Refugees in Hungary: until the end of the war or beyond?

As expected, those coming to Hungary from Ukraine appeared in different areas. Many people from different organisations, individuals, or acquaintances started looking for accommodation for them.

They appeared in the market of both tourist accommodation and apartments for rent. Others are looking for work or trying to pursue their university studies. However, the future seems very uncertain for many of the Ukrainian refugees.

A big wave of refugees, many of them Hungarians born in Ukraine

As a result of the war, more than a hundred thousand people have already arrived in Hungary. This number is constantly growing, and the moment when the number of arrivals would start to decrease is not in sight yet. There was constant pressure at the border in the last few days.

Read also: Ukrainians to be offered jobs in the construction industry in Hungary?

Some of the newcomers do not stay in Hungary, the Ukrainians who have relatives in Western Europe usually head towards them. However, due to the relative proximity to Ukraine and the various job opportunities, many plan to stay in Hungary. (Before Covid, the Hungarian government had already started importing Ukrainian labour in various fields.) Some of the refugees from Ukraine are of Hungarian nationality from the Kárpátalja / Zakarpatska / Transcarpathian region, which was part of historic Hungary, and because of that, there is still a Hungarian population there.

From the point of view of administration and job search, it matters a lot if someone also speaks Hungarian. Many of them, even though the Constitution of Ukraine forbids this, also have a Hungarian passport.

Rental market

According to the article of 24.hu, the advertisement of a garden city apartment in Buda is applied for by phone approximately every hour, and the background of the candidates is very similar. The father usually works as a guest worker at a construction or logistics company in the area, lives in a workers’ accommodation, and has so far sent his salary home to his wife and children in Ukraine.

Now, however, he wants the family to relocate from the war as soon as possible, and their housing needs to be resolved urgently. These are mainly Hungarians from the Transcarpathian / Kárpátalja region in Ukraine, but you can find many people of Ukrainian origin as well. They usually do not speak Hungarian or English, someone from their Ukrainian-born Hungarian colleagues or bosses will translate and help to find an apartment for them.

Read also: Orbán: refugees have to work in Hungary!

Many would come

Since the situation is not easy on either an economic or an emotional level, of course, many just want to get through this difficult period. Some applicants are interested in renting an apartment of fifty square metres for two adults and seven children. There are also people hinting at how, for the time being, only a few would move into the apartment, but later, other members of the family would come for a longer or shorter period.

Help desk in Budapest, Nyugati railway station, 2022 February. Photo: Facebook / Tibor Ávéd

Short or long term?

No one seems to know, but there is a good chance that many of the people moving to Hungary now, especially the younger ones speaking Hungarian, are not going to leave Hungary anymore, at least not in the near future. For them, finding a job is not a problem, knowing the language will certainly allow them to find a job in many areas in a shorter amount of time.

Lots of offers

There have been a lot of offers in Hungary. Volunteers help the work of those who come here, and many of the civil society and NGOs are working in each sector. In addition, various municipalities and large companies also take their share of the work, here we have written a list of it. We encourage everyone to help the refugees in their way and hope that we will be able to forget this nightmare as soon as possible.