Course to Hungary - we issue a Schengen visa on our own

Do Russians need a visa to Hungary in 2019? Alas, as in 2018, Russian citizens need a visa to visit Hungary. Even 25 years ago, this country was a member of the Warsaw Pact, was socialist and was friends with the USSR against the decaying capitalist West. Hungary today is a parliamentary republic that is a member of NATO and the European Union, and to visit it you need to apply for a Schengen visa. In this article I will tell you how to get a visa to Hungary, what documents are needed, where to apply and how to travel to this country inexpensively.

When I was little and the Soviet Union had just collapsed, I knew about the existence of several countries that were allies and younger brothers of the USSR. I knew about Bulgaria because my parents went there shortly before I was born. For them, this trip has become one of the happiest memories in a difficult life. I knew about Poland, because my mother went there in the early 90s to buy goods in order to sell them at local markets with a small markup. At that time, tens of thousands of residents of the new Russia became shuttles, who suddenly began to live in a country with an unstable economy and a terrible deficit. He also knew about Hungary, because in it Ikarus buses were produced.

In those years, these buses were perhaps the most common on the Soviet-Russian roads (in total, about 150 thousand Ikarus were delivered). Years passed, "Ikarus" from the largest bus building company in Europe turned into a modest company specializing in private orders. But enough lyrics! I go directly to the topic of the article.

How I managed to get together in Hungary, I have already briefly told. After buying ridiculously cheap air tickets, the question arose of obtaining a visa. As you know, documents for a visa can be submitted at the visa center or directly at the embassy / consulate of the country.

In the first case, a visa will cost a little more than if you do everything yourself, since visa centers charge a service fee. True, you can apply for a Hungarian visa on your own in three cities: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. The first time I applied for a Schengen visa to Hungary in 2014, but even now nothing has changed in this procedure.

Independently, a visa to Hungary for Russians in 2019 is issued in the same way, with the exception of one nuance, which I will discuss below.

We are planning a visit to the Hungarian Embassy

You can get to the Moscow Consulate of Hungary to submit documents only by prior appointment, which takes place online. The official website of the Hungarian Embassy in Russia will help you with this, specifically you need this page.


You will be redirected to a page where everything is written in Hungarian, so before continuing, select Russian in the upper right corner. Now you need to click on the "calendar" tab to select the date and time for your visit to the embassy.

It is important to know! In the summer, the flow of tourists to Hungary increases, so you need to take care of online booking in advance. Otherwise, you risk opening the calendar and seeing only red squares, indicating that all slots for visits to the embassy are occupied.

Registration opens in about a month and a half, that is, if you want to apply in early June, you need to catch the recording slot in mid-April.

Advice! If you did not have time to sign up for the desired slot, do not rush to despair. You can chase after him. Almost every weekday in the morning, the calendar is updated (someone refuses to visit for various reasons) and then green or orange slots appear (green - there are free slots, red - there are no free slots, orange - there is one free slot left).

My hunt for a free slot was successful - I was able to sign up for the date and time that I allocated for a visit to the embassy. One or two people can sign up for one slot (depending on time). After you select a cell, a small questionnaire will pop up that you need to fill out.

By the way, you can specify both a foreign and a Russian passport. Moreover, using two passports, you can book two slots (for example, if you don’t know when it will be more convenient for you to go to the embassy. You cannot book two slots with one passport (the system will not let you in). Just don’t forget to refuse the extra slot later so that it got to another person.

After filling in all the fields, click the "Submit" button. After that, to the mail you specified You will receive an email asking you to confirm the selected date and time.. To do this, you will need to follow the link.

Collection of documents for a visa

A visa to Hungary for Russians in 2019 is usually issued within a week. The main thing is to collect a complete package of documents, which is presented below (it can also be found on the embassy website).

Short list of documents

• application form;
• two photos;
• international passport;
• a copy of the main page of the foreign passport;
• a copy of the pages of the Russian passport (main page, registration, information about previously issued passports, marital status);
• a document confirming your financial independence (certificate from work indicating wages for the last three months, bank statement on the movement of funds for the last three months);
• original medical insurance for the entire period of your trip;
• proof of residence for the duration of the trip.

IMPORTANT NUANCE. Since September 14, 2015, in order to obtain a Schengen visa, Russian citizens must undergo a fingerprinting procedure. That is, now it will not work to file documents for a wife, sister or girlfriend without their presence. The procedure is simple and fast, but there are nuances. I am quoting a story from blog reader Alexandra, who applied for a visa at the Moscow embassy after September 14 (spelling and punctuation preserved).

