Hungary

Hungary is one of few countries to have acceded to all four of the core statelessness conventions. Although this has translated into some positive law, policy and practice at national level, there remain some significant gaps and the stateless population has never been comprehensively mapped. A statelessness determination procedure is established in law, and access, assessment, procedural protections and appeal rights under the procedure are generally positive. However, the definition of a stateless person in national law is narrower than the 1954 Convention, applicants under the procedure lack protection from detention and removal, and the law provides only limited rights to people recognised as stateless. Access to nationality, although provided for in law, is very difficult to acquire in practice leaving most stateless people in the country unable to acquire a nationality even in the long term.

There are limited protections against the arbitrary detention of stateless people in Hungary and what limited procedural safeguards are in place have been deemed insufficient by various national and international actors. Safeguards exist in nationality law to prevent statelessness in the case of foundlings and children born abroad to Hungarian nationals. However, there are only partial safeguards to prevent children from being born stateless on the territory, adopted children may be stateless unless and until they acquire nationality through naturalisation, and, although births will be registered regardless of parents’ residence status, officials will register a child as having ‘unknown nationality’ unless this can be proven otherwise, causing significant problems for children later in life.

Last updated:

Mar 2021

Next scheduled update:

Mar 2022

Country expert(s):

Gábor Gyulai, Hungarian Helsinki Committee

Additional resources

ASSESSMENT KEY

++POSITIVE

+ SOMEWHAT POSITIVE

+-POSITIVE and NEGATIVE

- SOMEWHAT NEGATIVE

--NEGATIVE

ADDITIONAL INFO

NORMS & GOOD PRACTICE

International and Regional Instruments

Assesses whether countries are State party to the relevant international and regional instruments, including whether reservations have an impact on statelessness, and whether instruments are incorporated into domestic law. The four core statelessness treaties (1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons; 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness; European Convention on Nationality; Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession) carry more weight than other relevant human rights instruments in the assessment.

Hungary has a strong record on accession to relevant regional and international human rights instruments. It is one of few countries party to all four of the core statelessness conventions, and these have full effect in national law. However, Hungary does retain significant reservations to the European Convention on Nationality, and it is not party to the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers.

The 1954 Convention

Hungary is State Party to the 1954 Convention with no reservations, and the promulgating act gives it full effect in national law.

The 1961 Convention

Hungary is State Party to the 1961 Convention with no reservations, and the promulgating act gives it full effect in national law.

Other Conventions

Hungary is State Party to the European Convention on Nationality but retains significant reservations impacting on procedural safeguards relating to the acquisition of nationality (with a direct impact on stateless persons’ access to Hungarian nationality).
Hungary is State Party to the European Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession.
Hungary is State Party to all other relevant regional and international instruments except for the Convention on the Rights of all Migrant Workers and their Families.

Statelessness Population Data

Examines the availability and sources of disaggregated population data on statelessness. Provides recent figures and assesses reliability of measures countries have in place to count stateless persons, including in the census, population registries, and migration databases. Notes whether statelessness has been mapped in the country and whether there are sufficient measures in place to count stateless persons in detention.

Hungary does not publish reliable quantitative data on its stateless population. Although there was a category ‘stateless’ in the last census, it relied on self-identification. The competent authority for the determination of statelessness holds data on the number of people who apply and are recognised as stateless in Hungary, as well as the number of stateless people residing on the territory by type of residence permit, and the number of stateless people who apply for naturalisation. However, this information is not routinely published and there are potentially overlapping data categories. Statelessness has never been comprehensively mapped in the Hungarian context.

Availability and sources

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Hungary does not collect reliable quantitative data on the stateless population.
The 2011 census in Hungary included a category of ‘stateless’ (113 people were recorded under this category,53 men and 60 women); however, the data relied on self-identification.
The competent authority for the statelessness determination procedure holds (but does not routinely publish) data on the number of applications and people recognised as stateless under the SDP since it was established in 2008 (288 applications and 147 people recognised until 30 June 2020). Information is also held by the relevant competent authority on stateless people residing in Hungary by type of residence permit held, and the number of people who applied for and were naturalised. There are potentially overlapping categories in the data, including 'Palestinian' and 'unknown nationality'.
Information received on request from the competent authorities states that in 2019, five people applied under the SDP, two were recognised as stateless, and three were refused. On 31 December 2019, there were 11 stateless people residing in Hungary with humanitarian residence permits, 17 with refugee status, four with subsidiary protection, 39 with 'national' permanent residence permits, and five with 'EC' permanent residence permits (which permits free movement in the EU). No stateless person acquired permanent residence between 2016 and 2019. These figures do not include other forms of non-permanent residence permits that may be granted to stateless people, such as those based on employment or family reunion.
In 2019, two stateless people applied for naturalisation, four were naturalised, and one stateless person's application for naturalisation was refused.
UNHCR reports 76 people under its statelessness mandate in Hungary for 2019.
Stateless populations have not been mapped in the national context.

