Describe the trades and countries your agency covers and how you check skills and protect candidate data.
Pest County wraps around the Hungarian capital on every side. Its government office sits in Budapest at Városház utca 7. Yet itsterritory is taring of towns, villages, and farmland beyond the city boundary, organised into 18 districts, from Szentendre and Vác in the north to Cegléd, Dabas, and Ráckeve in the south. This page concerns employers in those towns and in the agglomeration, not employers inside Budapest itself.
Any agency abroad looking at this county must first absorb how tightly Hungary has restricted non-EU labour. The guest-worker residence permit is closed to newcomers, since its designating decree lists no counter; only people already holding one can keep it to the end of its term and renew it on the previous terms. The employment-purpose residence permit remains available only to a small group of nationalities set by government decree, each linked to a readmission or return arrangement. That decree cites the Philippines, Armenia and Georgia, and partners must confirm the up-to-date list on oif.gov.hu before naming any candidate to a county employer. A yearly ceiling also caps the number of these permits.
So a Pest County partnership would revolve around four realistic sources of people: citizens of the decree-listed states; seasonal workers for farms, orchards, forestry or fish ponds; specialists who meet the terms of the Hungarian Card or the EU Blue Card; and EU and EEA nationals, for whom no permit applies. We never promise numbers, and talks start only if a suitable, verified request arises.
A word on responsibilities. AtoZ Serwis Plus is neither a Hungarian-registered employment agency nor a temporary work agency, has no office in Hungary, and this page signals no open vacancy, job order or client anywhere in the country. Legal responsibility stays with the Hungarian employer. If a local agency joins in, the government office must have registered it, and for certain routes only a qualified temporary work agency, listed separately under tough conditions, may be involved.
Announcements by HIPA, the state investment promotion agency, give a picture of activity in the agglomeration.HIPA’slogistics news reports distribution centres on the eastern and southern edges of the capital. In life sciences, HIPA has reported an investment in an automated plant in Szigetszentmiklós for products based on antibiotic active ingredients, and a Pomáz manufacturer of microbiological diagnostic products announcing added capacity. For Szada, north-east of the capital, HIPA has reported a supplier’s announced expansion in plastic battery parts. Partners would confirm current operations and shift patterns with each employer. What each activity could mean for a partner:
The county’s public administration is organised through the 18 district offices of the Pest County Government Office. Several of them, including Budakeszi, Cegléd, Dabas, Érd, Gödöllő, Monor, Nagykáta, Ráckeve, Szentendre, Szigetszentmiklós and Vác, run employment customer service points, and Budaörs has its own employment point. For a partner, this matters in two ways: the district employment department is where a labour demand linked to a permit would be lodged, and it also shows that each part of the county has its own local labour market, from the commuter towns of the Buda hills to the farming districts on the Great Plain edge.
Because sites are scattered, two employers ten kilometres apart may offer quite different shifts, transport and housing. For labour statistics on Pest County, the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) is the reference, rather than numbers repeated without a source.
For a county employer, a search starts with one question: which legal door can this person walk through? A forklift driver from a state outside the decree list has no route into a warehouse on the edge of the capital, however strong the CV. Citizenship would therefore be recorded at first contact based on the candidate’s own word, then confirmed from the passport when the employer asks for documents.
For seasonal farm work, the emphasis is on physical readiness, previous harvest or livestock experience, and acceptance of a stay of at most six months. For Hungarian Card or Blue Card candidates, it shifts to degrees and designated qualifications. For EU and EEA applicants, it centres on skills, languag,e and the ability to reach a site that maybe fary from a railway line.
The shortlist would be built from a CV and evidence of the main skill alone: a trade certificate, a forklift qualification from the home country, photographs of finished work or a reference from a previous site. Personal records such as passports or police certificates would wait for theemployer’ss written list, issued only after the interview for the permit actually chosen.
Before candidates hear anything, the parties would agree to confirm that the county employer is genuine. The company information service at e-cegjegyzek. hu lets anyone search by firm name, registration number, or tax number and see the seat, activities, representatives, and any insolvency, liquidation, or dissolution case. The NAV databases complement this by showing whether the tax number is live, suspended or cancelled, and whether the firm sits on the public list of taxpayers with no outstanding public debt.