Now in the consulate, next to each window on the right, there are beautiful devices for photographing and fingerprinting. The devices are new and had only been in operation for 5 days before my visit. The peculiarities are this: as I noticed, that all the men scanned their prints very quickly and sat down to wait for their ladies (with the exception of those who applied only for themselves), but women and girls had to suffer, almost all of them read their prints very badly, especially the little fingers))) after 20 minutes, there were a lot of wet wipes and tubes of hand cream on all the racks (the scanner was wiped with napkins, and the fingertips were smeared with cream), but the atmosphere was cheerful, everyone was making fun and laughing (including the Hungarians themselves). As a result, all exhausted, but satisfied (because in the end everything worked out for everyone) dispersed. Yes, and by the way, there was no queue at all.

application - questionnaire

I recommend filling it out in English (by hand or on a computer), although filling in Russian is acceptable. I filled out on the computer and in English.


For those who decide to fill out the questionnaire on their own, I recommend watching a video on this topic. To do this, follow the link below.

Photo

The list of documents required for applying for a visa states that photographs must meet the requirements of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). On the Internet you can find different information about these requirements. According to some data, photographs should be 3.5 by 4 centimeters in size, according to others 3.5 by 4.5 centimeters. I did both options =), but in the end it turned out that the Hungarians didn't care. I don’t know about other embassies, but they were ready to accept photos in both the first and second versions. By the way, everywhere it says that there should be two photos, but for some reason they took only one from me - the one that was glued to the application form.

On the embassy website, in the FAQ section, it says that a visa to Hungary for Russians in 2019 is issued if there is one (I would still take two) color photo 3.5 by 4 centimeters in size. It must have been made no more than six months ago.

Passport and Russian passport

A foreign passport (in the list of required documents it is called a travel document). Everything is simple here: it must have at least two free pages, and the foreigner himself must be valid for three months after returning from a trip. Also, do not forget to make a copy of the passport (the main page and pages with previously issued Schengen visas, if any).

In principle, you will not need a Russian passport, but you need to make copies of a number of pages (main, with registration, marital status, information on issuing passports).

Financial information and health insurance

If you work, then you need to take a certificate of income from work for the last three months. At the same time, it is not necessary to make a certificate in the form of 2-NDFL. It also does not matter what language it will be in: Russian or English.

I am often asked the question of what salary should be indicated in the certificate. I will answer this way: the more, the better, but seriously, I would not indicate a salary less than 20 thousand rubles.

If you are not working or are not formally employed, then take a statement from the bank account on the movement of funds for the last three months. This paper should show that money is periodically received in your account.

Health insurance must be purchased with a minimum coverage of 30,000 euros or 50,000 dollars. You can buy it both at the office of any insurance company, and via the Internet. .

You can also purchase insurance near the gates of the embassy in Hungary - a minibus with a sign "Insurance" is parked on the side of the road. By the way, here you can make all the necessary copies of documents. According to readers, it is not always worth it there.

Flight and accommodation confirmation

Here, too, everything is quite clear. Print the purchased air tickets (round trip) or the confirmation that came to your mail after purchasing them.

You also need to print the hotel reservation. It is not necessary to pay for your place of residence in advance. I, a couple of times things like this:

1. I booked the first available hotels on Booking.com.
2. I printed out the reservation for the embassy and submitted the documents.
3. Later I chose hotels and hostels (more thoroughly) in which I lived.

I will not urge you to follow my example, as the Hungarian embassy warns that if the reservation of the declared hotels is canceled, the visa may be canceled. To be honest, I have never heard of such incidents, but still you have to decide for yourself whether to take risks or not.

A printed receipt for renting an apartment on Airbnb is also suitable as proof of residence. In my last travels, I am looking for all accommodation there.

If you are not flying to Hungary, but traveling by car, then you can tell in writing about your planned trip and submit documents for the car. Don't forget the green card.

Consular fee

The consular fee is 35 euros. Moreover, you can pay for it only in euros - the equivalent in rubles will not be accepted. For those who do not know about it or forget, there is an OTP Bank ATM in the consular department, which will help you exchange your wooden ones for the single European currency.

When the entire package of documents for obtaining a Hungarian visa is collected, you will only have to wait for the selected date for their submission. How to get to the Hungarian embassy in Moscow, and how to get to this country, I will tell you in the very near future.

Are you going to Budapest? I recommend making the first acquaintance with the city with the help of a bus tour, in order to then try out each of the sights of the Hungarian capital on your own.

And you can just thank in any amount for

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