BUDAPEST – The Hungarian Parliament recently announced amendments to the country’s immigration laws, set to take effect from January 1, 2024.
The amendments aim to reinforce existing regulations, significantly impacting both prospective foreign nationals seeking work permit permissions and the processing of ongoing applications.
Under the new regulations, two distinct categories of employment permits will be established. The first one will be the ‘Skilled Workers Permit’ under which the eligible skilled applicants will be granted permission to reside in the country for a duration of up to three years.
Moreover, under the ‘Guest Workers Permit’, the eligible individuals will have a limited stay duration and will not have the opportunity to seek permanent residency or act as sponsors for family members. Another change related to ‘Guest Workers Permit’ is that the number of guest workers allowed will align with the quantity of available job positions in Hungary. For this permit, Hungarian sponsoring companies will need to complete a resident labor market test for applicants.
To facilitate the implementation of these changes, the Hungarian authorities have outlined a comprehensive plan according to which from January 1, 2024, to February 29, 2024, the processing of immigration applications will be temporarily halted and no new employment permit requests will be accepted during this period.
It has also been announced that the applications submitted before January 1, 2024, will undergo processing after February 29, 2024.
Moreover, work permit applications submitted electronically and fully paid before December 31, 2023, will be evaluated under the existing regulations.
Interestingly, the Residence permits due to expire within this period will automatically be extended until April 30, 2024 while the authorities will accept new applications starting from March 1, 2024.
The temporary pause will extend to fresh applications for residence permits, residence cards, and EU registration cards. Only those applications deemed of national significance, specifically directed by the government, will be considered and accepted during this period.