Stateless in detention data

The Police collect and hold data on immigration detention (including the nationality of those detained), but this information is not published in any format.
According to information received from the National Police Headquarters, immigration detention was ordered against only one stateless person in 2019. The National Police Headquarters could not provide information regarding the length of detention.

Statelessness Determination and Status

Identifies whether countries have a definition of a stateless person in national law that aligns with the 1954 Convention, and whether they have a dedicated statelessness determination procedure (SDP) leading to a dedicated stateless status. If an SDP is not place, it assesses whether there are other procedures in which statelessness can be identified or other routes through which stateless people could regularise their stay or access their rights. Countries are subdivided in three groups to enable comparison between those with an SDP leading to protection, those with other procedures, and those with a stateless status but no clear mechanism to access protection. The existing procedures and rights granted to stateless persons are examined and assessed against international norms and good practice.

Hungarian law and policy on the determination of statelessness is generally positive, but there are gaps when it comes to protection status and routes to naturalisation for people recognised as stateless in the country. Hungary has established a statelessness determination procedure (SDP) and a definition of a stateless person in law, although the latter is narrower than the 1954 Convention definition. Access to the procedure, the assessment process, procedural protections and appeal rights in the SDP are generally good. However, a key issue is the lack of protection for applicants, who may be subject to detention and return, and the content of Hungary’s stateless ‘protection’ status, which does not provide an automatic right to work, nor adequate access to nationality in practice. By law, stateless people can apply for naturalisation after three years’ residence, but this must be ‘domiciled’ residence (significantly prolonging the three-year period in reality) and they must meet other stringent requirements, which makes it very difficult to acquire nationality and ultimately resolve their statelessness.

Definition of a stateless person

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There is a definition of a stateless person in national law, but this is narrower than the 1954 Convention definition, in that it translates as a person who is not considered a national by any State 'based on its law' or 'in accordance with its law' rather than 'under the operation of its law'.
There are also exclusion provisions in the definition that go beyond the 1954 Convention, though it is not clear whether they have ever been used in practice. In 2019 an exclusion clause was added, ordering automatic exclusion from stateless status if the applicant's stay ‘violates or endangers the national security of Hungary'.

Training

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UNHCR organises an annual information provision day for the competent authority responsible for the statelessness determination procedure, but this does not constitute formalised training. There is no formal training for the competent authority nor judges.
The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has provided statelessness training for lawyers, NGOs, UNHCR and relevant competent authorities on an ad hoc basis in past years.

Existence of a dedicated statelessness determination procedure (SDP)

There is a dedicated SDP in Hungary, which is established in law.
The ‘National Directorate-General for Alien Policing’ (formerly the Immigration and Asylum Office, renamed in 2019 to incorporate the pejorative term ‘Alien Policing’ or ‘idegenrendészet’ in Hungarian) is the competent authority and its seven regional directorates (not the international protection directorate) are appointed to determine statelessness.

Access to the procedure

Applications can be made in writing or orally in any language, and there are no further formal requirements, for example, there is no fee for the procedure, nor any time limit on access.
Since a constitutional court judgement in 2015, there can be no requirement for legal stay as a condition for accessing the SDP.
There is an obligation in law on the authorities to consider an application.
The law states that an interpreter may be provided if the applicant and authority do not share a language, but it is not known how this is implemented in practice.
Applications cannot be made ex officio, but by law, the authorities can inform someone about the SDP, giving the immigration authorities an active role in promoting access to protection for stateless people. There is no information about how this is implemented in practice, however.
There is no provision in law nor any information about cooperation between agencies, but statelessness and asylum determination are conducted by the same overarching authority, which may facilitate cooperation.
There is no specific guidance on how to make a claim for statelessness status.

Assessment

By law, the burden of proof lies principally with the applicant, but under procedural rules the authorities should also actively contribute to establishing the facts and do so in practice.
The standard of proof is lower for statelessness determination - the applicant must 'substantiate' their statelessness - reflecting the standard of proof in asylum procedures and in line with UNHCR guidance.
There are some safeguards for certain groups including those who are illiterate, unaccompanied minors, and those with limited legal capacity, but it is not known how these are implemented in practice.
There is clear guidance for decision makers in law and practice.

