Hundreds of Hungarian citizenships have been withdrawn: how and who can strip you from citizenship?

Hungarian citizenship is among the most valuable in the world since it entitles you to get a passport, allowing visa-free travel to 187 countries on the globe. Furthermore, having a Hungarian citizenship means you also acquired an EU citizenship and free access to the Schengen zone. This is why many Hungarians (or non-Hungarians) try to get it from Ukraine and Serbia and move to Germany, Austria and other Western European countries. But how can Hungarian citizenship be withdrawn from you? And why did the Hungarian President strip hundreds of people of their citizenship?

Acquiring Hungarian citizenship: 5 options

Acquiring Hungarian citizenship is not easy, but obtaining it has a lot of advantages. You become eligible for citizenship by simplified naturalisation provided you speak Hungarian (or at least can sing in Hungarian like Csángó Hungarians who live in Moldova, Romania) and prove your Hungarian descent. Being a child or spouse of a Hungarian citizen also makes you eligible for Hungarian citizenship.

You can also get Hungarian citizenship if you spend enough time in Hungary, own a permanent residency, or invest hundreds of thousands of euros here. However, you must take exams successfully, which require a proficiency-level command of the Hungarian language. We summed up those options in THIS article and wrote about the exam HERE.

How can a Hungarian citizenship be withdrawn?

According to the Hungarian citizenship law adopted in 1993, which has since been amended several times on significant points, Hungarian citizenship can be withdrawn from persons who acquired it by violating laws, particularly by providing false information or concealing data or facts, thereby misleading the authority. However, withdrawal is impossible if more than twenty years have passed since the acquisition.