Schengen

Two new border crossings to open in Hungary

Hungary border Serbia Croatia ROmania

An agreement has been signed by Hungary and Romania to open two new border crossings, between Kübekháza and Beba Veche (Óbéba), and between Magyarcsanád and Cenad (Csanád), the foreign minister said on Friday.

The ministry cited Szijjártó as telling a joint press conference with Sorin Grindeanu, the Romanian transport minister, in Timisoara (Temesvár) that the two countries were linked “by a million ties”.

“The more physical links created between each other, the better and more successful cooperation can develop,” he added.

Under the agreements, the crossing between Kübekháza and Beba Veche will be opened in two years’ time and the crossing between Magyarcsanád and Cenad will involve the reconstruction of a bridge on the Maros river which was blown up in 1940, he added.

He noted that two motorway links between Hungary and Romania are also being built, scheduled to be opened in 2025 and 2030, respectively, eventually increasing the number of crossings to 16. If Romania were allowed to join the Schengen zone, this number could increase to 26 in short order, he added.

A meeting of the two countries’ transport working teams has been called for the end of September, he said.

Szijjártó asks Austria not to block Romania’s Schengen accession

Peter Szijjártó has made a “firm request” to Austria not to block Romania’s accession to the Schengen zone.

Speaking in in Timisoara on Friday, the foreign minister told a joint press conference with Romanian Minister of Transport Sorin Grindeanu that ten roads connecting the two countries are open one day a week because Romania has been blocked from Schengen membership, the ministry said in a statement.

Szijjártó said he “firmly asks our Austrian friends” not to “obstruct Romania’s accession” to Schengen in the autumn and the decision should be based on facts.

Hungary’s national interest was for Romania to join Schengen as soon as possible, he added.

“Romania is our third most important export market and a popular investment location for Hungarian capital,” he said, adding that national minorities also live in each other’s territory.

“It’s time for Romania, let our Austrian friends not get in the way!” – Szijjártó writes:

Read also:

Hungarian minister slammed EU, wants enlargement and Schengen Area expansion

Hungarian foreign minister

The European Union is in need of “rational reforms” and must view enlargement as a priority, as the integration of the Western Balkans would strengthen the bloc considerably, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó told the Strategic Forum, held at Lake Bled, Slovenia, on Tuesday.

Szijjártó told a panel discussion that the EU was “in bad shape”, with its security, economy and energy supplies weakened. The situation was, he said, the result of “a series of failed measures and a lack of action.” Regarding security measures, Szijjártó said that while the EU usually urged peace talks in remote conflicts, now they had chosen a different path. “If someone stands up for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks, they are condemned and branded Russian spies, pro-Kremlin propagandists and friends of Putin,” he said.

Meanwhile, the EU’s share of the world’s GDP has slipped from 22 percent in 2010 to 17 percent today, he said. At the same time, China’s slice of that pie has grown from 9 percent to 18 percent, he added. He slammed the notion of “risk control” by severing economic ties with China. The risk would be to cut Europe off from a rapidly growing economy instead of cooperating with it, Szijjártó said. Economic cooperation with China could greatly contribute to economic growth, he added.

Read also:

Here are some photos:

Romania, Bulgaria not being member of the Schengen Area shameful

On the matter of energy security, Szijjártó said ensuring energy supplies must be handled as a “purely physical” matter rather than an ideological, dogmatic or political one. The minister said the EU’s enlargement was key to resolving to all three issues. Referring to European Council President Charles Michel’s recent statement that the EU and the Western Balkans should be “prepared” for accession by 2030, Szijjártó said the same could be undertaken “tomorrow”.

The EU would become “bigger and stronger”, with a greater room for economic cooperation, he said. Enlargement would also embrace the most important transit route for fossil fuels, he said. Reforms must be rational and based on common sense, with enlargement top of the agenda, enacted as soon as possible, he said. He said it was “shameful” that Bulgaria and Romania were still not members of the Schengen Area.

Hungary the easiest place for Russians to get Schengen visas

Schengen visa

The Russian touristic federation recommends Hungary for Russian tourists to get a Schengen visa with which they can travel freely in and between many countries. That is because the procedure is relatively easy in Hungary.

According to Privátbankár, the other recommended countries in the Schengen area are Italy and Greece. In 2022, the EU welcomed 84% fewer Russian tourists than in 2021 because getting a visa is not easy. Many member states like Belgium, the Baltic countries, and Czechia do not even issue the travel documents for Russian citizens.

In 2022, 600,000 Schengen visas were issued. Spain’s share is the highest, 154,000. Since the EU raises barriers, Russians go to other places for holidays. The highest numerical growth was in Türkiye in that respect (2.6 million), but the United Arab Emirates, Thailand and Egypt are also very popular.

