Going the extra mile (or kilometer): all the extra steps I took to maximize my chances of success in gaining my Hungarian Citizenship--including some tips you can take for your own journey.
Note: In March of 2023, I took my Hungarian Citizenship Oath. It was a lot of work and dedication to get there, and I know many others are on a similar journey through the Simplified Naturalization Procedure. I'm writing a 10-part series of posts with details of my citizenship process. I hope this will help and inspire others.
See Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 ; and Part 4
By nature (and necessity), I am a doer, as is my whole family. I am certain the trait comes partly from my Old Country ancestors who were subsistence farmers. They had to do everything they could for success each season. Success wasn't just a nice feeling-- it was for survival. They brought that mindset to the US when they emigrated. It served them well, as they encountered many hardships
Sometimes, I think my sister and I work like we are still Old Country emigrees. We've always held multiple jobs, worked hard in school, volunteered, did extra-curriculars. We do everything as if our life depends on it, like our ancestors did when searching for their "American Dream."
So, when chasing my own "Hungarian Dream" I too went above and beyond.
Thankfully, this did not include things my ancestors had to do: I didn't have to work in the coal mine, raise livestock, bake my own bread... but I WORKED for it.
(To be fair I do actually bake my own bread, but only at Easter.)
As it turned out, the Old Country immigrant mentality, applied to the Hungarian citizenship procedure, did more than help me succeed. It gave me a deeper understanding of my great-grandparent's culture, and it helped me make some new, fascinating friends.
One of the first things I did when starting my citizenship journey was to become a member of the American Hungarian Library and Historical Society in New York. Many of its programs are online, but I made sure to travel into the city to go to several in-person events too. Some were in English, some in Hungarian! At the events, I met Hungarian artists, authors and academics, several of whom I still keep in touch with.
I also joined the library's film club and spent a day volunteering in the library, sorting boxes of books. This was a great experience to learn about Old Country writers.
I started reading novels by Hungarians. Some of my recommendations are here. I also watched every single Hungarian film I could find online or via streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
(**note: since becoming more proficient in the language, I've started watching films on filmio.hu as well.)
The HuGo app was so much fun to use during my citizenship journey (and I still use it.)
Wherever I went, I'd look for a bakery or statue or church or plaque. It reminded me how much people from The Old Country gave to the US.
Every single day, while eating lunch, I read English-language Hungarian newspapers online. For me, it was important to understand modern Hungary, not just The Old Country.
When I read the papers, I found out about people in Hungary I wanted to meet, and reached out to several to ask for coffee-dates! That's how I found myself in a cafe in Budapest, chatting with a former Hungarian Consulate about the citizenship process and getting his input on how to best navigate my upcoming citizenship interview.
Of course, all the while, I studied Hungarian language in many different ways, which you can read about here. But more than simply take classes, I got to know my language teachers, and they came to understand my dedication.
When it came time to submit my citizenship application, I took the unusual extra step of asking my teachers for referral letters.
This is not required for the application and I've never heard of anyone else doing it! But I'm a do-er. Like my great-grandparents who found every means necessary to survive in The Old Country, I did everything I could to go back there!
**It's important to note that when reaching out to people for advice on my citizenship journey, I did it in a spirit of connection and friendship -- not with the idea of "what can you do for me?" No one wants to be taken advantage of. I worked to build relationships which is way more important than just getting a referral letter or a good contact.
But my most ambitious step was travelling to far Eastern Hungary to get close to my great-grandmother's village.
Her birthplace, once part of Hungary, is now in Ukraine. In 2021 (when some Covid travel restrictions were still in place) I applied for special police permission to enter Hungary and travel to Eastern Hungary, near the border with Ukraine, which was as close as I could get to her village.
Here I was able to visit the Village Museum and go inside a replica of a home like she would have lived in:
As it turned out, going the literal extra mile to get close to my ancestral home was a huge benefit at my citizenship interview. In a stroke of good luck, the embassy official who evaluated my language skills was born in the area I visited! So we were able to chat about it during the interview.
I will never know which, if any, of the extra steps I took were the key to my success in getting Hungarian citizenship. However, I do know that dedicating myself to the process in this way led me to a deeper understanding of my family, myself and The Old Country itself. And all of these extra steps were fun and exciting. Gathering documents and practicing Hungarian grammar can feel a bit overwhelming at times, so having moments of connecting to people and places really helped me stay motivated.
In the end, not only did a end up with my Hungarian Passport, but more importantly, a bunch of new friends who were rooting for my success.
And that made it all worth it.
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