General information on Hungarian citizenship

General information on Hungarian citizenship
 

Hungarian citizenship may be proven by:

1. a valid Hungarian identity card,
2. a valid Hungarian passport or one that has expired within a year,
3. a valid certificate of citizenship (the certificate of citizenship is valid for 3 years from the date of issuance) or a declaration of citizenship,
4. a naturalisation certificate, unless proven otherwise,
5. the personal data and address register confirms the Hungarian citizenship of Hungarian citizens whose details are recorded in the register. (You can tell whether you are included in the register if you have a “lakcímkártya” [Hungarian address card] or if you previously had a personal identification number (személyi szám / személyazonosító jel) in Hungary. If you left Hungary after 1978, you may find your personal identification number on a document known as a “személyi lap” [personal data sheet], or in an old Hungarian identity card.)

Hungarian birth and marriage certificates do not prove Hungarian citizenship!

What type of application should I submit if…

a)      I am a Hungarian citizen, I have a valid Hungarian passport, identity card, or Naturalization Certificate, and I wish to act in relation to the Hungarian citizenship of my child who is under 18 years of age (a minor)?

If, at the time of the child’s birth, at least one of the parents was a Hungarian citizen, the child is a Hungarian citizen by birth.

Therefore, if you can prove with your Hungarian passport, identity card, or Naturalization Certificate that you were a Hungarian citizen when the child was born and that your Hungarian citizenship has remained continuous ever since (for example, your currently valid Hungarian passport or identity card was already valid when the child was born; or, although your currently valid document was issued after the child’s birth, you possess your previously valid document(s) and the continuity of your citizenship can be established on the basis of those documents; or, if you acquired Hungarian citizenship through a naturalization procedure, you took the oath of citizenship before the child was born), then there is no need to submit a citizenship application for the child.

Instead, the child’s birth simply needs to be registered in Hungary.

In view of the above, please consult our website at: https://london.mfa.gov.hu/en/anyakoenyvezes 

If, after reviewing the website, you still have any unanswered questions, please contact us at anyakonyv.lon@mfa.gov.hu .

b)     I emigrated to the United Kingdom as a Hungarian citizen?

If you are certain that, based on the above, you cannot prove that you are a Hungarian citizen, you may submit an application for verification of your citizenship. (Following the uprising in 1956, a large number of Hungarian citizens arrived in the United Kingdom as refugees. With rare exceptions, their Hungarian citizenship has generally remained intact.)

c)      my parents or grandparents emigrated to the United Kingdom as Hungarian citizens, but I was born in the United Kingdom?

As a general rule, Hungarian citizenship is based on lineage and does not depend on the place of birth. In other words, if one of your parents or grandparents is, or was a Hungarian citizen at the time of your birth and the chain of citizenship was not broken, you are also likely to be a Hungarian citizen. This can be established through a verification of citizenship procedure.

d)     I lost my Hungarian citizenship?

• If you previously renounced your Hungarian citizenship, you may reacquire it through a re-naturalisation procedure, provided that you speak Hungarian.
• If any of the following circumstances applies to you, you may acquire Hungarian citizenship by declaration (your descendants who speak Hungarian may acquire Hungarian citizenship through simplified naturalisation):

• • • • You were deprived of your citizenship under Act X of 1947, Act XXVI of 1948, Act LX of 1948 on Hungarian citizenship, or Act V of 1957 on citizenship.
      • You were released from Hungarian citizenship between 15 September 1947 and 2 May 1990.
      • You were obligated to resettle in Germany.
      • You were born before 1 October 1957 to a Hungarian citizen mother and a foreign-citizen father, and you did not acquire Hungarian citizenship by birth.

e)      my parents or grandparents lost their Hungarian citizenship (the chain of citizenship was broken)?

• This situation most commonly arose as a consequence of the peace treaties ending the First and Second World Wars, as well as for the following reasons:
• If your Hungarian-citizen ancestor emigrated from Hungary before 1 September 1929, they most likely lost their Hungarian citizenship.
• Before 1 February 1949, a Hungarian-citizen woman lost her Hungarian citizenship if she married a foreign citizen.
• Before 1 October 1957, a Hungarian-citizen woman lost her Hungarian citizenship if she married a foreign citizen and acquired her husband's citizenship as a result of the marriage.
• Before 1 October 1957, a child became Hungarian by birth only if his/her legitimate father was a Hungarian citizen. (The child was born in wedlock to a Hungarian-citizen father /including where the father married the mother after the child's birth/, or a Hungarian-citizen man acknowledged the child as his own through a legally effective declaration of paternity, or who was declared by a final court judgment to be the child of the Hungarian-citizen man.)
  (A child born out of wedlock to a Hungarian-citizen mother acquired Hungarian citizenship by birth, so in this case the chain of citizenship was presumably not broken.)

In the above cases, you may acquire Hungarian citizenship through a simplified naturalisation procedure, provided that you speak Hungarian. 

(If you or your ancestors originated from territory that is part of present-day Hungary, points (b) or (c) above are probably applicable to you.)

f)      my spouse is a Hungarian citizen, and I speak Hungarian?

You may acquire Hungarian citizenship through a simplified naturalisation procedure if, at the time you submit your naturalisation application, you have:

• been married for at least 10 years, or
• been married for at least 5 years and have a child together.

Please consult our website.

g)     I want to renounce my Hungarian citizenship?

Hungarian citizenship may be terminated at the applicant's own request by renunciation. Renunciation is made by submitting a declaration addressed to the President of the Republic, using the prescribed form.  

The situations described above are cases that frequently arise in our work, but due to the complexity of citizenship regulations, the information provided here is not exhaustive.

If none of the categories above applies to you, or if you still have unanswered questions after carefully reviewing the website, please contact us by email at citizenship.lon@mfa.gov.hu.

Please note that we will respond to your enquiry only if the information you are requesting cannot be found on our website.