Hungarian citizenship: simplified naturalisation for descendants

A passport is a right, not a permission. If you obtain one through your ancestry, you are not buying anything and you are not asking for a favour: you are taking back what belonged to your family. Which countries open this route and how far back they look is set out in the overview of citizenship by descent. Hungary is among the most open countries in Europe: it sets no limit on generations, requires no residence in the country and charges no fee for the procedure.

Who can get Hungarian citizenship

Hungary's Citizenship Act, Act LV of 1993, opens several doors to people with Hungarian roots. Which one is yours depends on a simple question: are you already Hungarian, was your ancestor Hungarian, or did someone in your family lose their citizenship under duress?

Simplified naturalisation has been open to applicants all over the world since 2011. The framework is set by the principle of descent, which Hungary's embassies and consulates describe as the core principle of its citizenship law: the children of Hungarian citizens are Hungarian from birth, wherever they are born and however many generations have already lived abroad.

You may already be Hungarian: confirmation of citizenship

Before you apply for naturalisation, check whether you need it at all. If your parents or grandparents were Hungarian citizens when you were born, you very probably are one too. The Hungarian embassy in The Hague says so explicitly, and it goes further: anyone who left Hungary as a Hungarian after the 1956 uprising is, with rare exceptions, still Hungarian today.

In that case you do not apply for naturalisation but for confirmation of your citizenship, in Hungarian állampolgárság igazolása. It is free of charge, and whether you speak Hungarian plays no part. Your own birth certificate and your parents' marriage certificate are often enough, for example if you or one of your parents was born in Hungary or has held a Hungarian passport before. Otherwise you add the birth certificate of your Hungarian parent and the marriage certificate of that parent's own parents, always as full certificates, never as short extracts.

There are three exceptions you need to know, because they can break the line:

• Marriage before 1 October 1957. A Hungarian woman who married a foreigner before that date lost her Hungarian citizenship.
• Birth before 1 October 1957. A child of a Hungarian mother and a foreign father born before that date did not become Hungarian by birth. That child can acquire citizenship today by declaration, while their descendants take the naturalisation route.
• Emigration before 1 September 1929. If your ancestor left Hungary before that date, the embassy says their descendants were probably not born Hungarian. Simplified naturalisation remains open to you.

The declaration: for those stripped of their rights, and their families

Hungary has faced up to its history. Anyone whose citizenship was withdrawn under the laws of 1947, 1948 and 1957, anyone whose citizenship ended by release between 15 September 1947 and 2 May 1990, and anyone who was forced to resettle in Germany after the war regains Hungarian citizenship by a written declaration to the President of the Republic. Residence plays no part, the law provides for no language assessment on this route, and the declaration is free of charge. For many families of Hungarian Germans who had to leave their homeland, it is a late and dignified way back. The children and grandchildren of these people apply for simplified naturalisation.

Simplified naturalisation: the requirements

For everyone who is not already Hungarian, simplified naturalisation, in Hungarian egyszerűsített honosítás, is the main route. Section 4(3) of the Act sets four conditions:

1. Hungarian roots. One of your ancestors was a Hungarian citizen, or you credibly show that your family comes from Hungary.
2. Hungarian language. You demonstrate it in a conversation when you hand in your application.
3. A clean record. You have no criminal record under Hungarian law, and no criminal proceedings are pending against you before a Hungarian court.
4. No threat. Your naturalisation does not endanger Hungary's public order or national security.

What is missing matters just as much. Unlike regular naturalisation, this route requires no residence in Hungary, no proof of income or housing in the country and no exam on constitutional basics. Nor does the law set a limit on generations: it simply speaks of an ancestor. Whether your great-great-grandfather came from Transylvania, Bačka or Upper Hungary is secondary for your application, as long as you can document the line.

The embassy also points out a practical shortcut. If a relative has already obtained citizenship through simplified naturalisation, you do not have to submit the certificates of your shared ancestors again. It is enough to give that relative's name, place of birth and date of birth in your application. So siblings and cousins do well to plan the route together.

