adó- és Vámhivatal – NAV). NAV issues the Tax Identification Number and the Tax Card, you can visit their office in person. Here, you will receive your Tax Identification Number on the spot. Please note that the first application for a Tax Card is free of charge.

STEP 3

You will need to register your Tax Identification Number in the Neptun system or tell the number to your administrator at MTE. You will receive a Tax Card by post later.

NOTIFYING THE TAX AUTHORITY OF CHANGES

In the case of private individuals, the data recorded by the tax administration contains the ones displayed on the address cards issued to taxpayers by Document Offices. Taxpayers are obliged, to use form No. ‘T34, to make available the data displayed on their residence permit issued by the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing to the Hungarian tax administration.

Taxpayers may, in order to be able to liaise with the tax administration, provide the administration with a mailing address on the above-mentioned ‘T34 form. As private individual taxpayers not pursuing regular economic activities are not obliged to file a mailing address, no default penalty may be imposed upon them if they fail to notify the tax authority of any such change. In respect of any legal consequences related to the delivery or otherwise of official documents, in the absence of a known permanent address, the mailing address provided by the taxpayer shall always be used.

Please remember that notifying the tax administration of any change in your address is a common interest.

For more information on the administration process and the application form, please visit the official page of the National Tax and Customs Administration. à https://nav.gov.hu/en/main-tiles/how-to-apply-for-a-tax-card

Health insurance

When you arrive in Hungary, make sure that you have health insurance with you that you can use for health care services during your stay in Hungary.

Read carefully which health insurance (non-private or private) you can use for health services in Hungary.

If you are a non-EEA student (coming from outside of the European Economic Area),  you should consider which option suits your situation the best and what are you entitled to have.

If you are an EEA student, it is advisable to apply for a European Health Insurance Card from your health insurance institution in your homeland before you leave home.

Please keep in mind that if you are a Stipendium Hungaricum holder, you are eligible for both a “TAJ card” (non-private health insurance) and supplementary (private) health insurance. After enrollment please start arranging them both!

Students with the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship can get a Hungarian social security number and card (TAJ card)

TAJ CARD

With the “TAJ card” (the card for Hungary’s national health insurance scheme), scholarship holders are publicly ensured and they are able to access public healthcare for free at the healthcare institutions in their district, not just emergency or urgent care.

Those who are entitled to have the TAJ card who have
  • a foreign citizenship,
  • who have no permanent accommodation in Hungary BUT
  • have a temporary Hungarian accommodation
  • who have Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship,

PLEASE NOTE!

Before you ask for treatment, please always ask if you can use your TAJ card for the service. If you need help and would like to visit the doctor, please contact your local, Hungarian-speaking mentor who can help you with finding a doctor.

In case of emergency, do not hesitate to visit a medical emergency service (“ügyelet”). In urgent cases, you will receive the medical treatment. Until you receive your TAJ card, in case of emergency, please always take with you your “Letter of Award” (scholarship holders), your “certificate of student status” and your passport and residence permit with the accommodation reporting form

More about health care in Hungary:

Official website “Study in Hungary”

Official website of the National Health Insurance Fund

Required documents for TAJ card (Stipendium Hungaricum)

TAJ-card request sheet – filled and signed

Authorization document – filled and signed

Both sides of your Letter of Award

issued by the Tempus Public Foundation (in case of Stipendium Hungaricum and Hungarian Diaspora Scholarship Programme),

Passport pages that include your personal data and the date of expiry of the document

Both sides of your valid residence permit – It has to contain MTE as the host institution (back side).

Both sides of your Accommodation reporting form

The document has to be validated by the Regional Directorate of the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing

Additional documents required for students from Albania, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia or Turkey :

E-104 form issued, filled and stamped by the health insurance authority of your home country, issued less than 1 month ago. If you do not have this document, you have to fill and upload the Request sheet for E-104

Declaration filled and signed

Additional document required for students from Ukraine:

Declaration filled and signed

IMPORTANT!

When you fill out the forms,

  • print them out first,
  • get a blue pen
  • fill in all the lines by hand,
  • use only CAPITAL LETTERS

This is the only official way, otherwise, your application will not be valid, and you have to restart the whole process from the beginning.

from citizens of neighbour countries: Form E 104 (not older than a month), ID or passport) (both the one from the neighbour country and the Hungarian one), Hungarian address card

from EEA nationals: Form E 104 (not older than a month)+Registration ceritificate (“regisztrációs igazolás”)+Official address card (“lakcímet igazoló hatósági igazolvány”)

According to the Hungarian Law (Tbj. 39.§ (2)), EEA nationals with permanent Hungarian accommodation (at least existing fo a year) are requested to pay a flat-rate contribution. The flat-rate contribution amounts to 8,400 HUF/month (280 HUF/day)and entitles to the full range of health care services. The payment of this flat-rate contribution is bound to Hungarian residence of at least one year preceding the date of registration. E104 documents can be found here.

IMPORTANT! If you do not apply for a TAJ card through the Quaestura Office, but directly at NEAK Customer Service, please bring the document containing your completed TAJ number and the documents required for the application to the Quaestura Office so that we can record all necessary data in the Neptun system! Please note that the TAJ number will remain invalid until the required data are recorded and the TAJ card will not be issued!

What should I do if my TAJ number is invalid?

In this case, please submit a case in the Other category. Please include these information: when and where you got the information that the number is invalid.

What should I do if my TAJ card expired?

In this case, you have to submit a case and request a new card, in this case category.

Please write in the comment section that you already have a TAJ number. You will have to upload all the listed documents in your case.

What should I do if I lost my TAJ card, or it is damaged?

In this case, go to the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary and request a new card in person. The process might have a service fee.

 

STUDENTS WITHOUT A HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENTAL SCHOLARSHIP
EEA AND SWISS CITIZEN STUDENTS:

Receive medically necessary treatment with their European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) during their temporary stay in Hungary if they are insured in their homeland.

Need to apply for the EHIC from their health insurance institution in their homeland.

Need to pay a flat-rate contibution if they are not insured in their homeland and they intend to be subject to the full range of health care services.

STUDENTS WITH SERBIAN, MACEDONIAN, KOSOVAN, RUSSIAN, AND UKRAINIAN NATIONALITY:

Are entitled to emergency health care services during their temporary stay in Hungary.

STUDENTS FROM OTHER COUNTRIES:

Are entitled to the benefits in kind if they conclude an agreement with the health insurance body of the county government office.

The charge amounts to 30% of the minimum wage, which shall be paid monthly in advance until the twelfth day of the subject month.

Except for emergency health care, students, who concluded an agreement, are entitled to health care services from the first day of the sixth month following the month of conclusion of the agreement if they pay the total amount of charges for the first six months simultaneously with the conclusion of the agreement.

MORE INFORMATION:

Please read carefully the full detailed description of the National Health Insurance Fund (in Hungarian: Nemzeti Egészségbiztosítási Alapkezelő):

Health insurance of university students in Hungary (in English) https://mte.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Taj-igenyles.docx

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