In this article I will explain in brief all the visa and residence permit types in Hungary. This guide will help you mainly to know which type of permit you should apply to. Knowing this you will minimize the risk of applying to the wrong one and getting rejected, which in the future is not good for you as the rejection will be documented. A difficulty that you might encounter during the application process or indirectly with translations will be the language barrier. Important: this list does not contain permanent residence permits or citizenship. It only contains the temporary ones, in other words, primarily those for one to enter Hungary for the first time.
Note: if you are a citizen of a European Union member state or you are from the European Economic Area, then this list is not for you. The processes for you are different, and a bit simpler, although the language will remain to be a possible difficulty. If you are an EU citizen or EEA national and you are coming to work in Hungary, I have this guide for you: Work in Hungary: how EU citizens get the registration card.
Who can apply to the types of permits in this list?
All visas and permits you see in this guide are for people from outside of the European Union and from the European Economic Area. In other words, from a European point of view, a third-country national. That is the official term.
As this term is the one used officially in the Hungarian inmigration´s office´s website, I need to explain what it means in this context. It does not have anything to do with the term third world country. Third-country national refers to an individual who is moving to a foreign country and is processing his or her papers to legally work in that foreign country. Another way of calling an individual on that particular situation is foreign national. In the European Union (and in Hungary as a member state) you are a third-country national. Individuals from any EU member state or from the Economic European Area (EEA national) are referred in the official website as EEA national. I am explaining all this to you because it will be helpful when you will be submitting your application. One thing though, the United Kingdom is no longer a member state of the European Union, neither of the EEA, thus UK citizens in this context are third-country nationals.
Are you from a visa-free country?
Now that you are here I assume you are a third-country national. Here is another thing you should be very sure of before submitting any application. If you are from a visa-free country, which means you do not need visa to enter the European Union, most probably you will have 90 days to stay in the Schengen area, but within a period of 180 days. On those 90 days, you might be able to submit your application, but make sure that the application process period is less than the half of those 90 days. Otherwise, you might run out of time before getting your permit.
In case you are not from a visa-free country, in other words, you need visa to enter the Schengen area, in most cases you will get 30 days as a tourist and that will not be enough, so better apply from your country.
Note: this guide is only about all the different permit types, it does not include other details like costs.
Family reunification
In terms of family reunification visas or permits, there are two types. I will explain, but read through before making a decision.
Family reunification residence permit for a third-country national to reunite with an EU citizen (including Hungarians) or with an EEA national
This type of permit is for those third-country nationals who have a hungarian or european relative who lives in Hungary. The key is what is considered a family member. In this guide I explain more about this permit in detail: Hungary: Residence Permit for Family Reunification with European relatives
Family reunification residence permit for a third-country national to reunite with another third-country national who lives in Hungary
This is similar to the previous one, but in this case the third-country national reunites with another third-country national who already lives and work legally in Hungary and has a residence permit. In this guide I explain more about this permit in detail: Hungary: Residence Permit for Family Reunification with Third-country relatives
Residence permits for students
University studies
This permit is for students who would like to study in Hungary full time during the day and face to face. This is not for people who want to participate in a course of a couple of months. It needs to be a higher education institute officially recognized by the Hungarian government. The main requirement will always be the admission letter. For more details check this other guide I wrote: Hungary: all types of visas or residence permits for students.
ERASMUS student mobility
This permit is for student mobility programs such as ERASMUS and the main requirement will be the scholarship and all other related official documents. For more details check this other guide I wrote: Hungary: all types of visas or residence permits for students.
Work permits
As you can see, there are many types of work permits, some of them can be very specific. Please read all of them, do not decide after reading one because you might be eligible for other one. Read all, understand the differences and then plan your application.
General Hungarian work permit
In most cases this permit will apply to you, but not in all cases. The main requirement will always be the employment contract. In fact, for most work permit types a contract will be the main requirement and it will need to be signed by the employer and the employee.
There will be occasions, when even if you will work for a multinational or even if you are a highly-skilled professional, this permit will apply to you. What defines what type you will go for, is the specific situation and also on the employer. If you are sure you need the general work permit, I have a guide for that here: Work in Hungary: guide to get the residence permit for work
Work permit for traineeship or internship
I do not think I need to explain much, if you come to Hungary for an internship, almost sure this will be the permit you need. Just to emphasis, again here the contract will be the main requirement. It will always need to be a company registered in Hungary. For more details check this other guide I wrote: Hungary: all types of visas or residence permits for students.
Job-search permit after you completed studies or research in Hungary
This type of work permit is for people who were already living in Hungary, either for studies or for research, but they would like to stay in the country working as employees or as entrepreneurs. For more details check this other guide I wrote: Hungary: all types of visas or residence permits for students.
Residence permit for freelancers
This permit is for already freelancers or for people who plan to be freelancers. If you are already one, its a bit simpler and you will have higher chance to get the permit. In case you are planning to be one, the requirements will be way more rigorous, especially – but not only – the business plan. Here is a guide for more information about it: Hungarian Freelance Residence Permit or Freelance Visa.
Intra-corporate transfer expat work permit
This permit is specific for professional who work for a multinational in their home country, but that company decides to transfer them to their Hungarian office for a project for example. Here the key to the permit is the transfer from company ABC with operations in e.g. Panama to the same company ABC with operations in Hungary decided by the company. You need to have evidence of such transfer.
If you live in your country, you apply to a multinational from your country and they recruit you, then that will be a general work permit. The same applies for when the multinational contacts you and you get hired.
Highly-skilled professionals work permit (Blue card)
This permit is for highly-skilled professionals and it is called EU blue card, but not because you are a highly-skilled professional, this permit will be for you. What defines if you should apply for this permit is whether your skills are in shortage in Hungary, but not only that. The company that is hiring you needs those skills. If this does not takes place, at least in paper, most probably you will need to apply to the general work permit.
Seasonal agriculture employment permit
This permit is specific for seasonal agricultural workers who come to Hungary for no more than 6 or no more than 12 months to work.
Digital nomad visa (white card)
This visa is called in many countries the white card, and that is no different here in Hungary. It is only available for digital nomads and to apply you will need to be already one for at least 6 months, and with a steady income. Here is a guide for more information about it.
Working holiday visa
This visa is for people from specific countries who would like to work or study in Hungary for a period of 1 year. The specific countries are: New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, Japan, Hong Kong, Chile and Argentina.
Volunteering visa
This is for people who would like to do volunteering service in Hungary and the main requirement, similarly to the work permit, will be a signed volunteering contract with the given organization.
Permits for research
Short-term research visa
This permit is for research of a period of no more than six months.
Long-term research visa
This permit is for research of a period of no more than one or two years.
General research residence permit
This permit is for research of a period of between one and five years.
Residence permit for medical treatment
And lastly, this permit is for those who come to Hungary for medical treatment. Such a treatment will be provided for a period of more than 90 days but less than 2 years.
If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments section.
All the information from this article was taken from the official website of the Hungarian authorities.
Do you need help?
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Have a good day,
Renato
Source: Residence in Hungary (bmbah.hu)
