Hungary Golden Visa

What is the Hungary Golden Visa?

The Hungary Golden Visa, officially the Guest Investor Residence Permit, is a residency-by-investment route for non-EU nationals. In return for a qualifying investment you receive a ten-year Hungarian residence permit that can be renewed for a further ten years. It lets you live in Hungary and work or run a business there, with visa-free travel across the Schengen Area.

The investment options

As of 2026 there are two qualifying routes. The direct property-purchase option that was once discussed never came into force, so it is not available.

Option	What it involves	Minimum
Real estate fund	Invest in a registered Hungarian real estate fund, which must hold at least 40 percent of its assets in Hungarian residential property. Held for a minimum of five years.	€250,000
Public-interest donation	A non-refundable donation to a qualifying higher-education or public-interest trust.	€1,000,000

Most applicants choose the fund route, since the investment is recoverable after the five-year holding period, whereas the donation is not.

Who can apply

The Guest Investor Programme is open to non-EU nationals who make a qualifying investment. To apply you will need to:

• Be a non-EU, non-EEA, and non-Hungarian citizen.
• Make one of the investments above and hold it for at least five years.
• Show that the funds come from a lawful source.
• Pass a background check. The migration authority runs due diligence and consults law enforcement and national security, so anyone with an entry ban, a Schengen alert, or a security concern is refused.

Your spouse and your children under eighteen can be included in the same application.

What you get

• A ten-year residence permit, renewable for a further ten years.
• The right to live in Hungary, and to work or run a business there without a separate permit.
• Visa-free travel across the Schengen Area.
• Your spouse and dependent children can be included in the application.

How it works: invest after approval

A useful feature of the current programme is that you are approved before you invest, so you do not commit the money until your application has been accepted. In outline:

1. Apply for the guest investor visa, with a licensed lawyer preparing and managing your case.
2. Receive approval in principle.
3. Make the investment, either the fund subscription or the donation.
4. Collect your ten-year residence permit.

Our partner immigration lawyers handle each stage, and the same team can advise on a business or self-employment route if that fits you better.

How long it takes

The process usually takes around four to six months from start to finish. In rough terms, that is about a month for due diligence and documents, a month to receive the guest investor visa from a Hungarian consulate, up to three months to complete the investment once the visa is issued, and around two months for the residence cards to arrive.

Does it lead to permanent residence or citizenship?

It can, and this is the point investors most often get wrong. The golden visa itself has no minimum-stay requirement, so you can hold it without living in Hungary full time. Permanent residence and citizenship, however, are based on actually living in the country:

• Permanent residence becomes possible after about three years of continuous residence in Hungary, with time spent abroad kept within roughly 270 days across the three years.
• Citizenship is possible through naturalisation after around eight years of residence, spending most of your time in Hungary and passing a constitutional exam in Hungarian.

In short, the permit gives you the right to live in Hungary and to start that clock whenever you choose, but simply holding it from abroad does not count towards permanent residence or citizenship.

Act sooner rather than later

The programme is open and operating in 2026. The new government has signalled that it may review residency-by-investment, although any change is considered unlikely before 2027. The general advice from immigration lawyers is that if you qualify under the current rules, applying now is safer than waiting, and a permit that has already been granted is unlikely to be affected by a later change.

What it costs

The investment amounts above are set by the programme itself. Legal and processing fees depend on your chosen route and circumstances, so there is no single price. Your consultation gives you a clear breakdown up front, with no obligation to proceed.

Frequently asked questions