Hungary offers a reciprocal agreement with Australia offering a working Holiday for up to 500 Australians per year aged between 18-30 years old at the time of application.
I decided to apply from within Hungary which I was assured could be done through email conversation with the Hungarian consulate in Melbourne. Australians have 90 days VISA free entry to Hungary in which the application can be lodged.
The first step you will want to undertake is to head over to Enter Hungary and make an account. There is a user guide located under the “My Cases” tab. Once you have made an account select “My Cases”, then select “New Application”. The application you will want to select is “Application for temporary residence permit (working holiday)”.
This will take you to the next screen where you will fill out the relevant details. One of the areas I was unsure about was the section regarding having comprehensive health insurance for the duration of the stay in Hungary. I briefly asked around for providers of private health insurers and the only one I could find consistent recommendations for was Generali. As I wanted to travel within Europe frequently throughout my working holiday I purchased World Nomads travel insurance as their policy didn’t require the use of a return plane ticket and I would be covered for various Working Holiday activities depending on the level of cover I chose. In theory this made sense to me however there was the risk that my travel insurance was not accepted as health insurance by the eyes of the relevant body processing my working holiday visa. Fortunately there is an option under the “comprehensive health insurance section” of your WHV application that allows you to select “I have sufficient financial savings to cover my health expenses during my time in Hungary”. I am not sure what amount of money is counted as sufficient savings. You can select both “I have comprehensive health insurance” – and “I have sufficient financial savings” simultaneously.
Other supporting documents needed to be scanned and uploaded to your case include your passport (scan every page including front and back covers), proof of your financial position (bank statements etc.) and a signed copy of your application (you will receive the application to be signed once you have filled out and submitted the first part of the application through Enter Hungary).
You will have the option to either receive your results of your application (that is your temporary residence permit) at the immigration office or via post. If you are applying from within Hungary my recommendation would be to receive the permit via post as you will see later.
Once you have completed all the necessary information and uploaded the relevant files you can submit the application – note that this is only the first step of applying. The fee for the application is currently 26000 huf (around $120 aud). Shortly after submitting you will receive a correspondence via Enter Hungary through the yellow folder on the right hand side of your case that requests you attend the immigration office within 14 days to proceed with the application. These notices will be entirely in Hungarian so Google translate comes in very handy at this point. There are two offices you can possibly go to: the first one is called in English “National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing on Google Maps and in Hungarian “Orzágos Idegenrendészeti Föigazgatóság” and is located at Budapest, Budafoki út 60, 1117. The second office is called “Immigration Office Budapest” on Google and has the same Hungarian name as the previous office, this one is located at Budapest, Szegedi út 37, 1135.
At the office you need to bring your signed and completed application, your passport and a passport sized photo of yourself. Both immigration offices have a photobooth inside them, I cant remember the approximate cost of the photos (1000-2000HUF from memory) however bring cash as the machines don’t accept card. If you have taken your passport sized photo at the immigration office upload it to your Enter Hungary case as well as an additional file. Make sure you have also uploaded your signed and completed application form to your EnterHungary case.
The immigration office requires patience… a lot of patience from your end. At the time I couldn’t figure out how to make an appointment with the immigration office. However I had been told by another Australian who recently applied that you could arrive at the office at 6am (when the doors open) and take a number from reception. At 8am the immigration officers will start calling these numbers to be seen. I was in two minds whether to arrive at 6am like I had been recommended by a previous applicant or at 8am which is when Google indicates the offices open and various Hungarian colleagues had insisted too. The morning I went to the office I arrived at 6:10am and I was 15th in line. As expected the reception will ask for your passport, Enter Hungary case number and will ask for a residence permit (you will not have the residence permit yet because you are in the process of applying for the WHV – just explain this to the receptionist, they will understand). I took my number , took my passport photo at the booth and sat in the waiting room. There are vending machines at both offices, selling cold drinks and snacks if needed, and toilets and sufficient chairs are present. Bring a good book to keep yourself entertained while you wait, I was lucky enough to go to the immigration office on the day of ANZAC day football which started at 7:20am thanks to the very considerate time zone difference. By 7am the line for reception was significantly long and by 8am the waiting room was full. I was happy to have arrived at an early hour.
After 4 hours of waiting at 10am my number was displayed on the screen indicating I was ready to be seen. I followed the instructions on the screen to find the relevant desk where an immigration officer spoke to me about my case – she informed me of any documents I had failed to upload (in my case I had forgotten to upload my passport sized photo however she kindly assisted me in uploading it to my EnterHungary case. Once the officer reviews your case your biometrics will be taken and once they have done that you will be finished at the office, from there your case will be sent to the higher immigration authority to have the outcome determined.
A few weeks later I had a letter come to my address I had indicated in the application indicating my application had been approved (even though I had selected to receive my residence permit at the office the outcome decision letter will still come via post). If you miss the delivery of the letter you can collect it from the post office as indicated in the postal slip which the postman should leave at your address – bring your passport as this will be used by the post attendant to verify your identity before they hand over the letter. As of April 2025 the letter was the only indication my case had been approved as there was no notification that my application had been approved on EnterHungary. A few weeks after this date your residence card will arrive in the mail (if you have selected to receive the residence permit via post option). If you have selected to receive your residence card via pickup at the office then you must pick the card up at the immigration office at Szegedi Ut 37, 1135 (current in April 2025). I made the mistake of going to the office at Budafoki ut (where I had applied for the visa) to pickup my residence permit only to be told it was at the other office. Thankfully your appointment to pick the card up should be much quicker than your initial appointment. I arrived at 6:05am for my appointment to pick the card up and was out of the office at 8:05am. I later found a statement online made by the Hungarian immigration office to select deliver the residence permit by post unless it was absolutely necessary to collect the permit at the office, learn from my mistake and have it delivered!
The process of applying for the working holiday visa for Australians within Hungary is relatively straightforward once you are aware of the procedures, if I had my time again I would apply from within Melbourne purely because moving abroad is a stressful experience and anything to minimise that stress is helpful. However it is still a great option to be able to apply from within Hungary for those already travelling who don’t wish to return to Australia before applying for the visa.