All about the Hungarian address card

Accommodation slip or address card

While taking care of official business in Hungary, you will regularly be asked to prove your address – this is just part of how administration works here. As a result, having an address is essential as a Hungarian resident.

There are two types of documents that can prove your address. Whether you are eligible for one or the other depends on your status in Hungary.

If you are a third-country national who has just moved to Hungary, you most probably have an accommodation slip (“szálláshelybejelentő lap”). This is an official document featuring a QR code that officials can scan when they want to verify your address.

Otherwise you might be eligible for an address card (“lakcímkártya”). This is a laminated card that contains your Hungarian address, your Hungarian ID number, and a bar code that officials can scan when they want to verify your address. The address card is available to:

• Third-country nationals with permanent residency in Hungary (with a National Residence Card, EU Residence Card, or Interim Residence Card)
• EEA nationals and their closest third country national family members living in Hungary (with an EU registration certificate)
• Hungarian citizens
• Refugees and persons admitted for subsidiary protection

Benefits of the address card

Once you become eligible for a Hungarian address card, several services become more accessible to you than before. You will find it easier to localize your driver’s license, subscribe for a post-paid mobile phone plan, buy a car, open a bank account, or get a loan or mortgage. You will also be able to sign up for DÁP, the latest mobile app for electronic administration.

The accessibility of some procedures is based on your eligibility for an address card. For example, if you would like to have Hungarian health insurance but you are not insured, you can start paying a monthly contribution for yourself once you have been holding an address card for at least one year. After 8 years, you can apply for Hungarian citizenship.

Permanent and temporary address in Hungary

Your address is supposed to be the place where you live. It should reflect where authorities can reasonably expect to find you, and mail sent here will be considered delivered. This address will be referred to as your permanent address (“lakóhely”), which you should update within 3 working days after each change.

However, you will also be allowed a secondary, temporary address (“tartózkodási hely”), which you should register within 15 days if you are planning to stay somewhere for more than 3 months without giving up your permanent address. (With Hungarians, this is typical when a young person first moves to a rental from the parental home to study or work somewhere new. They keep their parental home as their permanent address, and add their rental as their temporary address.)

The address card will not expire if you only have a permanent address in Hungary. If you also have a temporary address, however, that needs to be renewed every 5 years. In this case, the day of expiry will be indicated on the card.

Get your address registered

To register an address, you need permission from the owner of the property.

If you are the owner, you can prove this by showing the purchase agreement to the administrator.

If you are renting, you have several methods to prove the approval of your landlord.

• It is easiest if you can ask your landlord to sign the application form.
• The landlord’s signature is not needed on the application form if the rental agreement is properly attested, either by two witnesses or a notary. Some administrators are not aware of this rule, so you might need to point it out in the requirements listed here (find the section about “Szállásadói hozzájárulás”).
• If there are several owners, or if there is a beneficiary to the property, all of them need to sign the application form. Alternatively, they can authorize one of them to act on behalf of all of them in a separate document. Then only the authorized person will need to sign the application form.

The registration can be taken care of either in person at any government office or online. If you go to a government office, you can receive your new address card on the spot. If you register online, the card will be mailed to you.

Get the physical address card too

Issuing an address card is not automatic as of February 2025. From this year on, the address can be proven by the relevant function of the DÁP app, which should make the physical address card redundant. However, since the laws regulating ID procedures have not yet been updated, verifying your identity is possible only with the combination of

• your ID card / passport / driver’s license AND
• your address card.

As a result, when you register your address and you are asked if you want the physical address card too, make sure to say yes. You might have to pay a small fee (HUF 3,700, which is less than EUR 10), but the address card is an essential document. If you want the card delivered to your address, that will cost an extra HUF 2,000.

Receiving a physical address card remains free in the following cases:

• When a minor reaches the age when they should receive their first address card (14 years)
• When someone used to have an old ID booklet and they are switching to the new cards
• When there was a mistake on the card (wrong data, manufacturing defect)
• When your address changes without you moving to a new place (this can happen when a street is reclassified, or when two villages merge)

Helpers Hungary at your service

Helpers has 20 years’ experience assisting foreigners living, working, and doing business in Hungary. When we help you receive a residence permit, that will include the right form of address verification, whether it is an accommodation slip or an address card.

Is there anything you need help with regarding administration in Hungary? Feel free to contact to and tell us about your plans, and we will be happy to find the solutions that best suit your needs.

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