Citizenship stories

Hungarian Citizenship Tips and Tricks to nail your citizenship interview

Tara’s video

Youtube video:

In this video, actress and filmmaker Tara Gadomski talks about what inspired her on her Hungarian citizenship journey.

In her introduction Tara tells us how her Hungarian heritage was an important constant in her life from childhood -- this will resonate with many of you who are considering applying for Hungarian citizenship. It was in 2020 that Tara decided to take our Hungarian Citizenship Course with the aim of learning Hungarian and preparing for the citizenship interview.

Tara's enthusiasm carries us along as she tells us about the day of the oath ceremony and how much becoming a Hungarian citizen means to her.

The challenges Tara faced at the start of her journey were two-fold: obtaining the documents required for the simplified naturalisation process, and learning Hungarian in order to demonstrate her language skills during the citizenship interview. Tara gives us her insight regarding both these challenges, for example, she openly admits that learning Hungarian was hard work for her, particularly because the citizenship course is a focused course. Her progress was best when she studied some Hungarian every day.

In addition to working with Tara on her Hungarian language skills, Tara's teacher from HLS helped her prepare for the citizenship interview by encouraging her to communicate in Hungarian as much as possible during the lessons. They also role-played various possible consulate scenarios ‐ these mock interviews are so important!

Tara found the video recordings of the lessons immensely helpful for independent study, and she loved the fact that the course curriculum included sections on Hungarian history and culture. She felt prepared to answer questions about Hungary that could come up during her interview conversation with the consul.

Tara tells us about her experience at an unexpected follow-up interview, where she arrived to submit further documents and was also given an impromptu language assessment. She passes on some important information about the hand-written biography which is an essential part of the application.

We are sure you will find this interview with Tara informative and helpful.

Hungarian Citizenship Tips and Tricks to nail your citizenship interview

Youtube video:

In this video, the very inspirational Karen Meyers shares her tips and tricks for your Hungarian citizenship journey.

First, Karen talks you through what has been especially useful for her when she took our Hungarian Citizenship Course preparing for her citizenship interview.

She openly talks about the challenges she was facing during this journey: the many (14!) vowels we have in Hungarian, the word order and how she had to be patient with herself.

In the final part of the video, Karen shares her tips for new learners when she says: ’go for it!’ But do so with the idea that it will be hard work and you will need to work on your Hungarian most days. ’Just a bite at a time and a step at a time and you will get there!’

Karen says that learning Hungarian has changed her life: she now looks forward to celebrating Hungarian holidays and namedays, cooks Hungarian dishes with her family and teaches her great-nieces Hungarian.

Watching this strong, inspirational lady, you will have the distinctive, very powerful feeling that having Hungarian citizenship has really enriched Karen’s life ‐ we hope you will find her story as motivational as we have!

Success stories

If you're planning on Simplified Naturalization, I strongly recommend HLS’ course. These angels patiently taught me everything I needed to know to ace the interview. Sitting in my home in Budapest, I can't thank them enough for their encouragement and kindness throughout the process.
— Julie Angel, Sunday, 28 May 2017