Hungarian citizenship without a language test?

This is the hurdle where applications fail, and Hungary's embassies and consulates are unusually blunt about it. You have to present your application in Hungarian yourself and answer the official's questions in short sentences without anyone's help. The law allows only one narrow exception: under § 4(8), the authority may waive proof of Hungarian for a person who lacks legal capacity. For everyone else, if your Hungarian is not good enough, the application has no prospect of success.

The good news is in the detail: Hungary does not ask for a language certificate. The authority that accepts your application assesses your Hungarian in conversation and records the result on the form. What is expected is communication at an intermediate level, in both directions: you understand, and you answer. According to the embassy, a dialect, a regional accent or halting Hungarian is no problem. Anyone who cannot hear or speak encloses a medical certificate and is assessed in writing.

Bear in mind, too, that the authorities may assess your Hungarian again at any stage, including later when you apply for a passport or if Hungary asks you back for an interview. If you never learned your family's language, build in a proper course before you book your appointment.

There are three cases in which you reach a Hungarian passport with no language assessment at all:

• You are already Hungarian and only have that confirmed.
• You acquire citizenship by declaration under section 5/A.
• You are under 14. Only applicants aged 14 or over are assessed, along with those who turn 14 within six months of handing in the application.

How language tests, interviews and oaths work in other countries is compared in Language, test, oath of allegiance.

Applying for Hungarian citizenship: documents and procedure

1. Appointment and filing in person

You file the application in person, by appointment. In Hungary it can be accepted by the government offices and the citizenship authority; abroad, by Hungarian consular officers, meaning the embassy or a consulate in your country of residence. The law does not allow you to send a representative. Every applicant has to be present when the application is handed in, whatever their age. You fill in the forms beforehand but only sign them in front of the official. Names are written in Hungarian order, surname first.

2. The documents

The line has to be unbroken. Your grandfather's birth certificate alone is not enough: you also document the generation in between. If the line runs through a woman, the marriage certificates belong in the file so that birth name and married name match. As proof that your ancestor held Hungarian citizenship, the embassy also accepts church and archive certificates with a precise reference (volume, page and entry), as well as a military service book, an employment record book or a school report. How to find such records in parish registers and archives is shown in Genealogy for your passport.

Applicants from Germany get a break here: the law waives translation for certain civil status certificates in German, English or French. Which certificates qualify is set by a government decree, so check this with the embassy or consulate before your appointment.

3. Review and decision

The decision on your application rests with the President of the Republic, on the proposal of the responsible minister. The minister has three months for this, extendable by up to three more months in justified cases. Time during which you are supplying further documents, or the authority is obtaining information from other bodies, does not count. If the decision is positive, the President issues the naturalisation certificate, the honosítási okirat. Until the decision is made, you can withdraw your application at any time.

Oath, certificate and Hungarian passport

You become Hungarian on the day you take the citizenship oath or make the equivalent pledge. In essence, you promise to regard Hungary as your homeland, to be a loyal citizen, to respect the Fundamental Law and the laws, and to defend and serve your homeland to the best of your ability. The oath ends with a religious formula; the pledge leaves it out. The choice is yours.

If you come through simplified naturalisation, you also choose the place: before any mayor in Hungary or before the head of a Hungarian embassy or consulate abroad. The certificate is sent to the office you chose within 15 days of being issued, and that office invites you to the ceremony within 30 days of receiving it. You can have the place changed once, no later than five days before the date. For the ceremony, Hungary issues you a Hungarian identity card as a matter of course, against which your identity is checked. If you fail to take the oath within one year of the invitation through your own fault, the naturalisation lapses.

Then comes the step many people underestimate: the passport. Hungary records every life event of its citizens in its own registers, meaning birth, marriage, divorce and death. That is why you hand in the registration data sheets together with your naturalisation application. No registered birth, no Hungarian birth certificate, and without that certificate, no passport. The embassy or consulate will not accept a passport application until your life events have been registered in Hungary.