Read also:

Tens of thousands of people tried to enter Hungary illegally in 2023

Illegal migration Hungary

Nearly 49,000 border violators and 387 human smugglers have been stopped in Hungary this year, the prime minister’s chief domestic security advisor said on Sunday. György Bakondi told public radio that migrants and human smugglers had kept Hungary’s borders under significant pressure.

Some 12 percent of prisoners in Hungary are spending their sentence as a result of human smuggling, totalling 2,048 people from 73 countries. “They are the people on the edges, the real big criminals who are the movers of the networks don’t come even close to the border, and they cannot get caught,” he added. Action against human smuggling poses great burdens on the Hungarian state, he said.

Hungary cooperates with all countries that help control national borders, which also serves domestic security, Bakondi said. Hungary also tries to cooperate with Frontex, the European Union’s border control agency. Cooperation is under way with Austria and Serbia, and between Croatia, Slovenia and Austria, too, he added. Bakondi said these were correct initiatives but added that “there does not seem to be any change in the European Union’s position, neither from the point of financing, nor in legal support”.

He said that despite recent political statements, such as remarks by the German chancellor, the president of the European Commission and the group leader of the European People’s Party calling for protecting the EU’s external borders, possibly by building fences, “we are not getting any money or actual decisions concerning this”. “The only thing I can think of is that such remarks are made only because of the approaching European parliamentary elections where migration will be a big issue, but they are not actually solving the situation,” he added.

Bakondi also said that ideologies promoted by foundations linked to US financier George Soros still make an influence on the handling of migration. An EU audit committee recently visiting Hungary said that “if we do not accept the political and ideological position they represent, then they do not give support to us”, Bakondi added. Since the migration crisis of 2015, Germany has increasingly experienced problems, such as the overburdening of the social support system and terrorist attacks claiming hundreds of lives, Bakondi said. “Delirious ideas that we need the migrant workforce and that they quickly integrate in society have proven untrue, and migrants are increasingly open about stating that their ideology, the Muslim religion, is stronger than Europeans’ religion,” Bakondi said. The greater proportion of migrants are present in society, the more severe the situation gets, with migrants already representing more than 18 percent of society in Germany, he added.

Leading Ukrainian politician banned from Schengen Area at request of Hungarian government

Viktor Orbán Huxit EU

Viktor Baloha, member of the Ukrainian Parliament, shared in a Facebook post that he had been banned from the Schengen Area. According to him, this move was not only the initiative of the Hungarian government but also the personal involvement of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

According to press reports, in January, it was already speculated that the Hungarian government may have requested the banning of Baloha and his family from the Schengen Area, index.hu writes.

Anti-Hungarian actions

Speculation has been circulating in the press since last month. According to the reports, the Hungarian government may have requested a five-year ban on the Baloha family from the Schengen Area. The initial suspicion of a ban was triggered by the family’s failure to enter Slovakia in mid-January. No official confirmation of the ban was given at the time.

Viktor Baloha and his son Andriy Baloha, the Mayor of Mukachevo, have committed several anti-Hungarian actions in recent years and months in Transcarpathia, Ukraine, a region populated by a large number of Hungarian minority. The Hungarian government has reportedly requested their banning from the Schengen Area because of these actions.

Shortly after the incident, Andriy Baloha took another anti-Hungarian measure in Mukachevo. This time, referring to a new regulation, Hungarian flags were removed from several public institutions in Mukachevo and several villages inhabited by Hungarian communities, index.hu reported earlier.

Viktor Baloha confirmed the news

Viktor Baloha recently confirmed in a Facebook post that he and his family are indeed banned from the Schengen Area.

“I received an honor from Orbán, a shallow figure of our time, for posing a threat to Hungary’s national security,”

he wrote.

According to him, the Hungarian authorities were intimidated by the removal of a statue of a turul, a symbol of Hungary, from the Palanok Castle in Mukachevo a few months ago. He believes that such decisions only prove the success of the fight for “Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty”.

He also added that the Hungarian government had earlier banned members of the Security Service of Ukraine who had launched an investigation against László Brenzovics, president of the Cultural Alliance of Hungarians in Sub-Carpathia (CASH), and that some activists from Lviv had also met a similar fate. According to the post, he will continue to visit “friends of Ukraine” in the European Union despite the ban. He concluded, “by God’s grace, we will survive Putin, Orbán and everything else.”


szijjártó ukraine hungary
Read alsoWhy is the Hungarian nationality being suppressed in Ukraine?

Natural gas transit to Bulgaria secured, so Hungary’s energy supply is secure

bulgaria hungary

Hungary’s natural gas supplies are secure thanks to reliable transit states like Bulgaria, as well as its suppliers, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said in Sofia on Monday, after talks with Nikolay Milkov, his Bulgarian counterpart.

Hungary received 4.8 billion cubic meters of gas through Bulgaria last year, Szijjártó told a joint press conference.

The double threat of the war in Ukraine and migration pressure from the south is making liable cooperation between the countries even more valuable, he said.

Hungary counts on further reliable deliveries, he said.

