Will the new Magyar government send guest workers home? Here’s what they can expect

The Orbán administrations built a portion of the Hungarian economy on foreign factories employing guest workers to produce items directly marketable in the European Union cheaply, such as batteries, cars, and the like. In Orbán’s view, this drives economic growth and boosts state revenues. Accordingly, by spring 2026, the number of third-country guest workers—residing in Hungary for fixed terms, typically tied to specific factories or plants—had surpassed 100,000. But what awaits them from the Tisza Party?

Many guest workers ‘vanish’ into the Schengen Area

Though the Orbán governments rhetorically battled illegal migration, they appear to have left two pathways open for those from third countries (non-EEA states) seeking entry to the Schengen zone. Wealthy arrivals were aided by residency bonds, which allowed the purchase of permanent residence permits and free movement across Schengen. For the less affluent, guest worker status provided the route.

Despite repeated tightenings of the rules, more than 100,000 guest workers were employed in Hungary by this spring. Most hail from the Philippines, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Kyrgyzstan, though there are plenty of Indians and Indonesians too. They receive permits for fixed periods, usually two years (extendable), but must work at designated sites—typically manufacturing plants—and remit much of their earnings home. Hungarian citizenship or even permanent residency remains out of reach, even for those who marry locally and have children. We previously reported the case of Rena, a Filipina, against whom Hungarian authorities acted with particular callousness.

In recent years, however, reports have emerged of guest workers in Hungary preferentially ‘absorbing’ into the Schengen Area via Western European networks. This has led, for instance, Hungarian firms to grow wary of hiring Vietnamese workers.

Péter Magyar, the incoming prime minister, issues stark warning to guest workers

Péter Magyar, Hungary’s prime minister-in-waiting, addressed domestic guest workers in his New Year’s speech. He signalled that, upon taking power, he would impose a full stop on arrivals of non-Hungarian guest workers from outside the EU from 1 June until further notice. This would bar further Filipinos, Vietnamese, Indians, and others for an indeterminate period, effectively dissolving the current community of more than 100,000 within two to three years. Such a move would spell severe disruption in certain sectors, particularly manufacturing, but also in pockets of agriculture—like the dairy industry, where Sikh workers currently tend much of the Holstein herd.

Why does Magyar wish to keep guest workers beyond Hungary’s borders? “Because Hungarians do not want a country where Asian firms, flouting environmental rules and gorging on vast subsidies, manufacture batteries using mostly non-Hungarian labour,” he declared in his New Year’s Eve address. In his view, Hungary needs genuine jobs, not the dread that “NER-linked criminals are stealing them with economically migrant labour imported from Asia.” Rather than importing workers, he argues, Hungarians working abroad should be lured home.

A different economic model on the horizon

Magyar said little about the fate of existing factories reliant on guest workers, or those workers already here. Yet his words make plain a desire to reshape the economy. The Tisza Party aims to build a nation of high-value-added jobs amid rising living standards. The Polish example illustrates this need not preclude guest workers entirely: though one of the EU’s development frontrunners, Poland’s economy depends on them—albeit from Ukraine, not Asia.

If you missed our previous articles concerning guest workers:

EU immigration hits record high as foreign-born population surpasses 64 million

The real cost of guest workers in Hungary: hidden tax traps many companies miss