Procedural safeguards

Free legal aid is available in law and practice with no need to meet a financial eligibility requirement, and legal representatives can be present and comment in interviews.
An interview is mandatory in all cases.
The applicant can conduct the interview in a language they understand, and interpretation is provided by the authorities. Documents can be submitted in any language without a certified translation.
Decisions are given in writing with reasons.
Quality assurance audits of the SDP are conducted on a yearly basis and in cooperation with UNHCR.
There is no formal referral mechanism for an individual refused asylum or whose expulsion could not be carried out for a longer period, who may be stateless to the SDP.
There is a time limit for decision-making set out in law (45 days), but this can be extended where there is a delay on the part of a foreign authority, which means that in practice, the delay can amount to months or even years for the applicant.

Protection during the procedure

By law, the state should issue an applicant for stateless status a renewable temporary residence certificate for six months, but in practice this is not issued to people in removal or detention proceedings.
In practice, expulsion and detention are possible during the procedure, and an application for stateless status does not constitute automatic grounds for release from detention.
Applicants do not have a right to work and there are no provisions regarding accommodation and social security.

Appeals

The law provides for an automatic right to appeal a negative decision to the Budapest Regional Court within 15 days. Further appeal to the Supreme Court is possible.
There is free legal aid available during the whole process and no fee for the appeal procedures.
Recently, the competent authority has been rejecting applications by stateless Palestinians, referring to the recognition of the State of Palestine by the United Nations. At the time of writing, this policy is being challenged by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee through litigation.

Stateless status

Stateless people recognised under the procedure are granted a humanitarian residence permit with maximum validity of three years, which can then be renewed each year for one-year periods.
Travel documents are issued.
Stateless people are only entitled to family reunification on the same basis as other holders of humanitarian residence permits, which is restrictive and there is no preferential treatment.
Stateless status can be revoked under certain conditions.
A stateless person has only very limited access to the labour market and needs to obtain a work permit prior to accessing employment, which is a very burdensome barrier in practice to accessing the labour market.
Stateless people have access to pre-school care, primary, secondary and higher education on the same basis as Hungarian nationals.
Access to social security is linked to employment contributions, so a person recognised as stateless does not have an automatic right to social security, only to basic emergency public healthcare services. This does not include maternity care, for example, which is only available to those who can establish 'domicile' i.e. usually after three years’ legal residence and/or on acquiring permanent residence.
People recognised as stateless and other holders of humanitarian residence permits do not have the right to vote in any elections. Only Hungarian nationals may vote in national elections. Stateless people granted refugee status or subsidiary protection, or who obtain a permanent residence permit, are entitled to vote in local (municipal) elections.

Access to nationality

By law, stateless people become eligible for naturalisation after a reduced three years as opposed to five or eight years for other groups. However, they face barriers to acquiring 'domiciled' residence, which can only be requested after a minimum three years’ residence with humanitarian protection status and only if granted permanent residence at the discretion of the Government, which may only be granted if considered being ‘in the national interest’.
In practice, stateless people must wait many years before they can naturalise, and then only in a completely discretionary and non-transparent procedure.
Stateless people must meet all other general requirements for naturalisation such as passing a constitutional exam, income and language requirements, costly translation and certification of documents.
An applicant for naturalisation must not have a criminal record, nor any pending criminal proceedings and should not violate Hungarian law or pose a threat to public security.

Detention

Analyses law, policy and practice relating to immigration detention generally, but focusing on protections in place to prevent the arbitrary detention of stateless people during removal and deportation procedures. Subthemes examine areas such as detention decision-making, how alternatives to detention are legislated for and implemented, procedural safeguards such as time limits, judicial oversight, and effective remedies, as well as protections on release.

There are limited protections against the arbitrary detention of stateless people in Hungary. Statelessness is not considered juridically relevant in decisions to detain, which are generic rather than individualised, and a country of removal does not need to be identified prior to detention for removal. Alternatives are provided for in law, but they are rarely applied, and only when detention would be a disproportionate detriment to the person. What limited procedural protections are in place have been deemed insufficient by the Supreme Court (Kúria), as well as national and international civil society and monitoring bodies. Positively, a temporary residence permit and protection from re-detention (unless on new grounds) are granted to people released from detention, and a humanitarian residence permit may be granted by law to people who cannot be removed.