The strategic goal is to access new resources for projects such as infrastructural development to increase the role of Azeri gas in the region, he said.

“This is a European issue; I think we central Europeans are right to expect the European Union to support pipeline construction and infrastructure development to secure future gas supplies for central Europe,” he said.

Szijjártó thanked Bulgaria for fuel rod deliveries to the Paks nuclear plant via Bulgarian ports on the Black Sea since December, “when EU regulations made avian deliveries from Russia impossible”.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said the Western Balkans had become part of the most important continental route for migrants. “Due to Brussels’ pro-migration stance, central European countries have to make greater efforts to stop illegal migration,” he said.

Bulgaria and Hungary both “performed beyond their abilities” by building border fences and employing “enormous human resources” to stop illegal migration, he added.

“It is unacceptable and very dangerous to the EU’s security that Brussels refuses to support real border security and does not fund … border protection infrastructure,” he said.

He called it “shameful” that Bulgaria was “still not a member of the Schengen Area”. Hungary will not accept “double standards where clear and objective requirements set down in contracts are replaced by subjective criteria,” he said. Bulgaria has fulfilled the former, and so deserves Schengen membership, he said.

bulgaria hungary
Read alsoNatural gas transit to Bulgaria secured, so Hungary’s energy supply is secure

Austria mentioned kicking out Hungary from the Schengen zone – Orbán wants a tripartite summit

Schengen Croatia Hungary border

As we reported in December, Werner Kogler, the Austrian Deputy Chancellor expressed his views that Hungary should have been kicked out from the Schengen zone if they listened to the Austrian interior minister’s reasoning. The minister voted against Romania’s and Bulgaria’s Schengen membership last year, so the two countries could not become a member of the Schengen zone, opposite Croatia. Now Orbán wants a tripartite summit that would allow Serbia, Hungary and Austria to tackle the migration crisis together.

The Austrian deputy chancellor said in December that there were issues with Hungary regarding migration. He estimated that tens of thousands of illegal migrants enter Austria through Hungary, which is unacceptable. The problem is not with Romania and Bulgaria but with Hungary, he highlighted then. His colleague, Gerhard Karner, Federal Minister of the Interior of Austria had already voted against Bucharest’s and Sofia’s Schengen zone membership, provoking extensive anti-Austrian demonstrations in Romania.

PM Viktor Orbán met Ivica Dacic, the new Serbian foreign minister, on Tuesday, and talked about the migration problems at the Serbian-Hungarian border. They discussed a possible tripartite summit with Austria, Hungary and Serbia. However, they have not set a date yet, index.hu wrote.

Hungary border crossing
Read alsoCitizens of 63 countries will soon only be able to enter Hungary with a visa

Citizens of 63 countries will soon only be able to enter Hungary with a visa

Hungary border crossing

From November, non-EU citizens will only be able to enter the Schengen area with a visa. This concerns Hungary as well since the country is part of the area. We can travel across the countries in the Schengen area freely without having to show our passport at the border and any kind of border control. For people coming from or going to countries that are not part of the area, it is not so easy.

New rules concerning entering the Schengen area

Currently, Serbian passports are valid for travel to countries in the Schengen area. Neither a visa, nor a prior authorisation is required. However, from 2023, entry will be subject to a prior online application with a fee, the N1 news portal reported. Visa applications will be made through the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, ETIAS.

This idea was born in 2018 and aims to control the external borders of the European Union and protect its citizens. The system identifies security threats before they enter the EU, Index.hu writes. It is currently planned to apply the new set of rules from November this year.

Important information about the submission

Applications must be submitted via the ETIAS website or mobile app. The form must be filled in at least 96 hours before the date of travel and must include passport details and personal information, as well as email contact details. The fee of HUF 2800 (EUR 7) can be paid by credit card.

There is no visa fee for those under 18 or over 70. Admission is free of charge for minors and the elderly. It is estimated that the application process takes around ten minutes. The approval is received within minutes of the application being submitted.

Visa will be required from citizens of 63 countries

The entry permit is valid for three years. During this period, there is no limit on the number of trips to EU countries. ETIAS, for example, allows Serbian citizens to stay in the European Union for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

From November, non-EU citizens will only be able to enter the following countries with an ETIAS permit: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, the Netherlands, Croatia, Iceland, Poland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Germany, Norway, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

The ETIAS system aims to mitigate not only security risks, but also health and migration risks, Index writes. It covers 63 countries that are not members of the European Union but whose citizens can enter the Schengen area without a visa.

Budapest tram Hungary
Read alsoOperation of Budapest’s most scenic tram line changes

Austria would exclude Hungary from the Schengen area?

werner kogler vice-chancellor of austria

Austrian Vice-Chancellor Werner Kogler said Hungary should be kicked out of Schengen, following the logic of the Austrian Interior Minister. According to Kogler, most unregistered crossings into Austria come from Hungary.

