09
May 2025
Hungary has enacted sweeping changes to its immigration policy, significantly altering the framework for third-country guest workers, investors, and digital nomads.
Under the newly published decree, requirements for accommodation, visa applications, and income verification have been redefined.
New rules on entry and residence
Hungary’s Decree No. 88/2025 marks a pivotal shift for third-country nationals—foreigners who are not citizens of the European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) countries.
Under the new rule, all visa applicants must now submit a valid Hungarian residential address at the start of the application process. That change alone could hinder access for workers without a strong support network.
Guest investors get more leeway. They may now list their authorized representative’s office or home as their residence in Hungary. This rule also applies to their family members.
However, that openness doesn’t extend to all. Regular workers face tighter controls, including stricter proof-of-income requirements and more accountability from their employers.
Digital nomads’ new threshold
Hungary’s “White Card,” a residency permit designed for remote workers, also comes under the new decree. The card was introduced in 2021 to attract digital nomads, especially those with overseas employers.
Now, the updated rules raise the bar for applicants. To qualify, individuals must earn a net monthly income of at least €3,000 over the six months before applying.
This threshold aims to ensure financial self-sufficiency. However, critics argued that it could shut out many freelancers, retirees, and others with less predictable income.
Those who already hold a White Card must also maintain the same income level to renew it. The revised rules go into effect on July 15th, 2025.
Entry bans tied to fines and debts
For foreigners facing entry or residence bans due to unpaid fines, the new law introduces a narrow escape. If their only offense is nonpayment, they can now resolve the issue on the spot using electronic payment methods.
Once the debt is cleared, police will lift the ban immediately.
This clause aims to reduce bureaucratic blockades and lower deportation costs. Still, its success will depend on whether travelers have access to the necessary digital tools when facing border officials.
(Image courtesy of perzon seo via Wikimedia Commons)
Employers face higher burdens
Hungarian companies hiring foreign workers must now meet stricter standards of conduct. They must inform employees of the immigration consequences of contract termination.
If an employee is let go, the employer must provide a ticket back to the worker’s home country, or to any other country named in their residence permit.
The government also clarified a gray area: if a guest worker leaves their assigned accommodation or takes up unauthorized work elsewhere, their original employer is still considered to have fulfilled legal duties.
That technicality shields employers from blame, but critics voiced concerns that it could create loopholes where workers vanish into illegal labor markets.
Timeline for enforcement
The decree splits its updates across three different implementation dates:
April 25th, 2025: Most changes, including address registration and employer obligations, take effect.
July 15th, 2025: White Card revisions and deportation cost rules go live.
August 1st, 2025: New rules tied to public order fines are enforced.
Staggering the rollout, the government said, will allow time for adaptation. However, many migrants said that they are still left with questions—and stress.
Backlash builds among long-term expats
While the decree mainly targets newcomers, it has triggered alarm among long-term expats.
Thousands of Americans, Canadians, Australians, and New Zealanders—many self-funded retirees—now fear that they won’t meet the stricter income or residence requirements. Many lack the language skills or employment history needed to justify staying.
In public forums, longtime residents expressed frustration. “We’ve lived here for years, respected the culture, paid taxes, and used private health care,” one commenter wrote. “Now we’re being pushed out.”
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(Image courtesy of Lynx1211 via Wikimedia Commons)
Hungary at crossroads on immigration
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government has long promoted a tough stance on immigration.
These changes reflect that ongoing agenda. Officials argued that the system must be tight, fair, and enforceable. However critics warned that Hungary risks alienating productive, peaceful residents who have contributed to the economy for years.
The amended rules could discourage foreign talent at a time when Hungary faces labor shortages and an aging workforce. Digital nomads, guest investors, and skilled workers all bring tax revenue, housing demand, and innovation—assets not easily replaced.
Bar raised for travel, temporary stays
Hungary’s updated guest worker regulations create new hurdles for both short-term and long-term visitors from outside the EU.
Travelers from third countries must now secure a Hungarian residence address before applying for a visa—a requirement that complicates plans for digital nomads, seasonal workers, and exploratory visitors who typically seek housing only after arrival.
These shifts come just ahead of the EU’s rollout of the European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), expected in the last quarter of 2026.
Under ETIAS, travelers from visa-exempt countries—like the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand—must apply online before entering the Schengen Area, which includes Hungary.
While ETIAS aims to boost border security, Hungary’s new rules go further by demanding fixed accommodation and proof of financial means.
Together, these systems signal a tougher landscape for newcomers, especially independent travelers and remote workers without corporate backing.
In the long term, the raised income threshold for Hungary’s White Card may steer digital nomads toward more flexible EU destinations like Portugal or Estonia, where remote work visas carry fewer requirements.
As Schengen states begin aligning visa pathways with ETIAS data sharing, Hungary’s restrictions could act as a bellwether for future regional tightening.
Precedent for stricter regional alignment
Although Hungary’s decree targets national immigration procedures, it may shape the broader EU approach by reinforcing trends toward stricter entry conditions and employer accountability.
As one of the Schengen Area’s more conservative voices, Hungary’s actions highlight how member states can assert national control even while participating in shared border policies.
The new rules could influence peer countries to re-evaluate their labor migration policies amid economic uncertainty, demographic decline, and growing anti-immigration sentiment.
Hungary’s requirement for employers to fund repatriation costs and explain immigration consequences reflects a push to shift administrative burdens onto private entities—a strategy that other EU states might adopt to cut public spending and reinforce enforcement mechanisms.
Moreover, by targeting income and accommodation as gatekeeping tools, Hungary hints at a model that favors economically mobile migrants.
This mirrors a larger EU shift from humanitarian-based migration to market-driven migration, where individuals must prove their financial worth before entry.
As the EU prepares to modernize the Schengen Borders Code and roll out ETIAS, Hungary’s national changes offer a glimpse into how local reforms may quietly reshape Europe’s collective stance on immigration.
(Image courtesy of Wirestock via iStock)
A tighter gate, a longer stay
As Hungary reshapes its immigration framework, the latest decree signals a shift toward stricter oversight with calculated leniency.
By balancing investor incentives with firmer accountability for employers and workers, the nation redraws its boundaries on who gets to stay—and under what terms.
Whether these reforms herald sustainable integration or deepen divides remains a question only time, and their enforcement, will answer.