You apply for the passport in person, by appointment, bringing your German passport or identity card and the naturalisation certificate. It is produced in Hungary and then sent to the embassy or consulate. The same applies to your children: if their birth has not yet been registered in Hungary, you file a separate application for that, because the Hungarian birth certificate is the basis for the passport.

Hungary has been a member of the European Union since 1 May 2004 and part of the Schengen Area since 21 December 2007. How passports compare worldwide, and what a ranking really measures, is explained in Passport rankings.

Dual citizenship: Hungary and Germany

For Germans, the situation has never been better. Since 27 June 2024, acquiring another citizenship on application no longer means losing your German one. The old loss rule in section 25 of the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz) has been repealed, and you no longer need a retention permit (Beibehaltungsgenehmigung).

Hungary does not ask you to give up your existing citizenship to be naturalised either. The law only governs how Hungary treats you: anyone who holds another citizenship alongside Hungarian citizenship counts as Hungarian under Hungarian law. So in Hungary you act as a Hungarian, and in Germany as a German.

One rule in the Act allows Hungarian citizenship to be suspended where there is a threat to public order or national security. It expressly applies only to Hungarians whose only other citizenship is that of a country outside the European Economic Area. With your German passport, you are not covered by it.

In the end, a family with Hungarian roots holds two EU passports, without moving and without giving anything up. What German law allows in detail is covered in the article on dual citizenship for Germans.

Disadvantages of Hungarian citizenship

People who ask about disadvantages usually mean two things: what will the route cost me, and what will tie me down afterwards? The route itself costs effort, but hardly any money.

• Language. Without conversational Hungarian at an intermediate level, there is no simplified naturalisation. If you still have to learn, you need time.
• Appearing in person. The application, the oath and the passport application all happen in person, for every applicant.
• Paperwork. Every generation back to the Hungarian ancestor, with names in old spellings, places that now lie in another country and archives in several countries.
• Duty to register. As a Hungarian, you report your life events to Hungary, otherwise there is no passport.
• Duty of truthfulness. Anyone who acquires citizenship through false statements or by concealing facts can lose it again within 20 years.

After that, the Hungarian passport ties you down less than many people fear. Hungary lets you keep your existing citizenship, and you do not have to live in the country to apply. If you later do want to move to Hungary, the rules for living there are set out in Moving to Hungary (in German), and the tax side in the tax overview for Hungary (in German). How a second passport and your taxes fit together is explained under Tax.

The upside weighs more. A second passport is a right, not a permission: unlike a visa, it does not disappear just because a government changes its policy. And it is the lawful way forward if your first passport is lost, stolen or held abroad. What else a second passport can do for you is described in Why a second passport.

No Hungarian ancestors: marriage, residence or another route

There are routes without Hungarian roots as well; they simply ask more of you. If you are married to a Hungarian citizen, section 4(3a) opens simplified naturalisation after ten years of marriage, or after five years if you have a child together. Your spouse has to be a Hungarian citizen when you apply, and here too you have to speak Hungarian. The law does not require residence in Hungary. How other countries naturalise spouses is compared in Naturalisation through marriage.

Regular naturalisation under section 4(1) requires eight years of uninterrupted residence in Hungary, secure income and housing in the country, and an exam on constitutional basics in Hungarian. Anyone who has been married to a Hungarian citizen for at least three years, or who has a minor Hungarian child, qualifies after just three years of residence. Which residence permit you need for that is described in the overview of entry, visas and residence in Hungary (in German).

The Act knows no programme that grants Hungarian citizenship in return for an investment. Naturalisation through residence is the free route and often the better one in the end, but it costs years, eight in Hungary's case. This is exactly where citizenship by investment comes in: it buys you the time that naturalisation takes. Why you should pursue both in parallel is explained in CBI and naturalisation. The open programmes with their investment amounts and timelines are under Programmes, side by side in the comparison, and how spouses and children come along is shown under Family.

If your ancestors' home town now lies in Romania, in Transylvania or the Banat for example, it pays to look across the border too: also check Romanian citizenship by descent.

Frequently asked questions