Criticism across Europe, Romania’s ambassador to Austria withdrawn

The German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) has published an article on the problems surrounding Schengen enlargement. They recalled that Austria’s blocking of Romania and Bulgaria (together with the Netherlands in the case of Bulgaria) from joining the Schengen area has provoked sharp criticism across Europe. Romania has recalled its ambassador from Vienna, which was an unusual move among the partner countries. Most recently, it was said that the ambassador would not be returning in the near future. At least not until Austria had taken action on the Schengen enlargement.

A “cry for help”, not against the two countries

The Austrian government’s position was criticised by the left and the liberal opposition, rtl.hu reports. But according to the FAZ, the Green Party coalition partner is also increasingly distancing itself from the ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party) of Karl Nehammer. Gerhard Karner, also ÖVP interior minister, vetoed Schengen enlargement in Brussels in early December. This was defended by Chancellor Karl Nehammer and other ÖVP government members as a “cry for help”, not against the two countries, but as a signal of the need to reform the Schengen system.

A huge problem with Schengen is illegal migration

Werner Kogler, leader and vice-chancellor of the Greens, said in a Christmas interview with the Kleine Zeitung that there are objectively problems with migration, but they are only marginally linked to Schengen. Kogler said his aim was to see Romania and Bulgaria join the Schengen area next year because the undeniable problems with illegal migration through south-eastern Europe were not with them but with Hungary, he said.

“If we were to stick to the logic of the Interior Minister, Hungary should be kicked out of Schengen, because most unregistered crossings to Austria are from there,”

he said. Austria had registered 100,000 refugees according to the rules, and then it turned out that “75,000-80,000 people had not even been pre-registered.”

Fuel station Hungary
Read alsoTrend change on Hungary’s fuel market from Friday!

Hungary’s southern border is being protected by Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, Austrian and Turkish policemen

Cooperation key to optimal border protection slovakia hungary

Hungary’s southern border is being protected by Hungarian, Slovak, Czech, Austrian and Turkish policemen, in an effort to improve the effectiveness of the effort, the interior minister said in Hercegszántó, in southern Hungary, on Monday.

Greeting Slovak and Hungarian policemen deployed to protect Hungary’s southern border, Sándor Pintér said their sacrifice would improve public safety in Slovakia by pushing back illegal migration.

He reiterated Hungary’s stance that illegal migration should be addressed outside the European Union’s borders and the bloc’s “lines of defence” should be pushed as far out as possible.

The Hungarian government is aware that Hungary is not capable of protecting all of Europe’s external borders, but it wants to set an example to other countries so that illegal migrants on their way to the EU could be stopped as far from the borders as possible, Pintér said.

Hungary is no longer alone with this way of thinking, he said, arguing that Lithuania and Poland have also set up fences on their borders. Meanwhile, Slovakia is sending 40 police officers to help patrol Hungary’s borders and continually contributes to Hungary’s border protection efforts, he added.

Video, photos: Car chase in Budapest, fleeing man shot at police
Read alsoVideo, photos: Car chase in Budapest, fleeing man shot at police

Pintér said migration pressure on Hungary’ southern border was at its highest since 2015. Some 224,000 migrants have tried to cross the country’s border illegally in the recent period, often endangering the lives of the police officers protecting the border, he said.

Slovak Interior Minister Roman Mikulec expressed thanks to all policemen serving at the borders, saying that “protecting the external Schengen borders is the adequate recipe for preventing secondary, internal migration”.

He thanked Pintér for the cooperation aimed at boosting the protection of the Schengen borders and for his support for persuading the European Commission and EU border agency Frontex to put greater emphasis on border protection.

Hungary fence border
Read alsoOrbán cabinet: Illegal entry attempts exceed 200,000 this year

Protection of external borders crucial to Schengen area security, says Minister Pintér

Hungary fence border

Europe must protect its external borders so as to guarantee peace and security within the borders of the passport-free Schengen area, Interior Minister Sándor Pintér said after meeting his Slovak, Czech and Austrian counterparts in Bratislava (Pozsony) on Monday.

The ministerial meeting was held at the initiative of Slovakia in the wake of Czechia and Austria recently reinstating checks on the Slovakian border in response to a rise in the flow of illegal migrants.

The four officials discussed boosting cooperation against illegal migration.

Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, Pintér said Hungary’s position on illegal migration hadd not changed since 2015.

“In 2015, when 391,000 people entered Hungary uninvited, we built a fence and have been protecting the European Union’s external Schengen borders ever since,” he said.

The minister said the pressure on Hungary from illegal migration this year was at its highest since 2015, with the authorities having turned away or deported some 100,000 people so far. He said the fact that some 2,000 people smugglers had been sentenced so far this year was a testament to Hungary’s successful border protection efforts.

Pintér thanked Austria and Czechia for their assistance in protecting the Schengen area‘s external borders, saying that hopefully the new agreements between the four countries would provide further help.

