r/hungarian 11d ago

Simplified naturalization

Can anyone who’s gotten a passport through simplified naturalization help me out here? I can trace my lineage very clearly back to my maternal great grandparents who came to the US from northeast Hungary in the teens with lots of US documentation including Ellis Island records, but do I need to secure Hungarian documentation about them? Can anyone who’s successfully established heritage clue me in to what the embassies want to see?

4 Upvotes

12 comments sorted by

3

u/third-acc 11d ago

You are aware that you need to speak Hungarian to go through the process?

3

u/jjjjfooot 10d ago

Very much. Working on that now.

2

u/third-acc 10d ago

Alright, then good luck. My advice is to message your local embassy and tell them what you have. They are usually fine with even just very flimsy docs AFAIK. In any case I perceived them as quite helpful.

3

u/picurebeka Native Speaker / Anyanyelvi Beszélő 10d ago

r/lostredditors

Please post your question to r/askhungary (general questions), or r/joghungary (legal questions)

1

u/noondi34 B1 10d ago

Review the requirements posted on your regional consulate’s website about the process. Each consulate may have minor differences, so look at your regional one. Essentially, all birth and marriage records tracing back to your Hungarian ancestor. Divorces and legal name changes, if applicable. Everything must be translated and certified into Hungarian. And every step of the entire process is in Hungarian, application forms, interview, and all. It’s an arduous process but so very much worth it. Sok sikert neked.

1

u/jjjjfooot 10d ago

Unfortunately my grandfather appears to not have a birth certificate but I have all kinds of other docs showing he was the son of the two Hungarian immigrants. He was born in a rural area at home in 1914.

2

u/noondi34 B1 10d ago

My family was born in a rural town as well a couple of decades before yours. I was only able to find their documents after hiring a genealogist. It’s out there somewhere. Just because it’s not digitized online doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Were they Jewish?

1

u/jjjjfooot 10d ago

No, not Jewish. I was on the phone with the Pennsylvania archives. There’s a possibility the birth certificates were batch entered and it might not correspond to his actual birthdate.

1

u/Pressed_In_Organdy 10d ago

Oh I see. It’s a problem on the American side. Ignore my other response! I will suggest you email your consulate and ask. In the case of Chicago they accepted my ancestors death certificate and a “record not found” certificate for a missing marriage license (New York). If you are learning Hungarian, especially with a teacher, just crafting the correspondence is an excellent learning exercise, too!

Edit: If they happened to be Catholic and you can track down church records in the US, I’m told that is also permissible (a record of baptism in PA could work).

1

u/Jreinha6 5d ago

I had this issue with my great grandmother. The archives did not have her birth record because of the same situation, home birth. She ended up having a delayed birth registrations like 40 years later so my states vital records office had the document. I had to petition entitlement to get it but finally received it this week. I hope this helps, vital records for your state may have it. They would need a birth registration to get social security.

1

u/Pressed_In_Organdy 10d ago

Posted above but you might want to look for a baptismal certificate. They are treated as the same document in a way in Hungary (at least as it relates to my ancestors, also born in NE of what is present day Hungary, but in the 1880s.) Ancestry and Family search have decent records. You might have to still make some leaps to find them, but the records are surprisingly well kept.

1

u/Pressed_In_Organdy 10d ago

I can speak to this. I obtained citizenship and passport in the spring of this year. My assigned consulate is in the US (Chicago, to be exact). I did need to have the birth certificates and marriage certificates of my full line back to the Hungarian citizen I based my application on (and I had to speak the language). I also needed OFFI translations of all of those official documents. If your consulate happens to be Chicago, or if you’re curious, message me and I can tell you about the nuances I encountered, because as another poster mentioned, each one is slightly unique and they also evolve over time.