Visa requirements for Hungarian citizens

Historical perspective

They have been considerably relaxed since the end of communism and the removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria in May 1989.

During the communist era, travelling to the West was a long process for Hungarian citizens. The first step was to obtain an invitation, preferably from a relative in the country to be visited, and a promise of full financial support. With such an invitation, and assuming he could get a passport, a Hungarian could travel westwards once a year. However, in the absence of such an invitation, he could travel to the West only once every three years. The Communist-era visa restrictions restricted Hungarian artists and musicians since it hindered their ability to travel abroad. As a result, many chose to leave Hungary and settle in the West, such as famed cellist János Starker, who emigrated to the United States in 1948 because it was impossible for him to tour abroad with a Hungarian passport.

Domestic events in Hungary have affected the visa requirements imposed on Hungarian citizens by Western countries. The Revolution of 1956 and the ensuing repression resulted in the United States deciding to expedite all Hungarian visa requests. The end of communism in 1989 led to a rapid relaxation of visa restrictions. Visa-free travel for Hungarians was introduced by several countries, including Sweden (1986), United Kingdom (1990), Germany (1990), France (1990), Spain (1990), Belgium (1991), South Korea (1991), Chile (1992), Israel (1993), South Africa (1993), Portugal (1993), Tunisia (1993), Canada (1994), Slovakia (1994), Italy (1995), Mexico (1997), Austria (1997), Japan (1997), Slovenia (1998), Panama (1998), Morocco (1999), New Zealand (2000), Croatia (2000), Brazil (2001), Hong Kong (2002), Serbia (2003), Ukraine (2003) and Peru (2003).

Despite the tremendous increase in the number of visa waiver agreements, there have also been setbacks in recent years. In June 2001, the visa-free travel agreement between Hungary and Russia came to an end, and both countries now require visas of one another's citizens.

Today

Since Hungary's 2004 accession to the European Union (EU), visa restrictions for Hungarian citizens were further relaxed. Hungarians can now not only travel visa-free to any member state of the EU, but also have a right to settle there. A valid passport or identity card is sufficient for any stay shorter than three months. For periods longer than three months, a residence permit is needed. Hungarians are allowed to settle in any EU country for more than three months if they work or study there, or if they are financially self-sufficient. By virtue of the agreement on the European Economic Area (EEA), those rights also apply to Hungarians in Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. The same rights also extend to Hungarians in Switzerland as a result of the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons. Following the accession to the European Union in 2004 and the Schengen Area in 2007, visa requirements were also lifted by several other countries including Georgia (2005), Bosnia and Herzegovina (2005), Macedonia (2005), Colombia (2005), Moldova (2007), Botswana (2008), Taiwan (2008), Australia (2008), and Thailand (2011).

The Hungarian government's decade-long efforts to have U.S. visa requirements abolished for Hungarian citizens finally came to fruition on 17 November 2008 when the United States decided to include Hungary in its Visa Waiver Program. The inclusion of Hungary in the Visa Waiver Program was considered a major event there. Kinga Göncz, the country's then foreign minister, even went as far as to describe it as "a landmark in our relations [with the United States], since the visa waiver was essentially the single unresolved issue." However, Hungarian President László Sólyom, who had promised upon his election in 2005 never to visit the United States as long as fingerprint requirements were part of U.S. visa procedures, refused to sign the agreement on the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, fearing it would give the United States too much access to Hungary's criminal registry. His refusal did not affect Hungary's inclusion in the program.

Recently visa requirements for Hungarian citizens were lifted by Qatar (July 2012), Kyrgyzstan (July 2012), Armenia (January 2013), Jamaica (March 2013), Turkey (February 2014), Papua New Guinea (March 2014), Bahrain (October 2014), the United Arab Emirates (May 2015), Timor-Leste (May 2015), Samoa (May 2015), Indonesia (June 2015), Kazakhstan (July 2015), Sao Tome and Principe (August 2015), Tonga (November 2015), Palau (December 2015), Marshall Islands (June 2016), Tuvalu (July 2016), Solomon Islands (October 2016) and Belarus (February 2017).

As of 1 January 2017, Hungarian citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 167 countries and territories, ranking the Hungarian passport 10th in terms of travel freedom (tied with Maltese passport) according to the Henley visa restrictions index. The number of countries grew exponentially over the last few years, in 2009 Hungarian citizens could travel to 131 countries without a visa, to 142 in 2010, and 153 in 2012.

Territories

Visa requirements for Hungarian citizens for visits to various territories, disputed areas, partially recognized countries and restricted zones:

Diplomatic passport visa requirements

A Hungarian ordinary passport, with visa-free access to all of the world's developed countries, is a very convenient travel document by international standards. However, it is not as handy as a Hungarian diplomatic passport, which has even less visa restrictions attached to it. Several countries offer visa-free access to holders of a Hungarian diplomatic passport, but not to ordinary passport holders. This is notably the case with China (since 1992), Russia (since 2001). and India (since 2003). As of July 2009, Hungarian diplomats can enter all G8+5 countries without a visa. The Hungarian diplomatic passport holds the distinction of being the only travel document in the world granting such visa-free entry to all G8+5 member states.

In total holders of various categories of official Hungarian passports have additional visa-free access to the following countries - Algeria (diplomatic passports), Azerbaijan (diplomatic or service passports), Belarus (diplomatic or service passports), China (diplomatic or service passports), Cuba (diplomatic or service passports), Egypt (diplomatic passports), India (diplomatic or official passports), Indonesia (diplomatic or service passports), Iran (diplomatic passports), Kazakhstan (diplomatic or service passports), Laos (diplomatic or official passports), Mongolia (diplomatic or official passports), Russia (diplomatic and service passports), Tajikistan (diplomatic or service passports), Turkmenistan (diplomatic or service passports) and Uzbekistan (diplomatic passports), Vietnam (diplomatic, official, service or special passports), Yemen (diplomatic passports). Holders of diplomatic or service passports of any country have visa-free access to Cape Verde, Ethiopia, Mali and Zimbabwe.

Vaccination

Many African countries, including Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia require all incoming passengers to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination. Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area.

Passport validity

Many countries require passport validity of no less than 6 months and one or two blank pages.

Countries requiring passport validity of at least 6 months on arrival include Afghanistan, Algeria, Bhutan, Botswana, Brunei, Cambodia, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Guyana, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq (except when arriving at Basra - 3 months and Erbil or Sulaimaniyah - on arrival), Israel, Kenya, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Myanmar, Namibia, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, countries requiring passport validity of at least 4 months on arrival include Micronesia, Zambia, countries requiring passport validity of at least 3 months on arrival include Georgia, Honduras, Iceland, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Moldova, Nauru, Panama, United Arab Emirates and countries requiring passport validity of at least 1 month on arrival include Eritrea, Hong Kong, Macao, New Zealand, South Africa. Other countries require either a passport valid on arrival or passport valid throughout the period of intended stay.

Right to consular protection in non-EU countries

When in a non-EU country where there is no Hungarian embassy, Hungarian citizens as EU citizens have the right to get consular protection from the embassy of any other EU country present in that country.

Israeli stamps

Visitors with passport stamp of Israel are not allowed to enter a number of countries because of the Arab League boycott of Israel.

Fingerprinting

Several countries including Argentina, Cambodia, Japan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea and the United States demand all passengers to be fingerprinted on arrival.