Detention screening

Powers for immigration detention are provided for in Hungarian law.
A proposed country of removal does not need to be identified prior to detention.
Statelessness is not considered a juridically relevant fact in relation to detention.
In Hungary, the detention of asylum seekers (including those who may be stateless but as yet unidentified), has been a systematic practice in recent years. However, the number of stateless people recorded in immigration detention is low according to the National Police Headquarters. It reports that in 2019, one stateless person and one Palestinian were held in immigration detention. The law states that immigration detention should only be considered after less coercive measures have been explored.
There is no legal requirement to conduct a vulnerability assessment prior to detention, though factors such as health and age of the person are supposed to be taken into account. Statelessness is not considered a factor increasing vulnerability.

Alternatives to detention

Alternatives to immigration detention are provided for in law and include seizing travel documents, financial restrictions, and designating a place of stay.
However, the test for applying alternatives is lower than the 'last resort/least coercive /exhaust all alternatives' standard. The test in Hungary is that alternatives should be applied if detention would result in a 'disproportionate detriment' to the person concerned.
Alternatives are applied in practice but are not consistently considered, nor subject to a proportionality test nor time limit. Detention orders are generic, and do not take into account individual circumstances.

Procedural safeguards

Time limits on detention are provided for in law: 12 months in general and 30 days for detention to implement removal in the case of families with children.
There is no legal requirement for detainees to be provided with information on reasons for detention, but in practice, detainees are informed in writing of the reasons for detention, rights and responsibilities, which are translated to them if necessary. However, it is unclear if the information is sufficient, and detainees are not routinely informed of the possibility to apply for stateless status.
There is an automatic court review procedure. A request for extension of detention must be submitted to the court within 24hrs, a judicial decision issued within 72hrs and then an automatic court review takes place every 60 days after that. However, Hungarian Helsinki Committee, UNHCR and the supreme court have all reported these safeguards to be ineffective in practice.
There is no judicial remedy for a detainee to challenge the detention order or prolongation, though they may submit a 'complaint' against violation of certain specified rights relating to immigration detention.
No information about rules governing the process of redocumentation and ascertaining nationality is publicly available.
Hungarian law provides detainees with the right to an allocated representative ad litem or case guardian. However, this practice has been criticised for, for example, courts failing to appoint them, representatives not being informed about their clients’ cases, and rarely presenting arguments in their clients’ favour. NGOs may provide free legal assistance, but access is restricted following termination of an agreement between the Government and the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, which has been offering this type of assistance for decades.

Protection on release

People released from detention are issued with a temporary residence certificate for a maximum of three months or six months if a designated place of stay is ordered.
On release from detention after expiry of the 12-month time limit, detention can only be ordered again if the authorities issue a new expulsion order based on new facts. In such cases, cumulative time spent in detention under a previous order is not counted. Detention in preparation for expulsion (up to 30 days) is included in the maximum time limit of 12 months, but ‘asylum detention’ (up to six months) is not.
If an expulsion order has been revoked or if expulsion cannot be carried out after expiry of the 12-month maximum detention period, the immigration authorities may issue a humanitarian residence permit, but it is not clear how this is implemented in practice.

Return and readmission agreements

There is no information on whether statelessness is considered juridically relevant in return and readmission agreements, but in one known case, a stateless person was returned under a readmission agreement, despite it being known they did not possess the nationality of the country of return and had a pending stateless status application in Hungary.

Prevention and Reduction

Assesses the adequacy of safeguards in nationality laws to prevent and reduce statelessness, including protections for otherwise stateless children born on the territory or to nationals abroad, foundlings and adopted children. Examines law, policy, and practice on birth registration, including access to late birth registration, reduction measures taken by states to prevent and reduce statelessness among groups at high risk, and provisions for the deprivation of nationality.

Safeguards exist in Hungarian nationality law to prevent statelessness in the case of foundlings and children born abroad to Hungarian nationals. Births are entered in the registry regardless of the status of parents and birth certificates are issued to all children. However, there are significant gaps in the prevention and reduction of statelessness in Hungary. There are only partial safeguards to prevent children from being born stateless on the territory, children adopted by Hungarian nationals may be stateless until and unless they can acquire nationality through naturalisation, and birth registry officials will register a child as having ‘unknown nationality’ unless this can be proven otherwise, which causes significant problems for children later in life as there is no later procedure for them to establish their nationality and rectify the record of ‘unknown nationality’.

