Hungary’s Parliament Supports Guest-Investor “Golden Visa” Program for Property Investors

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Hungary has introduced a "guest investor program" allowing foreign real estate investors to obtain ten-year residency by investing at least €250,000 in local property funds or €500,000 in Hungarian real estate.
• This initiative follows the abolition of a previous golden visa scheme in 2017 due to allegations of corruption and irregularities.
• The move has been supported by Prime Minister Viktor Orban but criticised by opposition lawmakers who argue it contradicts the government's anti-immigrant stance.

The introduction of a “guest investor program” that allows foreign real estate investors to seek residency permits in this country has been supported by lawmakers in Budapest.

The “guest-investor program” permits internationals to acquire a ten-year residency in this country provided they invest at least €250,000 ($270,000) into local property funds or €500,000 into Hungarian real estate.

The move comes six years after the authorities in this country abolished a similar golden visa scheme following allegations of being involved in irregular affairs such as money laundering and corruption.

The bill was introduced by the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, aiming to improve the regulation of labour migration from non-EU countries. The legislation was introduced as a measure to address the labour shortage; however, it faced criticism from oppositional lawmakers who argued that it contradicts the anti-immigrant rhetoric espoused by the government of Hungary.

Hungary abolished its golden visa scheme back in 2017 following reports of corruption and other irregular affairs. Through the Golden Visa scheme, internationals could acquire residency if they met specific conditions and made a financial investment.

Recently, the Parliament of Hungary adopted a law on the entry and stay of third-country citizens in Hungary with a total of 141 votes in favour and 49 against.

It means that internationals are eligible to stay only for reasons and on the legal grounds accepted by the state, for the permitted time and under the conditions specified by relevant regulations.

Under the law, guest workers are eligible to enter the country only in numbers not surpassing the number of vacancies, and their stay may not exceed three years.

The program was very popular among wealthy foreigners. Budapest initiated its Golden Visa scheme on January 1, 2013, permitting wealthy foreign investors to benefit from this program until March 31, 2017. In order to acquire residency, foreign nationals were obliged to invest at least €250,000; subsequently, the government opted to increase the minimum investment threshold for the scheme to €300,000.

From 2013 until 2017, the scheme brought a total of €1.4 billion, with 3,649 approved temporary residence permits based on the statistics from the European Commission on investor residence programs.

The same source reveals that from 2013 until 2017, a total of 6,621 petitions for residence by investors were received by authorities in Hungary. Of the total, 4,794 applicants benefited from this scheme, thus acquiring residency in this country, while 1,827 requests were refused or turned down.