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New immigration law does not affect Hungarian citizenship applications

January 11, 2024 Hungarian Citizenship

A new immigration law came into force in Hungary as of 1 January 2024. However, it does not affect Hungarian citizenship applications, as those are governed by a different law. As a result, if you have been considering Hungarian citizenship, you may continue with the process as planned.

Hungarian citizenship application

The current law governing Hungarian citizenship applications came into force in 2010. It grants citizenship not only to people who were born or have spent enough time in Hungary, but also to everyone with Hungarian ancestors. This way, if at least one of your parents, grandparents, or even great-grandparents as well as any other ancestors were/are Hungarian citizens, you yourself will be eligible for citizenship too. The same goes for your children.

Since its entry into force in 2010, the current Hungarian Citizenship Act has granted citizenship to more than 1 million Hungarians around the world, and many more are eligible. As the procedure is relatively short and straightforward, with simple requirements and a processing time of only a year or so, getting Hungarian citizenship is an attractive way to obtain an EU passport.

Hungarian citizenship based on ancestry

Depending on when your ancestors left Hungary and where they lived, you might be eligible for one of two procedures called verification and simplified naturalization. The main difference between the language requirement.

For the simplified naturalization, you need at least conversational Hungarian to discuss your case with an administrator.
For verification, you do not need to speak Hungarian at all.

If you want to apply for Hungarian citizenship based on ancestry, you will need to prove that you are a direct descendant to a Hungarian citizen you base your application on. The proof is normally a series of marriage and birth certificates, tracing your lineage back to your Hungarian ancestor.

If you do not have all the required documents at your disposal, you can ask for the help of a professional genealogist who is expert on retrieving information from archives. We work with a team of expert who are in regular contact with archives not only in Hungary, but also in the neighboring countries: Austria, Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia. This is important because the territory of Hungary changed significantly in 1920, due to the Treaty of Trianon, and there are still many towns with an ethnic Hungarian population outside Hungary.

What do you need to become a Hungarian citizen?

The first step is to see if you are eligible for Hungarian citizenship based on ancestry. If you are not sure, you can take our free eligibility test if you click the button below. It takes only a few minutes, and it will tell you which procedure you are eligible for, and you will see what kind of documents and language skills you need.

Go to our free eligibility test now

If you are eligible, we would be happy to help you with the entire application process. We have a comprehensive service package, but you can start with just a personal consultation too (its price can be deducted from the full package if in the end you decide to go forward with that).

During the consultation (which can be done in person or in a video call), you can sit down with one of our experts and review all the documents you already have and will need, whether you need a genealogy expert, what are the language requirements for the application, and how to get a Hungarian passport. Together you can also set up a timeline for the entire process so you will know what to expect. If you have any questions, you will have a person to ask.

Order the consultation here

Get help from the experts

The Helpers Team has 20 years of experience assisting people who are interested in living, working, and doing business in Hungary. This includes Hungarian citizenship applications as well as residency applications and company setup, complete with every service you might need on the way.