Some agglomeration businesses may operate from industrial estates where several companies share one address, so matching the operating company to the site matters. A written request from a Pest County employer would cover:
Any Hungarian intermediary named in the chaed against the government office registraton, and, where the route requires it, against the separate register of qualified temporary work agencies. Requests that hide the real employer or seek payment from candidates would be dropped.
Nationals of EU and EEA countries and Switzerland may start work at a county employer without a permit. A stay of more than 90 days requires them to report their residence to the immigration authority and obtain a registration certificate, which they can request online. For warehouses and production lines, this group is the most straightforward to place.
For everyone else, Schengen membership is no shortcut. A visit under a short-stay visa, or without a visa, does not permit any kind of employment. The worker needs a residence permit that authorises work for the specific employerin that country before starting. A Hungarian permit also stops at the border for work purposes: it allows brief visits to other Schengen states but no employment there, so someone placed in Gödöllő cannot be sent to a site in Slovakia or Austria.
Nationals of certain neighbouring countries set by decree have their own permit, the National Card; employers would confirm eligibility with the immigration authority. Holders of employment-purpose, guest-worker and seasonal permits should also know that these permits never count towards Hungary’s national residence card for long-term residence.
The legal routes for new non-EU staff at county sites are:
The usual sequence would be:
Any change of employer, post, or workplace requires a new permit decision, sought from inside Hungary. Penalties for employers are substantia,d counted per worker, and liability canextend toh main contractors. Hungary’s government has also commissioned a full review of the rules on non-EU employment, so partners must consult oif.gov.hu before agreeing to any plan.
The Labour Code governs employment at a county site, and an authorised foreign employee is entitled to the same treatment as Hungarian staff, including pay. A contract must be in writing. The standard is a 40-hour week of eight-hour days. Overtime is limited throughout the year and is rewarded with a pay premium or compensatory rest.
Extra pay applies to night work, multi-shift systems, Sundays, and public holidays, which is directly relevant to round-the-clock warehouses and production lines in the agglomeration. Annual leave starts at 20 working days, with additional days based on age and certain family or personal circumstances.
Two pay floors set by government decree apply nationwide: the minimum wage and a higher minimum for work requiring at least secondary schooling or vocational training. No figures appear here because they change; the county employer would state the gross wage in writing, and partners would compare it with the decree that applies. Seasonal farm work is subject to the same floors.
Workers must receive a written pay statement sshowinghow their earnings and deductions were wcalculated A deduction is lawful only when a statute or the worker’s own consent supports it, and even then it is capped. Charges for a bed, transport to an outlying site or meals would be agreed in writing before the worker leaves home.
Each work-related permit application has to show a Hungarian address. A lease, a statement from the person providing a room, proof of ownership, a prepaid booking or an employer certificate promising housing are all accepted forms of evidence. A seasonal worker who changes address must notify the immigration authority within days, and other work permits require the same prompt reporting.
Distance can shape placements here. A logistics hub may sit beside a motorway junction with no housing nearby, while the worker’s room is in a town several stops away. Suburban rail, HÉV lines, and regional buses link many county towns. Yet, night shifts can begin or end when little is running, and a worker without a car may depend entirely on timetables oremployer-arrangedn transporr. The parties would agree to test theactuall journe, atactuall shift time, beforeaccepting any offed, and to ask whether the employer runs its own transport.
Accommodation is part of every work-related permit file, so the housing terms for a county placement would be set down in writing and checked with the employer: rooms, occupancy, kitchens, washing facilities, cost and the distance to the site. Partners would not call accommodation free unless the employer confirms that in writing.
Hypothetical example: a fruit grower near Cegléd asks for a team of seasonal pickers. Before anything else, the parties would confirm the seasonal permit applies to the work, that housing on or near the farm is documented in writing, and that the stay ends within six months.
Paperwork would expand step by step and only when needed. Until an interview has taken place, a CV and proof of skill are enough. When a county employer confirms in writing that it intends to proceed, its own list for the chosen permit decides what follows, which might include a passport, diplomas, a housing document and health insurance evidence.
