Look inside
The plan for Hungary, from the inside
These are all 28 steps of the Hungary journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 28
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 36
- Only for your situation
- 7
Phase 1
6 steps
Orientation
Nobody stops you, and yet Hungary has a hard clock: by day 93 at the latest you're registered. And the treaty from 1986 does something few treaties do — your occupational pension goes to Hungary, where it's untaxed, while your AOW stays Dutch instead.
- 1.1
Being allowed to stay is not the same as being registered
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.2
Know how tax and healthcare work there
- Lead time
- an evening of research
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.3
Explore the region, and count the language in
- Lead time
- weeks, preferably with an exploratory trip outside summer
- Costs
- an exploratory trip is a serious cost item
- 1.4
Map out what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.5
The family conversation
- Lead time
- weeks, not hours
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- decision moment
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
8 steps
Closing the Netherlands
This is where the lesson sits that makes this journey different: you apply for the wage tax exemption for your occupational pension, not for your AOW — because that stays Dutch instead.
- 2.1
Gather your basic documents
- Lead time
- 1-4 weeks
- Costs
- fees per extract, tens of euros in total
1 official source
- 2.2
Arrange the healthcare transition
- Lead time
- apply 6 weeks before departure
- Costs
- the treaty contribution replaces your Dutch premium
2 official sources
- 2.3
Know where you'll pay tax, and apply for the exemption — for the right part
- Lead time
- one good conversation, then an application of weeks
- Costs
- advisory hours — depending on your situation
3 official sources
- 2.4
Deregister and tell the SVB
- Lead time
- deregistering is possible from 5 days before departure; the whole takes 4-8 weeks
- Costs
- limited — cancellation costs per contract
2 official sources
- 2.5
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few arrangements
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.6
Partly staying in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you fix anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.7
The house in the Netherlands: sell, let or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when letting possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 2.8
Children who stay in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and then one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 3
5 steps
The move
No customs, but the most expensive step of this journey: the registration tax on the car, without exemption for relocation goods — and sixty days to get started on it.
- 3.1
Choose your form of move and ask for quotes
- Lead time
- quotes 2-3 weeks; the drive itself two days
- Costs
- according to your moving choices
- 3.2
The car: registration tax, and sixty days to get started
- Lead time
- decision moment; the registration itself weeks, at four counters
- Costs
- registration tax, inspection, insurance and fees — the most expensive item
3 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.3
Pet along: chip, rabies jab and the EU pet passport
- Lead time
- start at least three weeks before departure
- Costs
- per animal — chip, vaccination and passport at the vet
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
- 3.4
Arrange your first accommodation, because the registration asks for an address
- Lead time
- booking can be quick; do it before you leave
- Costs
- falls under "the first months" in your budget
- 3.5
Tell the Dutch tax authority: the M return and the provisional assessment
- Lead time
- an evening
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
Phase 4
4 steps
Registration in Hungary
One counter that opens everything — and that stops without proof of payment for the address card. Then the S1 to the kormányhivatal, and with the TAJ card you're in.
- 4.1
Apply for the registration certificate, by day 93 at the latest
- Lead time
- online or at the counter; the certificate often straight away, the address card by post
- Costs
- 1,000 forint fee plus 5,700 forint for the address card, in advance
2 official sources
- 4.2
Hand in your S1 at the kormányhivatal and get your TAJ card
- Lead time
- one visit, the card by post
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 4.3
Open an account and arrange your access to the authorities
- Lead time
- days
- Costs
- account costs per month
1 official source
- 4.4
Choose a GP, before you need one
- Lead time
- days to weeks
- Costs
- none
Phase 5
5 steps
Arrival
The licence stays, and the house is free to buy — except when there's land attached. Then one hectare applies, and not one metre more.
- 5.1
The driving licence: nothing to exchange
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 5.2
Living and buying: free, except agricultural land
- Lead time
- weeks to months
- Costs
- four percent transfer tax, lawyer and land registry
2 official sources
- 5.3
After five years: permanent residence
- Lead time
- one application, after five years
- Costs
- fees
1 official source
- 5.4
School for the children
- Lead time
- enrolment runs per district
- Costs
- public education is free; books, food and outings are not
Only if this applies to you
- 5.5
Landed
- Lead time
- the moment itself
- Costs
- none
7 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Hungary journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 2.3 of your plan
Know where you'll pay tax, and apply for the exemption — for the right part
- Lead time
- one good conversation, then an application of weeks
- Costs
- advisory hours — depending on your situation
The treaty places your occupational pension exclusively with Hungary. For that, apply to the Dutch tax authority for the wage tax exemption with a Hungarian certificate of residence — and do not apply for it for your AOW, because the Netherlands may tax that as the paying state. Whoever applies for the exemption for everything gets a rejection or an additional assessment.
On the Hungarian side your occupational pension is nyugdíj: tax-free, no return, at most as information in the return if you file one for another reason. Your AOW Hungary exempts because the Netherlands may tax it. What remains for the flat tax of fifteen percent is an annuity that doesn't come from employment, rent, and work — and that's the conversation with your tax adviser.
The government pension stays Dutch, unless you're a resident and a national of Hungary.
This is step 2.3 of 28. The other 27 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Hungary?
All 28 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 199 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Hungary: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Hungary really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
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