The population census in Hungary - need some help!

Andy, Someone just came to our house to do it.  I am not sure that there is anything that you need to do....

Seems that they've already been here once while I was gone since I found a letter just now in my postbox with a notification of some documents (that's what google translate could figure out anyways).The title headline is: Ertesítés hivatalos irat érkezéséről (A/4. minta) I'm really confused :p

I think your degree of concern should depend on whether you're the property owner or not.

If you're a tenant, then place responsibility for completing the property questionnaire on your landlord. S/he may, or may not, require you to complete the accompanying personal questionnaire. (I'll leave out possible reasons for the latter.)

If the property is in your name, then you probably should respond - although it is the authority's responsibility to supply you with a form, because it will have a reference number.

If, as an expat, you've been living here less than three months (arrived after 1st July) then you don't need to respond at all.

There are contact details for information at the census website:
nepszamlalas.hu/index.php?menu=1020&langcode=en

You can read the census questions in English online, but the date for completing online has passed. The deadline for returning the completed paper forms is 31st October.

N.B. I don't work for them - just done a bit of research.

angol wrote:

I think your degree of concern should depend on whether you're the property owner or not.

If you're a tenant, then place responsibility for completing the property questionnaire on your landlord. S/he may, or may not, require you to complete the accompanying personal questionnaire. (I'll leave out possible reasons for the latter.)

If the property is in your name, then you probably should respond - although it is the authority's responsibility to supply you with a form, because it will have a reference number.

If, as an expat, you've been living here less than three months (arrived after 1st July) then you don't need to respond at all.

There are contact details for information at the census website:
nepszamlalas.hu/index.php?menu=1020&langcode=en

You can read the census questions in English online, but the date for completing online has passed. The deadline for returning the completed paper forms is 31st October.

N.B. I don't work for them - just done a bit of research.

I see. I'm the tenant of the flat and a student here. I came late august back to Hungary from my summer holidays so 3 months hasn't passed yet. I guess I shouldn't worry about filling it out then? What's the worse case scenario like if you know? Thanks for all the help by the way!

Andy_nor wrote:

..... I guess I shouldn't worry about filling it out then? What's the worse case scenario like if you know? Thanks for all the help by the way!

In our area there's a local census person who comes around hassling people to fill in their forms.

We did ours online (well, Mrs Fluffy did it) but we found the local census helper did not know that we had already done it as they obviously do not get updated regularly enough and/or the system does not work correctly. We saw the census person with a big list checking each place.

Anyway, you need the online reference/receipt number in order to stop them coming around and annoying you on a regular basis (and believe me they are persistent). Presumably you also need the number if they accuse you of not providing any information.

Unfortunately, the online application date has passed - that closed on 16 October. The closing date for submitting paper forms is 31 October. The date census details refer to is 1 October.

If I understand you, Andy, you've been informed by mail that you need to complete the census but you've not received the census forms. This is really their responsibility not yours. My form was left in my mailbox - I passed it to my landlady to fill in - and it was collected from me in person 2 weeks later.

If you're worried, I suggest you ring the number on the website, give your full address but not your name, and tell them you're still waiting for the forms. Then its up to them to act. If they don't deliver they can't collect, so no problem.

I also suggest you mention it to your landlord, if you're in contact. For one thing, only the owner will have the answers to some of the property questions.

As for your holiday, I expect it's no excuse if you've stayed in the same property for more than 3 months total. If you were at another property before, then it's a debatable question.

Worst case scenario if you fail to submit? You get passed to the CIA for 'rendition' in Guantanamo. Seriously, I don't see foreigners being prosecuted, but who knows?

You can still read the questions, in English, on the website, but don't know about getting a printed form that's in English or Norwegian.