The GDPR and Hungary’s Information Act govern how candidate data may be used, and NAIH, the national data protection authority, deals with complaints. The parties would decide in advance who is the the controller at each step, the retention periods for CVs, and how deletion requests are handled. Sending candidate data from the EU to a partner outside the EU requires a GDPR transfer safeguard, such as standard contractual clauses, in writing.
Candidates keep their original passports and certificates. No one in the chain would retain identity documents, and any request to do so would be declined.
The county employer, directly or through someone acting for it, would interview shortlisted candidates, generally by video when they are abroad. The employer alone decides whether to offer a job. LThe language interpreter needs, who takes part ,and how feedback reaches candidates would be fset in advance
Tests would mirror the job. A warehouse might use a short video of the candidate operating equipment of the same class; a moulding plant might ask for a description of machine set-up or a filmed task; a pharmaceutical site might question candidates on documentation, hygiene and quality steps from their past roles; a farm might ask for evidence of previous harvest seasons. Candidates never pay for any interview or test.
The request would set out expected language levels. A shift leader in a distribution centre may need workable Hungarian or English, while a picker may need only safety-related communication. We would note the results so candidates can hear why they were or were not chosen.
Every candidate would receive the contract, or a binding written offer, in a language they understand, plus a clear explanation of the permit: it covers one employer, one post, and one workplace address in a particular county town. They would learn that moving to another job requires a new decision, that the permit grants no right to work in neighbouring countries, and that family members cannot join them on a seasonal or employment-purpose permit.
When the consulate approves the permit, it issues an entry visa, and the worker must arrive within its validity. The employer then completes NAV registration before work begins and reports the start on the immigration authority’s electronic platform.
An arrival plan for a county site would set out how the worker gets from the airport or a Budapest railway station to the accommodation, who meets them, how they reach the workplace on the first morning, the pay date and the contact details of the employment supervision authority. EU candidates staying beyond 90 days would also be reminded to register their residence.
Hungarian law forbids private employment agencies from making a jobseeker pay anything, for any reason. Cooperation with AtoZ Serwis Plus follows the same principle: it never charges candidates for county employment, under any name.
The employment supervision authority, part of the Pest County Government Office, polices employment law. It examines contracts, registration, hours, pay, temporary agency work and the employment of non-EU nationals. Workers can bring a complaint for free, in person, by post, or electronically, and the complainant’s identity is kept confidential by default.
A worker in immediate danger should ring 112. The National Crisis Management and Information Hotline (OKIT) offers free help at any hour to victims of trafficking and labour exploitation. Partners would agree to halt any process showing signs such as:
We would check each warning sign against official sources before proceeding.
Authorities and public pages that matter for county plans:
The AtoZ Serwis Plus Hungary page summarises the wider national picture.
If your agency recruits seasonal farm workers, nationals of the decree-listed countries, qualified technicia,ns or EU candidatetold serve employers in the towns around Budapest, send a written enquiry. Explain which trades you cover, where you recruit, how you test skills and protect personal data, and how you ensure that candidates are never charged.
Use the recruiter registration form and mention Pest County. The replyshouldd say whether the open routesare ay realistic fit andwhath checks each side would need before approaching candidates.
Register your agency and tell us which seasonal, qualified or EU candidates you can present. The reply would explain whether an open route fits county employers.
It is not. The decree designating entries for this permit lists none, so employers cannot submit new applications. Subcontractors in the county who already hold the permit may keep it until expiry and renew under the old conditions. Still, no new placement can rely on it.
Only citizens of the few countries named in the government decree, each linked to Hungary or the EU through a readmission or return commitment. The list names Georgia, the Philippines and Armenia, but it can change, so partners would check oif.gov.hu before proposing anyone.
Yes. A cap set for each year limits employment-purpose and guest-worker permits together. Once it is reached, no further permits of these kinds are granted for the period, so a Pest County employer should never count on a set number of arrivals.
It can be, because the seasonal permit covers crop production, forestry, animal husbandry and fishing. Each permit lasts at most six months in any twelve months and is tied to the named farm employer. Individual growers would need to confirm demand directly.
Not without a new decision. A change of employer on a seasonal permit is handled through an application made in Hungary, and the permit lapses shortly after the employer reports that the work has ended. Partners would plan each season with one named grower.
