What Is Going on With the Hungarian Golden Visa?

Csaba Magyar
Hungary

On July 1, the Hungarian Guest Investor Program (GIP) officially commenced. The new program allows third-country nationals to invest in Hungary and obtain a residence permit for a maximum of 20 years.

While the program has legally started, investors must still wait before proceeding. This article summarizes the current situation to help you make the most of this period.

Overview of the process

To better understand the reason for the delay, we need to briefly outline the investment options, which have undergone several changes. The first step is making one of the following investments:

• Real estate fund units worth at least €250,000 from a fund registered with the Central Bank of Hungary,
• A Hungarian residential property worth at least €500,000, or
• A financial donation of at least €1,000,000 to a college or university maintained by a public charity foundation.

Alternatively, the applicant can commit to completing one of these investments within three months of arriving in Hungary. The visa’s validity is reduced to six months and expires upon obtaining a residence permit.

Real estate fund investments: Why the delay?

A government decree set special requirements for real estate fund managers, stipulating that only investment units from managers on the list of “qualified market operators” are acceptable.

This list, maintained by the Constitution Protection Office, includes only fund managers who have successfully passed a preliminary national security screening (PNSS). This screening consists of company and person checks and examining the fund manager’s fields of activity.

The government informed the fund managers of this new obligation in May, just weeks before the program started. As a result, fund managers just recently submitted their applications and supporting documents to the Constitution Protection Office.

Given the thoroughness and time-consuming nature of a PNSS and the high number of fund managers seeking inclusion, no fund manager in Hungary ranked as a qualified market operator at the program’s launch on July 1.

The Hungarian Immigration Office can process files, but due to the reasons mentioned above, they have not received any applications yet. While applying for the visa based on the commitment to invest is possible, I advise against applying without lining up a qualifying real estate fund first.

The most considerable risk is that time will pass without a qualified market operator or one whose investment units appeal to the investor.

It is crucial to remember that the visa is valid for six months, during which entry into Hungary is mandatory, and the investor has three months from the first entry to prove the completion of the investment.

Why property investments are still on hold

According to the amendment regarding the residential property investment option, only properties acquired after January 1, 2025, will be eligible for the scheme.

As the visa is valid for six months, investors considering buying residential property should wait a few months to obtain the visa to avoid its expiry before completing the investment. The legislation stipulates that investors cannot qualify by acquiring residential property earlier; therefore, a property bought on December 31, 2024, will not be eligible.

For these reasons, there is little to no point in looking at properties, as the Hungarian housing market supply could change significantly by January 2025. Many market rumors suggest the €500,000 residential property purchase could apply to multiple properties.

The current wording of the legislation, however, uses the singular form for “residential property,” indicating that the investor must purchase one residential property worth at least €500,000 to obtain the Golden Visa.

The Guest Investor Residence Permit application form further confirms this theory. The form allows you to indicate only one residential property.

Additionally, the residential property must be completed, meaning new projects under construction (off-plan properties) do not qualify for the purpose.

As there are no qualifying real estate investment fund managers yet and residential property purchases remain uneligible until the start of next year, investors must wait a little longer to start the process unless they opt for the €1 million donation option.