“I hope Brussels will also accept that we need to protect our external borders in order to ensure peace and security within the Schengen zone’s borders,” Pintér added.

Hungary border hunter
Read alsoPHOTOS: first Hungarian border hunters inaugurated!

Roman Mikulec, Slovakia’s interior minister, welcomed the “constructive” meeting, saying he and his counterparts were in agreement on the need to boost the protection of the external borders, to stop illegal migration outside the Schengen area, and that this required cooperation from the European Union. “Frontex should do what it was created for,” he said.

Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said the message of the meeting was that illegal migration needed to be resolved at the EU level and that the bloc needed to recognise that it had to act.

Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said “cross-border crime” required cross-border solutions. Though the protection of the internal borders is also important, it is the strengthening of the external borders that is most important right now, he said, adding that Austria will send police officers to help boost border controls.

police
Read alsoThousands of illegal immigrants arrested at the Hungarian-Romanian border

Budapest is becoming a popular place among digital nomads

Fisherman's Bastion Budapest

This year, Hungary joined the list of countries that explicitly support the entry and temporary settlement of digital nomads.

Digital nomads

The digital nomad lifestyle, which is becoming increasingly popular in the world, is all about allowing people who work exclusively online or run their business remotely to move freely from one continent to another. In their chosen country, they apply for a White Card which helps them to travel from third countries and adapt to their lifestyle of choice.

As Dávid Rasztovits, CEO of Digital Tourism Kft. (Digitális Turizmus Kft.), told turizmus.com,

Budapest got into an “interesting, complex matrix”.

This “complex matrix” is quite diverse: for digital nomads, internet speed is essential, and in Budapest, it is excellent and cheap. What is more, it is also free in hotels and restaurants, while abroad, you often have to pay for Wi-Fi in such places. On top of this, Hungary is in the top ten countries when it comes to infocommunications.

Hungary and digital nomads

nomadlist.com digital nomads
Information about Budapest on nomadlist.com

Rasztovits added that

Hungary’s capital is extremely popular with digital nomads, as evidenced by nomadlist.com, a statistics site that provides them with basic information.

In July 2021, a government resolution was adopted on Hungary’s support for the entry and temporary settlement of digital nomads, and in November, the Parliament voted in favour of it, as schengenvisainfo.com reported.

As mentioned above, digital nomads have to apply for a so-called White Card in the country of their choice. However, not everyone can apply for one: for instance, a person who has already applied for a residence permit in Hungary for other purposes, such as studying, cannot apply for a White Card. Citizens of EEA member states (EU member states, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein) cannot apply for a White Card, as they are subject to different entry-stay rules.

In Hungary, the White Card is available from 1 January 2022, as Budapest does not want to miss out on this trend,

which can help the further development of start-ups in the Hungarian tech sector and also reduce the labour shortage in the sector.

The number of digital nomads in the world has seen a significant increase recently, and one of the main reasons for this is the pandemic.

“It’s a very trendy lifestyle among young people, and it’s no coincidence that in many countries, there is already a marketing campaign around it, which is driving up demand,”

says Rasztovits.

As turizmus.com puts it, digital nomads have a high income and spend a lot of money, so it is a great opportunity for Budapest and its surroundings to increase consumption. Here, value for money, livability, and security are right for them, and of course, a coffee that costs two euros here costs five euros elsewhere.

Rasztovits believes that digital nomadism could be a separate brand for Hungary, estimating that there are currently around 3-5 thousand digital nomads working in Budapest. In the summer season, this number could jump to 8-10 thousand, but this includes European arrivals.

széchenyi thermal bath
Read alsoDetails of price rise in Budapest’s baths revealed

Schengen border of the EU should be further down south, says PM Orbán

orbán

Hungarians and Serbs have started building their future together, and they will both be the beneficiaries of that future, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Horgos, in northern Serbia, on Monday, at a ceremony marking the start of the refurbishment of the Subotica (Szabadka)-Szeged railway line.

In his address, Orbán said that the ceremony was in fact marking the groundbreaking of that cooperation.

“We are stronger together,” Orbán said and called for tighter bilateral ties.

Concerning the railway line to be renewed and reopened, Orbán said that “storms of history cut this line in two”, and it was eventually closed down. He suggested that it was a “typical central European story” with decisions “coming from a distant centre of an empire” leading to divisions and conflicts. “But now the time has come to take our fate into our own hands”, he said.

On another subject, Orbán said that

“the Schengen border of the European Union should be further down south”, and Serbs should be allowed to cross the border with Hungary without a passport.

“Serbia is the gateway to the Balkans and a key state for Europe’s security”, he said. He added that Serbia had been “ready to join the EU for years” and that Hungary was a committed supporter of those endeavours.

Orbán also noted that

the refurbishment project had a “big brother”, the upgrade of the Budapest-Belgrade railway line, while there are also plans to build a railway line between Baja and Subotica.

