The 2024 Immigration Law: Stay for Study or for Traineehsip

Until January 1, 2024, there was broad category for lawful residency in Hungary, which was the residence permit for other purposes. Unfortunately, this fairly flexible category has been discontinued recently. We had many clients who had sufficient savings and a regular income (e.g. pension), but who did not really want to work or start a business in Hungary, but to “just be” here. Several of them enrolled in language schools here and attended at Hungarian language courses a couple of times a week, and in most cases we managed to obtain for them the now abolished residence permit for other purposes.

Now, in addition to the residence permit for study purposes, which can be applied for studying in the full-time, state accredited school system or in a higher (university level) education institution, the so-called residence permit for other educational purposes is also available, but the conditions are stricter than before. Anyone who simply wants to study Hungarian in a language school will obviously not be able to get this type of permit in the future. In the future, a residence permit for other educational purposes can be obtained by those who meet the general conditions for staying in Hungary, i.e. they have accommodation or a place of residence in Hungary, and for the entire duration of their stay they have financial coverage to ensure their housing and livelihood, as well as the costs of travel, and they have full health insurance, also their stay does not threaten the public order, public security, national security or public health of Hungary, and they are not under the scope of an SIS alert. A special rule is that only those who take part in a scholarship program in Hungary provided by the Hungarian Government or a ministry can get this type of residence permit. The residence permit for other educational purposes can be granted for a maximum of one year and can only be extended if the foreigner requests later a residence permit for study purposes instead. Those who have such a residence permit cannot obtain another residence permit (e.g. for family reunification) with reference to it. In addition, those who have a residence permit for other educational purposes cannot receive a permanent residence permit, a so-called national residence card.

There is another type of residence permit that we would like to draw the attention of young people to: this is the residence permit for traineeship. This can be obtained by foreigners who already have a higher education or are currently pursuing their higher education abroad and apply for an internship program in Hungary, the purpose of which is to gain knowledge, practice, and experience in a workplace environment. This type of residence permit has three main conditions: 1. an internship contract must be concluded with a state-approved hosting organization and the hosting organization must provide a written guarantee that if the foreigner overstays, they will pay the costs of expulsion 2. the higher education required for the internship position shall be acquired by the intern no more than maximum two years before the application is filed 3. the foreigner has the language skills required for the internship. This permit is valid for a one-time 6-month period and cannot be extended. There are other conditions that we are happy to provide information on in the context of a legal consultation, but basically we believe that the residence permit granted for traineeship can be relatively easily obtained for young foreigners who, in addition to gaining a little work experience, can also explore Hungary in the 6 months they have.