The 2024 Immigration Law – Cultural Knowledge Exam… in Hungarian?

In the draft of the Government Decree defining the detailed rules of the new immigration law in force, a written exam in Hungarian would have been required for the extension of the Hungarian Card, guest worker temporary residence permit, guest-self-employed temporary residence permit, and temporary residence permit for employment purposes, as well as long-term permanent residence permits issued. A month has passed, and the currently effective Government Decree no longer includes this rule for temporary residence permits, and for permanent residence permits it has significantly postponed its entry into force.

Although the new immigration law itself still states that a temporary residence permit in Hungary can be obtained by those who meet the conditions of social coexistence in the manner specified in the law, a detailed explanation of this has not yet been made and is not available.

The situation is different in the case of new permanent residence permits, where the Government Decree – containing the detailed rules of the Immigration Act – includes new specific regulations. These regulations will enter into force on January 1, 2025. According to this, if someone wants to apply for a national permanent residence card or an EU permanent residence card, starting next year the condition will be that the foreigner must pass a written exam in Hungarian before submitting the application for the residence card. Those who pass this exam will receive a certificate and can submit their application for a permanent residence permit. Those who fail this test three times cannot apply for this Hungarian cultural knowledge exam again.

However, you don’t have to expect a very serious, university-level exam. According to the current rules, there will be a total of six topics, such as the presentation of Hungary’s national symbols and holidays, the most important institutions of the Hungarian Constitution, and the most important events in Hungary’s history.

Based on all of this, it is obviously worth applying for a permanent residence permit before the end of the year, but at the same time, it is a complicated process, and in order to be successful, it is definitely worth asking an expert attorney to provide legal representation and compile all the documents. In addition, there are exceptions to the cultural knowledge test, which is also worth discussing with our law firm in the frame of a legal consultation.