HIPA has reported distribution centres on the edges of the capital, pharmaceutical and diagnostic investments in Szigetszentmiklós and Pomáz, and an announced battery parts expansion in Szada. These point to warehouse, production and quality roles, but partners would confirm current operations with each Pest County employer.
Only if they are nationals of a decree-listed country and the employer uses the employment-purpose permit, or if they are EU or EEA citizens. Warehouse work does not qualify for a seasonal permit, and the guest-worker route is closed.
Graduates and specialists may qualify for the Hungarian Card if their qualification is designated, or the EU Blue Card if the degree is recognised and the salary threshold is met. Technicians from EU and EEA states do not need a permit. Each Pest County employer would define its requirements in writing.
EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens do not need a permit. If they stay more than 90 days, they must notify the immigration authority of their residence and obtain a registration certificate. An online application is possible.
Where a labour market test applies, the employment department of the competent district office within the Pest County Government Office first checks whether suitable registered jobseekers are available, based on the employer’s labour demand. Some posts are exempt, and the employer would confirm how the step was handled.
It is based in Budapest, at Városház utca 7, even though it serves the county’s towns and villages rather than the capital. It runs 18 district offices, including those in Cegléd, Gödöllő, Vác, Érd, Szentendre and Dabas.
The permit names a specific workplace, so moving to another town or address may require a new permit decision. The Pest County employer would check with the immigration authority before any transfer and confirm the outcome in writing.
No later than the first day of work, the employer must ensure the worker’s permit allows work for that employer, in that post, and at that site. Keep a copy on file throughout employment and show it to inspectors if requested.
The employer reports online when the worker starts, if the worker fails to start, when employment ends and when relevant terms change. These reports have short deadlines, and NAV registration does not replace them. Failures can lead to large fines per worker.
Before the worker starts., registrationwith the National Tax and Customs Administration applies to every employee, foreign or Hungarian, and runs in parallel with the separate reports owed to the immigration authority.
Both sides would agree to look up the firm in Hungary’s company register service, confirm the tax number in NAV databases, establish who can sign, and match the operating company to the site address. A shared address on an industrial estate makes that last step especially relevant.
It shows whether a business appears among taxpayers with no outstanding public debt. Related NAV databases show whether a tax number is registered, suspended or cancelled. You can check it all at once, which helps when subcontractors are involved at a county site.
No. AtoZ Serwis Plus has no office in Hungary, and no Hungarian register lists it as a placement or temporary staffing business. The county employer remains legally responsible, and no vacancy, job order, or client is implied here.
Only if the government office has registered it, the public employment service publishes the national register of such firms. For some routes, only a qualified temporary work agency may participate, and the public employment service records that status in a separate register.
Registration as a temporary work agency, trained staff to support lawful foreign employment, a large blocked deposit, a substantial workforce including Hungarian citizens, transparent ownership and no tax debt. Such agencies must give foreign workers written information in a language they understand.
No. Hungarian private employment agencies may not take any payment from jobseekers, and AtoZ Serwis Plus never charges from candidates, whether described as a fee, a deposit, transport, or training.
The employing entity and signatory, the site’s town and street address, duties, gross pay, hours, shifts, and overtime, the permit route, housing and its cost, transport to the site, the selection steps, and the later document list.
A CV and evidence of the main skill only, for example a trade certificate, a forklift qualification, photographs of finished work or a reference. Citizenship is noted from the candidate’s own statement so the route can be assessed.
Only after the interview, when the employer confirms in writing that it wishes to proceed and issues its list of documents for the permit. Candidates keep their originals, and nobody in the chain holds identity documents on their behalf.
The GDPR and the Hungarian Information Act apply, with NAIH as the supervisory authority that receives complaints. The parties would agree on who is the controller at each step, how long they keep data, and how candidates can request deletion.
A GDPR transfer safeguard, such as standard contractual clauses, must be in place before candidate data moves from the EU to a partner outside the EU. Without it, no data would be shared for a Pest County request.
The employer, or someone acting directly for it, usually via video for candidates abroad. The parties agree on the language, any interpreter, and the feedback process in advance, and the employer makes the final offer decision.
A warehouse might ask for a short video of equipment handling; a moulding plant for a machine set-up task; a pharmaceutical site for questions on documentation and hygiene; and a farm for proof of earlier harvest work. Candidates never pay for any test.