Once those links are complete border crossing will be ensured with “the simplest control procedures” because “politics should serve the interests of local residents”, the prime minister said.

As we wrote last week, the cornerstone for the Budapest-Belgrade railway line upgrade was laid in Kiskunhalas, in southern Hungary, details HERE.

ETIAS for Hungary Visa Online

budapest

After the pandemic is over, the whole world will be open to us again, and our bucket-list destinations will look forward to welcoming thousands of enthusiastic visitors, including Hungary as well. 

In order to get ready for your next travel on time, it is worth preparing for and learning about the latest visa rules right now. With this in mind, read on to find out about the EU’s upcoming Hungary ETIAS (European Travel Information and Authorisation System) waiver.

This is a new online travel authorisation system for previously visa-exempt nationalities that will come into force within the next two years. Let’s see exactly what the ETIAS for Hungary visa is and how to apply.

Previously, tourists arriving from the US, Australia, Canada and Japan did not require authorisation to visit Hungary and other European destinations; however, from late 2022 or early 2023, a new travel authorisation system will come into force; as a result of which, visitors coming from these countries must apply for a visa waiver before coming to Hungary.

Fortunately, though, the new online system enables tourists to arrange their application with a few clicks, and get things done in a moment. Based on personal preferences, they can decide on the processing speed to receive their ETIAS waiver and the method of payment.

The application will be obligatory if your ideal destination is located in the Schengen zone, including Hungary as well, with the purpose of leisure or business tourism, medical treatment or transit purposes.

How does it work?

In a flash, you can apply at the website of an eVisa service. You only require a passport that’s valid for six months from your planned entry date to the land of Bucharest, Debrecen and Szeged. Then, once the confirmation is received that your pass has been approved, there is nothing else to do, as it stays valid for up to 3 years from the date of issue or until your passport expires.

As a result, you can enter any Schengen zone country multiple times for up to 90 days within a 180-day period. There’s not even any need to print your ETIAS once it’s approved, as it’s electronically linked to your passport, which will be scanned at customs as usual.

Please note that if you plan to immigrate to the country or travel with education or work purposes, then a different type of authorisation will be required. In this case, please get in touch with your nearest consulate or embassy for further information

The good news for travellers to Hungary is that the ETIAS application process is quick and easy!

  1. Enter your personal details and passport information into the convenient online form. This will include, for example, your full name, passport number and passport issue and expiry date.
  2. Answer the EU’s health and security-related questions for their databases.
  3. Pay for your application. The ETIAS costs 7 EUR per person, although it’s free for adults over 70 and children under 18.
  4. Submit your application. In most cases, approval is instantaneous! You’ll receive your validated travel pass by email in your inbox; as we state above, there’s no need to print it.

Based on where you want to go, this travel document enables you to explore the unforgettable treasures of Hungary, and enjoy the real spice of Europe! Of course, until the ETIAS comes into force in 2022/3, you can continue to visit the Schengen Zone visa-free if you’re from an eligible nationality. That said, it’s useful to be aware of these upcoming changes, so that you can plan your future trips with ease!

border koronavirus.gov.hu hungary
Read alsoYou can travel to Romania from Hungary without any restrictions

Traveling to Hungary and the EU Schengen Area with the ETIAS in 2022

border Hungary flag EU

Sponsored content

With the introduction of the ETIAS in the later part of 2021, traveling to Europe’s Schengen area is going to be very different for certain nationalities.

How will ETIAS affect trips to Hungary from 2022?

 The EU is set to launch the ETIAS visa waiver, beginning from the end of the year 2022, and it is likely to affect how travelers from around the world visit the 26 countries in the Schengen area, including Hungary.

The Electronic Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS) is a visa waiver initiative aimed at enhancing the collective security of European Union member states in response to global threats. It was also developed as a convenient mechanism allowing global travelers ease of application and freedom to travel within Europe for a 90-day period.

International travelers interested in visiting Hungary will be able to submit an ETIAS application online and receive their approved ETIAS visa waiver electronically, within a few days.

Who will need an ETIAS visa waiver for Hungary

 The ETIAS visa waiver will be a requirement for travelers from certain countries interested in visiting any of the 26 countries in the Schengen area once it is implemented. Traveling to Hungary will, therefore, be a little different than it is currently, once the ETIAS visa waiver becomes mandatory for non-EU foreign travelers.

Before we talk about the ETIAS visa waiver in detail, it is important to make a distinction between the ETIAS visa waiver and the Schengen visa. The ETIAS visa waiver is not a replacement for the Schengen visa. The Schengen visa will still be required for certain nationalities to travel to Hungary and other Schengen area countries for tourism even after the ETIAS visa waiver goes into effect for others.

What information is required for the ETIAS visa waiver?

 One of the main requirements for the ETIAS visa waiver that travelers to Hungary will need to consider, is the validity of their passport. In order to submit a successful ETIAS visa waiver application, prospective travelers will need to ensure that their passport is valid well beyond their intended date of departure from Hungary. Failure to meet this requirement may result in their request for an ETIAS visa waiver being denied.

