Hungary's ** visa program does not include citizenship, but there is no provision that prevents you from applying for Hungarian citizenship through the regular channels.
Hungarian Residency & Citizenship
As a resident of Hungary, you not only have the right to stay in Hungary for a long time, but you can also enter any Schengen member state without an additional visa and stay for up to 90 days. Physical residence in Hungary, having a stable income, paying taxes, and having a permanent address will bring additional rights.
If you get Hungarian citizenship, you will get more visa-free entry rights to countries around the globe (currently the Hungarian passport is ranked 7th in the world). In addition, as an EU citizen, you will be able to live and work freely in any member state.
Please note, however, that Hungary's ** visa program does not offer fast-track citizenship. Instead, it offers Hungarian residency with various advantages over other residency options.
Investor Residency vs. Regular Residency
In the Hungarian** visa program, the residency you can obtain is called "investor residency". It has the following advantages over a regular residence permit.
First, it is valid for 10 years, while regular residency usually expires in 2-3 years.
Secondly, the validity period is not tied to the expiration date of your passport: even if your passport expires early, your investor residence permit is still valid for 10 years.
Third, there is no minimum stay requirement: even if you stay in Hungary for a small period of time, your residency is still valid and renewable.
Fourth, family reunification applies to your spouse and minor children – not all types of residence permits are available.
At the same time, just like a regular residence permit, you can use your Hungarian Investor Residence Permit as a Schengen visa to enter any member state without a separate visa for the duration of your permit.
How to qualify for Residency as an Investor in Hungary
To be eligible for these concessions, you must make an investment that is considered to be of national interest as stipulated in Hungary's latest immigration law. The investment options are as follows:
€250,000 for the purchase of bonds issued by real estate** registered with the National Bank of Hungary (MNB).
€500,000: purchase of Hungarian residential real estate
€1,000,000: Donation to a designated educational or cultural institution
Applications will open in July 2024.
How to meet the Hungarian citizenship requirements?
To obtain Hungarian citizenship, you need to have lived in Hungary for 8 consecutive years and have proof of an address card.
The current Hungarian Investor Residency Program does not explicitly state that investors can quickly obtain permanent residency, so if the goal is to obtain Hungarian citizenship, the normal procedure needs to be followed. According to the law, it is not clearly defined whether an investor is eligible for an address card, so before further clarification, we must assume that an address card can only be applied for when applying for permanent residency, while obtaining permanent residency requires three years of residency in other types first.
Since the Hungarian Investor Residence Permit offers excellent favorable conditions for investors and their family members, it may be a better option compared to Hungarian citizenship that requires you to spend most of your time in Hungary.