Part 9 - My Journey to Hungarian Citizenship

I returned to Hungary to hand-deliver some documents, and work some magic outside the government offices

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 ; Part 4; Part 5 ; Part 6; Part 7 and Part 8.

After the huge mix-up attempting to ship some very important documents to Hungary, I decided to hand-deliver my ancestors' birth records to the government office that was requesting them.

These well-travelled pieces of paper had crossed the Atlantic four times already. And they were my key to obtaining simplified naturalization.

But first they needed to be translated, and I wasn't sure I could take enough time off work to spend enough time in Hungary to get it all done. (My Hungarian Citizenship journey was increasingly becoming a very costly hobby!)

But luckily, I had help.

When I began my citizenship journey, I contracted Helpers Hungary to advise me. There is no requirement you hire lawyers or consultants to assist with your simplified naturalization application, but I found the company to be very useful both with the application process, and also in the follow up. And while they are not inexpensive, the consultants proved invaluable in helping me with this last hurdle.

When I arrived in Budapest in late May 2022, I went straight to the Hungary Helpers office and handed over my ancestors' birth records.

In Part 8 I explain that my my great-grandmother's and great-great-grandparents' Hungarian birth records are of course in Hungarian. But because our family village is now in Ukraine, the notary letter, certifying that the records were true records from the archives, was in Ukrainian and needed to be translated (again.)

Acting with my power-of-attorney in Hungary, the consultants in Budapest were able to get the documents translated and then, making my life very simple, submit them to the government office that had requested them.

Finally, all my documents for the simplified naturalization process were where they needed to be, and my application was being processed.

My next step,was very unconventional.

I stood outside the government offices, where I knew my paperwork was being processed, and sent good energy to all who worked inside.

Yes, it's woo - woo. But it was a very fun adventure. You can watch it here:

And that that point, early June of 2022, I knew there was nothing more I could do. I had gathered every stitch of evidence linking me to my great-grandmother, born in Hungary. I had successfully completed TWO interviews in Hungarian. I spoken to the spirits of my ancestors. I had become involved and made positive contritbutions to Hungarian cultural organizations in the US. I had embraced my indentity and started calling myself Hungarian-American, which was true, no matter what. And all I could do now, was to let it all go, and trust I had done all I could.

And then, 8 months later, in early February of 2023, I received the life-changing email.

Read all about it, and see my very emotional reaction, at this link.

For those of you on this immigration journey, or indeed going after any other dream, I hope this blog post helps inspire to keep going.

For all my tips on how to develop and keep a good mindset, you can download my workbook here.

In the final post of this series, I'll share photos and stories from my citizenship oath ceremony!

Subscribe to the blog here. And thank you for reading! I love re-living this roller coaster journey through these blog posts.