Hungarian citizenship - types of naturalisation.

Learn the ways towards Hungarian citizenship.

Hungary is part of the European Union therefore the Hungarian passport is an EU passport as well. All EU citizens and their family members have the right to move and reside freely within the EU. With a Hungarian passport, you can work throughout the EU. There are many ways to get Hungarian citizenship and we tried to collect all the necessary and useful information about the naturalisation process. Let’s check the main types of citizenship procedures.

General way of the naturalisation

After an eight-year continuous stay in Hungary, a non-Hungarian citizen is entitled to obtain Hungarian citizenship, if he/she meets the below requirements:

he/she has a clean criminal record in Hungary;

he/she proves that his/her livelihood and residence are assured in Hungary;

his/her naturalisation does not violate public security and national security;

he/she passes an exam in basic constitutional studies in the Hungarian language.​​​​​​

Preferential naturalisation

After living continuously in Hungary for 5 years:

After a five-year continuous stay in Hungary, a non-Hungarian citizen is entitled to obtain Hungarian citizenship, if (i) he/she was born in the territory of Hungary or (ii) he/she had established residence in Hungary before reaching legal age. However, in these cases, the applicant has to meet the above-listed four requirements as well. An exception is a minor child, who is not required to take an exam in basic constitutional studies. Furthermore, a minor child, who was born in the territory of Hungary and who had an established residence in Hungary before reaching his/her legal age does not has to spend 5 years in Hungary if he/she applies for Hungarian citizenship together with the parents.

After living continuously in Hungary for three years:

After a three-year continuous stay in Hungary, a non-Hungarian citizen is entitled to obtain Hungarian citizenship, if (i) he/she has lived in a valid marriage with a Hungarian citizen for at least three years, or (ii) he/she has a minor child who is a Hungarian citizen. In these cases, the applicants have to fulfill the four requirements mentioned in the general way of naturalisation.

Simplified naturalisation

The main advantage of the simplified naturalisation process is that the applicant is not required to take an exam in basic constitutional studies, he/she just has to prove that he/she can speak Hungarian at an intermediate level. The simplified naturalisation process is for those non-Hungarian citizens, (i) who have been living in a valid marriage for at least ten years with a person who at the time of the application is a Hungarian citizen, or (ii) who have been living in a valid marriage for at least five years with a person who at the time of the application is a Hungarian citizen and they had a common child. Although in this simplified process, an exam in basic constitutional studies is not a requirement, the applicant has to have a clean criminal record in Hungary, he/she has to prove that his/her livelihood and residence are assured in Hungary, and as a final criterion, his naturalisation should not violate the public security and the national security.

The above-mentioned eight-, five- and three-year period of the Hungarian residence concerning the general and the preferential ways of the naturalisation starts from the date of receiving a settled status (i.e., having a permanent residence permit) or – in case of people having the right of free movement and stay - it starts from the date of fulfilling the immigration registration obligation (i.e., obtaining an EEA registration certificate or a residence card).

The aforementioned information is a general overview of the ways how a non-Hungarian citizen can obtain Hungarian citizenship and contains the main eligibility criteria for obtaining Hungarian citizenship. For more details, please contact us:

• https://nvisa.eu/en/contact/

Nov 30 2020