The ETIAS visa waiver requires travelers to complete an online application with essential travel details such as:

  • Name
  • Date/place of birth
  • Gender
  • Nationality
  • Passport Information

The ETIAS visa waiver application form also contains certain security questions that are geared towards building a complete profile of the applicant in order to assess any security risks associated with allowing the applicant entry into Hungary or any of the other Schengen area countries.

Travelers can also expect to answer some basic questions regarding their overall health when completing the application. 

Enhanced security features of the ETIAS visa waiver

 The information entered on the ETIAS visa waiver application form is cross-referenced against international security databases to find any existing records of the applicant that may have on databases such as:

  • EURODAC
  • Visa Information System (VIS)
  • Second generation Schengen Information System (SIS II)

Travelers are automatically sent an email regarding the status of their ETIAS visa waiver application if their application has been approved. The average processing time for an ETIAS visa waiver application is 72 hours from the time the application is submitted for review.

In the event that an applicant is denied an ETIAS visa waiver, the justification for the refusal will be sent to them. Travelers will have a right to appeal the refusal.

Traveling to Hungary on the ETIAS visa waiver

 It is imperative for travelers interested in visiting Hungary in 2022 to apply for the ETIAS visa waiver at least 3 days before their intended departure for Europe in order to receive the ETIAS visa waiver in time for their travel.

ETIAS visa waivers also require travelers to pay an online processing fee using a valid debit or credit card to conclude the application process. 

The ETIAS visa waiver will be electronically linked to the traveler’s passport and travelers will receive their ETIAS visa waiver securely via email. It should be noted that it is not possible to transfer the ETIAS visa waiver from one passport to another even if they both belong to the same applicant.

The ETIAS visa waiver entitles travelers to a maximum stay of 90 consecutive days in the Schengen Area within a given 180-day period. It also allows travelers multiple entries into Europe.

An approved ETIAS visa waiver will be valid for 3 years from the date it is approved or until the traveler’s passport expires, whichever comes first. Visitors to Hungary must note that they will not be able to extend their ETIAS visa waiver and will need to apply for and obtain a new one once the previous one expires.

Arriving in Hungary on the ETIAS visa waiver

International travelers arriving in Hungary will need to present their passport as well as a copy of their ETIAS visa waiver to Hungarian/European border authorities to be allowed entry into the Hungary/the Schengen area country.

Travelers will need two copies of their ETIAS visa waiver with them throughout the entirety of their stay in the Schengen area.

EU launches forum to discuss strengthening Schengen area

migration hungary border fence

The European Union (EU) Monday launched a forum devoted to exchanging ideas on how to build a stronger and more resilient Schengen area, which saw itself breaking down during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The first months of the pandemic showed us what happens when Schengen stops functioning: Europe grinds to a halt,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the on-line forum, which gathered members of the European Parliament and the EU’s home affairs ministers.

“It may sound like a paradox, but this experience made me very confident in the future of Schengen. It is too precious for us all,” she added.

The participants discussed possible ways to improve the current Schengen rules, and to ensure that any possible reintroduction of controls at internal borders will be proportionate, used as a measure of last resort and for a limited period of time.

Introducing modern digital tools in managing exterior borders and enhancing police cooperation to secure the internal borders were also among the topics discussed.

The Schengen area comprises 26 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders, enabling the free and unrestricted movement of 420 million people.

The Schengen Agreement was signed on June 14, 1985 by five of the ten EC member states in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg.

Challenges in recent years have strained Schengen.

Between 2006 and 2014, internal border checks were reintroduced 35 times, but since 2015, in less than five years, internal border checks were reintroduced 205 times, mentioned von der Leyen.

“This is a significant increase,” she stressed, adding that it is necessary to understand the reasons behind it and address them urgently. “Fact is that the challenges Schengen faces today are not the same as 25 years ago. We should confront these challenges head on.”

hungary border fence migration
Read alsoEU to revamp Schengen system to strengthen border security

Temporary control of Schengen border extended in Hungary! – UPDATE

border koronavirus.gov.hu hungary

The government has extended the temporary border control introduced on the full length of Hungary’s internal Schengen border until midnight on Jan. 31, the deputy head of the operative body coordinating Hungary’s response to the coronavirus epidemic said on Thursday.

Citing the decree published in the official gazette Magyar Közlöny on Wednesday, Róbert Kiss noted there are a total of 130 border crossings along the Schengen border in Hungary, including on public roads, rail routes and waterways.

Meanwhile, he said that in line with a government decision in force from Thursday, persons with mental disability are exempted from wearing a face mask.

Since the publication of the government decree on mask-wearing since Sept. 21, police action has been taken against 8,759 people for violating mask-wearing rules, he added.