Stateless born on territory

There are two partial safeguards in law to prevent statelessness in the case of children born in Hungary who would otherwise be stateless.
There is an automatic safeguard at birth for children born in Hungary whose both parents are stateless and ‘domiciled’ in Hungary, or whose parents are unknown (foundlings). However, this does not prevent statelessness in the case of children whose parents cannot confer a nationality to their child, or who are stateless but do not possess a 'domicile' (lakóhely) in Hungary. Refugees, beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and those holding a permanent residence permit have a ‘domicile’ in Hungary, while those who hold standard, non-permanent residence permits do not. The latter category includes recognised stateless persons who hold a humanitarian residence permit but cannot have a ‘domicile’, which excludes their children born in Hungary from the scope of the legal safeguard aimed at preventing statelessness at birth.
There is also a non-automatic provision for children born in Hungary who do not obtain the nationality of either of their parents at birth. For these children, there is a legal option to acquire Hungarian nationality by declaration prior to their 19th birthday. In this case too, parents must be domiciled, and the child must have resided in Hungary for five years or more. However, this provision is not used in practice.
There are no specific provisions to protect the right to a nationality of children born to refugees in Hungary.

Foundlings

Foundlings are granted nationality at birth by law. Children born to an unknown father and a mother who is known but whose identity is not proven and has abandoned the child at the hospital are also treated as foundlings.
Nationality cannot be withdrawn until it is proven that the child has another, though it's not clear how this is determined in practice.
There is no age limit other than the legal definition of a child (under 18 years-old).

Adoption

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Adoption does not change the nationality of the child.
A foreign child can apply for Hungarian nationality up to the age of 14 with the consent of the adoptive parents in the case of full adoption and will be exempted from the general requirements for naturalisation. The child can apply on their own behalf if aged 14-18.
There is a risk of statelessness in the procedure if the child or parents do not apply or consent to apply for naturalisation, or there is a delay on the part of the authorities, and the child loses their former nationality or is stateless on adoption.

Ius sanguinis

Children born to at least one Hungarian parent are Hungarian by birth without conditions, irrespective of where the child is born.

Birth registration

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The births of all children born in Hungary must be notified within one day of birth to the civil registrar by the head of the hospital or the respective lead medical professional assisting during the birth if born outside a hospital. There are no registration deadlines stipulated in Hungarian law aside from that the birth should be notified to the registrar within one day of birth by the hospital or medical practitioner in attendance.
All children are provided with documentary proof of birth registration.
The civil registrar will examine the child's nationality upon registration. If the child's nationality or statelessness is not proven, they will be registered as 'unknown nationality' on the birth certificate, which causes significant problems for the child later in life as there is no later procedure for them to establish their nationality and to rectify the record of ‘unknown nationality’. This is a particular issue for the children of refugees born in Hungary, who are unable to obtain proof of the child’s nationality from their competent consular authorities. The Hungarian Helsinki Committee has reported several cases where refugee children born in Hungary have remained registered as having unknown nationality for several years or even decades.
There is no evidence of other groups at high risk of not being registered and no available research on this issue.
There is no mandatory requirement on registry officials to report people without residence status to the immigration authorities.

Reduction

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There is no evidence of any campaigns to promote birth registration, but also no evidence of groups at high risk of not being registered.
Hungarian Helsinki Committee has identified groups of children born in Hungary who may be at risk of statelessness due to gaps in nationality law safeguards.
An amendment was introduced in 2011 to the foundlings provision to enable children born to unknown fathers and abandoned by known mothers, whose identity could not be proven, to acquire Hungarian nationality (see above).

Deprivation of nationality

The only grounds for deprivation of nationality provided for in Hungarian law relates to acquisition of nationality by fraud, and there is no safeguard to prevent statelessness.
The Budapest Regional Government Office is the competent authority in nationality matters, though decisions on deprivation are meant to be taken by the President.
There is a right to appeal a decision to deprive nationality unlike in other nationality-related matters, but there is no publicly available information on practice.
There is a safeguard to prevent voluntary renunciation of nationality from resulting in statelessness.

Resources

Library of resources, legal instruments, publications and training materials on statelessness, specifically relevant to this country. More regional and international materials, as well as resources from other countries, are available on the Resources library. Domestic case law can be consulted in the Statelessness Case Law Database (with summaries available in English).

Please note that we are in the process of adding new resources, so check back soon.

International and regional treaties

United Nations - Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (Jan 1954)

Council of Europe - European Convention on Nationality (Nov 1997)

Council of Europe - Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in relation to State Succession (Jan 2006)

United Nations - Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (Jan 1961)

Publications

European Network on Statelessness - Thematic briefing: Birth registration and the prevention of statelessness in Europe (Jul 2020)

Hungarian Helsinki Committee, ENS & ISI - Thematic Joint Submission to the CRC - Hungary (Sep 2019)

Hungarian Helsinki Committee, ENS & ISI - Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at UPR39 - Hungary (Mar 2021)

European Network on Statelessness - Statelessness determination and protection in Europe (Sep 2021)

Additional resources

ASSESSMENT KEY

ADDITIONAL INFO

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