Eight hours a day and 40 a week is the full-time standard under the Labour Code. Other arrangements must stay within legal limits, and a county employer would describe the shift system in its written request.
Overtime is limited across the year and rewarded with a premium or with compensating rest. The employer would state in writing how much overtime the post may involve, especially during busy periods at distribution centres.
Yes. The Labour Code sets supplements for night work, multi-shift work, Sundays and public holidays. These may matter for round-the-clock warehouses and production lines in the agglomeration, and pay statements should show them.
At least 20 working days each year, plus extra days based on age and certain personal circumstances. Foreign workers receive the same entitlement as Hungarian colleagues, and the contract should confirm it.
Yes. The national minimum wage and the higher minimum for jobs requiring secondary or vocational qualifications, both set by government decree, apply across Hungary. A Pest County grower would state the gross wage in writing for comparison with the decree.
Only on a legal basis or with the worker’s agreement, and within legal limits. Charges for housing, meals, or transport to an outlying site must be agreed to in writing before departure and appear on the pay statement.
A Hungarian address supported by a lease, a host’s statement, proof of ownership, a paid booking or an employer certificate promising accommodation. Seasonal workers must report address changes quickly, within days.
Suburban trains, HÉV lines and regional buses connect many county towns. Night shifts may start or end when services are sparse, so workers should check whether the Pest County employer arranges its own transport.
Possibly, if the permit documents the accommodation and the daily journey is realistic at shift times. Report any address change, and the permit still names only the county workplace and employer.
No. It permits short visits to other Schengen countries but no employment there. You cannot send a worker placed in Pest County to a site across the border, where that country’s work rules apply.
No. Short-stay visas and visa-free entry allow visits only. A non-EU worker needs a residence permit naming the employer before starting work, and working without it is unlawful for both the worker and the employer.
No. Neither permit allows family reunification. Candidates for Pest County should know this before applying, and the parties would state it plainly in the written job description sent to each candidate.
No. Employment-purpose, guest-worker, and seasonal permits do not lead to a national residence card, and you cannot switch to a different permit from inside Hungary. Partners would make this clear to every candidate.
The permit lasts up to two years and can be extended once, with the extension requested in Hungary before it expires. Candidates for Pest County posts would understand from the start that the stay is time-limited.
To the employment supervision authority within the Pest County Government Office. Complaints are free, can be made in person, by post or electronically, and the complainant’s identity is kept confidential by default.
In immediate danger, call 112. The National Crisis Management and Information Hotline (OKIT) offers free help around the clock, and you can also report workplace abuse in Pest County to the employment supervision authority.
Promises of guest-worker permits, demands for money for a job or visa, offers without a named employer or site, advice to travel on a tourist visa, and plans to hold a worker’s passport. Any of these would halt the process.
Only through an open route, and only if the driver meets Hungarian requirements, including Hungary’s GKI certificate of driver qualification, which matches Code 95. The theory exams may be taken in English, Russian, or Hungarian.
Yes. A non-EU licence must be exchanged after the driver has lived in Hungary for a period, and the government office checks the conditions. A county haulier would confirm each driver’s status before work starts.
By applying in person to the transport authority at the government offices, which issues cards to holders of a valid licence whose normal residence is in Hungary. A county haulier sending a non-EU driver abroad on international work must also hold a driver attestation for that person.
Only where the employer has an agreement with the government and prior group approval, such permits are tied to the specific project and its schedule and suit only a small number of Pest County investors.
On oif.gov.hu, the immigration authority’s website, which includes factsheets on each permit and updates on changes. Partners should check it before every plan, since decrees can quickly alter country lists and conditions.
KSH, the national statistics office, releases official employment, earnings and population tables covering Pest County and the Central Hungary region. Partners should rely on those tables rather than unsourced figures.
The Pest County Government Office runs district offices in towns such as Cegléd, Nagykőrös, Dabas, Monor, Ráckeve and Szigetszentmiklós. The Cegléd office includes an employment department and a food chain safety and animal health department.
Through the recruiter registration form, listing your trades and source country, explaining your skill checks, data safeguards, and the steps that keep candidates from ever paying. The reply would explain whether any open route fits.
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