Plenty of free capacity available in health care 

Hungary’s health-care system is able to meet increased case loads as there are plenty of unused beds, and every patient in need will get quality care, the head of the prime minister’s office said of the protection efforts against the coronavirus epidemic on Thursday.

Gergely Gulyás told a regular government press briefing that the current restrictions will remain unchanged until next week.

The number of new infections either dropped or hovered between 3,000 and 5,000 every day last week, with the exception of Thursday, when mass testing started in certain sectors, he said. The government will assess the results of the latter next week, and the current measures will be maintained until then, he added.

The government plans to publish the results concerning the testing of social workers, health-care staff and teachers this weekend, he said.

Gulyás said

access to a vaccine against the coronavirus was on the horizon and a vaccine was in its final phase of testing.

The government aims to acquire the vaccine from whatever source becomes available, he said. Only those products that are tested, approved and registered by the Hungarian authorities can be used in Hungary, he added. This applies to vaccines from the European Union as well as those developed in the US, Israel, China and Russia, he said.

Vaccination against the coronavirus will be available on a voluntary basis and free of charge,

Gulyás said.

He confirmed that Hungary’s government has made arrangements to buy more than 12 million doses of coronavirus vaccine developed in the US and Europe and talks are under way with Russian, Israeli and Chinese developers.

The licensing procedure is at the most advanced stage in China, while Pfizer has stated that testing was in an advanced stage but supplies will initially go the the US rather than Europe, he said.

In such cases, half of the advance payment is redeemable, he added.

Gulyás said “this also shows that one cannot expect solidarity” and just like in the case of ventilator acquisitions during the spring, everybody is buying products from wherever they are available. The countries where they are developed have an insurmoutable advantage in getting the products first, he added.

coronavirus treatment in hungary
Read alsoCoronavirus in Hungary – 115 fatalities, cases up 6,360

UPDATE

Meanwhile, responding to further questions regarding the coronavirus situation, asked if further restrictions could be expected between now and Christmas, Gulyás said the government had no plans to introduce tougher restrictions at this stage, adding, at the same time, that it was prepared to relax or step up its response measures when necessary.

Asked whether there would be an opportunity for larger family gatherings during the Christmas holiday, Gulyas said

the government would issue clear regulations for the holiday period, and asked the public to be patient.

On the topic of school closures, he said four-fifths of schools were operating smoothly.

Only 3-4 percent of schools have had to be closed and less than 20 percent of them have had to send classes on emergency breaks,

Gulyás said. These figures, he said, vindicated the government’s decision to keep schools open.

The PM’s chief of staff said the government was drafting changes to rules on sick pay, arguing that it was necessary to give parents the chance to stay home with their children if they are in quarantine. It is also fair to assume that teachers who contract the virus do so while at work, he said, adding that it was reasonable to speed up transfers of their sick pay. All teachers are automatically entitled to 60 percent of their pay when they go on sick leave, while the remainder is paid when it the illness is officially confirmed, he noted, adding that this process should be streamlined so that teachers receive all of their pay under a single procedure.

As regards the daily timeframe for shoppers older than 65, Gulyás said the elderly and those suffering from chronic illnesses were most at risk of the virus. Because the dedicated shopping hours can cause difficulties for those below the age of 65, the government decided to move up the weekend timeframe, he added.

Asked about a potential overhaul of the health-care sector, Gulyás said

the pandemic had demonstrated that Hungary was in need of more organised care.

This is why the government has decided to set up the National Hospital Directorate-General, he said. “This doesn’t mean that we’ll be closing hospitals,” Gulyás said. He said he believed the new institution would manage national health care more effectively and in a more organised way. 

Commenting on reports regarding the suspension or even the possible elimination of the business tax, Gulyás said the government wanted to ease companies’ burdens and cut their taxes with comprehensive measures but had yet to decide on concrete steps.

Hungarian government to discuss extension of Schengen border control on Wednesday

hungary slovenia border

The government will decide on Wednesday on whether to extend the current controls along the country’s Schengen borders, an official of the operative board coordinating measures to contain the coronavirus epidemic told an online press conference on Tuesday.

Róbert Kiss noted that the government had decided to temporarily re-introduce controls along the entire Schengen borders, involving 127 crossing points, including five for international transit.

Meanwhile, the chief medical officer has said the sharp uptick in the spread of coronavirus was starting to flatten out across the nation. Cecília Müller told the news conference that

“the dynamics of the epidemic have changed favourably”,

noting that the number of new cases was no longer increasing rapidly. While a month ago the number of new infections tripled from one week to the next, in recent days it has increased by a mere 2 percent, she said.

The reproduction rate of the virus has now fallen back from an earlier value of 2 to just above 1, which means that an infected person transmits the virus to no more than one other person, she said.

People should continue to strictly observe the rules because “the disease is everywhere and anyone could contract it”, she added.

Border Hungary enter travel
Read alsoSlovenia eases travel restrictions but puts Budapest and Győr-Moson-Sopron in red zone