A Slow Start on the Simplified Naturalization Procedure that Lead to an Obession of Sorts.
Note from Tara: At the time of writing this post, it's been about a year since I took my Hungarian Citizenship Oath. To celebrate, 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 here.
Now that I had a photocopy of my great-grandmother's Hungarian birth and baptism record, from the church archives, I felt more confident in my citizenship quest. But I had many more obstacles to overcome:
I had to get all the paperwork in order to prove my lineage, and I had to read, write and speak Hungarian well.
Even before I had the photocopy of my great-grandmother's birth record, I had started improving my Hungarian via the Pimsleur method with an app on my smartphone. It's meant more for business travellers, so some of the phrases are on the formal side, but it was helpful to get started.
I say I started "improving my Hungarian" because I decided to believe that the Hungarian language was in my blood, and I just had to unlock it. This theory may sound a bit "woo-woo," but it's a mindset that helped me during challenging times. And it turns out, I did already know some words for foods (for example káposzta and kolbász --because that's what my grandparents called cabbage and sausage.)
While practicing a little Hungarian every day, I also started collecting documents. The first, and most important, was to get an official, certified copy of my great-grandmother's birth record. At this point, I only had a photo copy of a church record, noting her birth and baptism.
So I got back in touch with Róbert Kozora and asked him for advice. He dealt with several government officials in Ukraine who let us know that they would be able to provide a certified photocopy of her Hungarian birth record from the state archives, along with letter in Ukrainian certifying this was a true photocopy.
I look back now at my email exchanges with Robert and have to laugh at my naivety. It was May 2018 and I wrote "no rush Robert, I won't submit my application for citizenship until July, when my Hungarian is good enough." I laugh now, that I thought a mere two months would suffice to have everything ready!! But I was optimistic at least.
From the Embassy of Hungary in Washington website, I downloaded the official application for the Simplified Naturalization Procedure, and started looking more closely at the citizenship by descent process. Quickly, I realized I might need some advice. If I was going to spend the time and money to get my documents and language in order, I wanted to make sure I wouldn't be disqualified for some mistake or oversight on my application.
There are several consulting firms and lawyers in Hungary who can advise on the citizenship process. And none of them are inexpensive. So, in the summer of 2018, I knew I was eligible for Hungarian Citizenship, but I wasn't ready to submit my application... in fact, I wasn't really even ready to start the process yet. I needed time to dedicate to the language learning, and I needed more money to hire a consultant.
Over the next year and a half, I kept studying Hungarian informally, on my own -- doing a bit here and there online and reading this book. (commissions earned)
But other events took over my life. I received a fellowship from the Sundance Institute and was heavily involved in directing a short film and writing a feature film. Still, the dream of Hungarian citizenship was always in my mind. I promised myself I'd figure it out, someday, when I had time....
Then, March 2020 came.
Like many non-essential workers in the world, I found myself with a lot of time to spare when we were required to stay at home. As a freelancer, I'm lucky that the pandemic did not devastate my income, as I was able to get some virtual editing and teaching jobs. And I'm especially lucky that I, nor anyone in my family, got very sick.
Soon, I realized I could use this time at home wisely. No sourdough bread making for me. My pandemic hobby became: Hungarian Citizenship.
In late April of 2020, I decided to hire Helpers Hungary, an immigration consulting firm in Budapest. The first step was to get a certified copy of my great-grandmother's Hungarian birth record, from Ukraine (see my earlier post which explains this.) But of course, with borders being closed due to the pandemic. I had to wait.
I enrolled in an online intenstive Hungarian language course with the Magyar Iskola Budapest. I will tell all about my language-learning journey in another post, but it's important to note that I started formally studying in May of 2020.
At the end of October, 2020, during a brief reprieve when borders between Hungary and Ukraine opened up, a geneaologist from Helpers Hungary was able to get the certified copy of my great-grandmother's birth record. It was a huge milestone in the journey.
But not only did they get my great-grandmother's birth record. They also got my great-great grandparent's birth records! Wow, that was that cool to see.
And now, my intense work (some might call obsession) began....
But it would still take two and a half more years to become a Hungarian Citizen.
Stay tuned for Part 3.
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