National Card
Route status
Active as of 2026-03-03[6]
Open to new applications under the rules recorded below.
| Open only to nationals of | Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Belarus, Moldova, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Serbia, Ukraine as of 2025-01-17[2][3] The National Card is open only to nationals of the listed countries. NDGAP's own factsheet defers to 'a Government Decree' and publishes no list; the list above appears only on NDGAP's two router pages ('Employment without qualification', last edited 2025-01-17, and 'Employment with a higher education / university degree', last edited 2024-09-27), which state it identically. |
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Residency route facts
Identity
| Official name (local) | Nemzeti Kartya as of 2026-08-07[4] Not to be confused with 'Nemzeti tartozkodasi kartya' (the national residence card, a long-term-status document) which NDGAP publishes under a near-identical name. |
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| Official name (English) | National Card as of 2026-03-03[6] |
| Legal basis | Not established from a qualifying source |
| Instrument type | residence card as of 2026-03-03[6] NDGAP issues this as a card rather than a residence permit; the factsheet nonetheless applies the residence-permit extension machinery to it. |
Who can apply
| Nationals not served by this route | EEA as of 2026-03-03[6] Open to third-country nationals only; EEA nationals and their family members hold the right of free movement and residence. Stateless persons qualify as third-country nationals. |
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Permit terms
| Initial duration | 2 years as of 2026-03-03[6] |
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| Renewable | Yes as of 2026-03-03[6] |
| Renewal duration | 3 years as of 2026-03-03[6] NDGAP: extendable 'for the same purpose for up to 3 years at a time'. |
| Maximum total duration | Not established from a qualifying source No cumulative cap is published on NDGAP's factsheet, in contrast to the guest worker permit's express 3-year cap. |
| Work rights | own activity only as of 2026-03-03[6] Employment with the employer in relation to whom the card was granted; employment by a different employer requires an application for extension. The card also covers performing actual work as owner or chief executive of a business organisation, cooperative or other legal entity established for gainful activity, in addition to the activities within that position. |
Permanent residence and citizenship
| Counts toward permanent residence | Not established from a qualifying source Not stated on NDGAP's factsheet, which – unlike the guest worker, seasonal, study, training, traineeship, posted-work and White Card factsheets – carries no national-residence-card bar and no positive statement either. |
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Requirements
| Job offer required | Yes as of 2026-03-03[6] A preliminary agreement on establishment of an employment relationship, or a document on the legal relationship of employment. |
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| Qualification requirement | Not established from a qualifying source Not stated on NDGAP's factsheet. NDGAP's router pages place the National Card under both 'Employment without qualification' and 'Employment with a higher education / university degree', so no single qualification level can be read off them. |
| Employer sponsorship | Yes as of 2026-03-03[6] A named employer is a condition, and the employer may lodge the application with the employee's written consent, via Enter Hungary only. |
| Job-search route | No as of 2026-03-03[6] |
Process
| Where to apply from | either as of 2026-03-03[6] At a Hungarian diplomatic or consular mission, or in Hungary. NDGAP conditions in-Hungary submission on holding a biometric passport. Extensions only in Hungary via Enter Hungary. |
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| Statutory processing time | 21 days as of 2026-03-03[6] Excludes deficiency-remedy periods. Outer deadline: decision as to merits within 70 days of submission. |
| Fees |
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Physical presence
| none stated | to keep the permit as of 2026-03-03[6] |
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Family inclusion
| Family members may be included | Yes as of 2026-03-10[1][5] Established from NDGAP's family-reunification factsheet, which grants the permit to 'a family member of a person in possession of a residence permit' and then publishes a closed list of sponsor permit types that are excluded. This permit is not on that exclusion list. This is a positive general rule plus an express carve-out that does not reach this permit, not an inference from a negative list. |
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| Eligible relations | spouse, registered partner, minor child as of 2026-03-10[1][5] NDGAP's closed definition of family member for the reunification route. Wider categories (dependent parent, sibling or ascendant unable to support himself for health reasons) are reachable under the reunification route's own eligibility list rather than this definition – see hu-family-reunification. |
Your next step
Read the requirements above considering your own situation: the income multiple, the absence limits, who you can bring. Check the country record for the reference figure those amounts are calculated from, and for anything that has changed recently.
The next step is your own case. That assessment is legal work. Create profile for our assistance in this.
Profile benefits
- A 30-minute call with our consultant, who reads your profile first.
- An offer for legal support built around your case, covering the whole process.
Verification
| Sources cited | 7 |
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| of which official (tier 1) | 6 |
| Oldest as-of date | 2025-01-17 |
| Newest as-of date | 2026-08-07 |
| Reviewed on | 2026-08-11 |
| Schema version | 1.1 |
Sources
- [1] EU Immigration Portal – Hungary, family member
European Commission · international organisation · Tier 2 · Accessed 2026-08-07 - [2] Employment with a higher education / university degree
National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (NDGAP/OIF) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2024-09-27 · Accessed 2026-08-07 - [3] Employment without qualification
National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (NDGAP/OIF) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2025-01-17 · Accessed 2026-08-07 - [4] Tajekoztatok – Hungarian-language factsheet index (official permit designations)
National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (NDGAP/OIF) · official portal · Tier 1 · Accessed 2026-08-07 · Archived copy - [5] Residence permit for the purpose of family reunification
National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (NDGAP/OIF) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-03-10 · Accessed 2026-08-07 · Archived copy - [6] National Card
National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (NDGAP/OIF) · official portal · Tier 1 · Published 2026-03-03 · Accessed 2026-08-07 · Archived copy - [7] Procedural fees
National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (NDGAP/OIF) · fee schedule · Tier 1 · Published 2026-03-03 · Accessed 2026-08-07 · Archived copy