Budapest has seen a steady number of foreign citizens among its population, many of them foreign students, in the YOUMIG target age group of 15-34. According to official statistics, the number of foreign citizens registered in the capital of Hungary exceeded 70,000 over the past two years. The Municipality has recently introduced new services catering to the needs of this group, as well as to anyone who is considering leaving the country or returning after a longer stay abroad and needs information. The coordination of this task is of interest to the YOUMIG project, which is also launching a one-stop-shop service at seven municipalities of the partnership, among them Szeged, Hungary.

YOUMIG Communication Manager Nóra Krokovay paid a visit to the Migration Information Desk, located in the heart of the city, and discussed the experiences with office managers Katalin Tóth-Pjeczka and International Organization for Migration (IOM) coordinator László Zsolt Zságer. The main take-home message of the meeting was that providing such a service needs a special methodology, as each case can be vastly different. The information desk operates five days a week, during general office hours, offering assistance in person or over the phone to foreign nationals regarding their rights and obligations while staying in Hungary as well as information to make everyday life easier in connection with public administration, education, healthcare, labour-market integration, social services and so on. Some 20 cases have been registered since the office’s opening in October 2017, some of which were very complex, and required a real team effort for collating information from different disciplines, Tóth-Pjeczka said.

MID staff were also briefed about the YOUMIG project’s research results and planned activities spanning to the end of the project in mid-2019. They welcomed the materials which can provide research background and an evidence base to their activities as well. Two foreign students who are volunteering at the office while studying at universities in Budapest also joined the conversation.