Hungary residence permit through a company: business residence for founders and directors

They are three different bases under Act XC of 2023. Business residence is the permit for guest self-employment: you run a Hungarian company with genuine activity, status for 1 year extendable to 3. The Golden Visa (Guest Investor Programme) is a 10-year permit for fund units from EUR 250,000 or a donation from EUR 1,000,000, with no presence requirement. The White Card is a year plus a year for remote work for a foreign employer with income from EUR 3,000 a month, and a ban on holding a share in a Hungarian company.

No, that is one of two alternative tests. If the company has employed 5 Hungarian or EEA nationals full-time for at least 6 consecutive months, you qualify under the first. Without such staff you must show that your presence in Hungary is essential to the company and that, on a detailed declaration of activity, it will earn enough to sustain itself. For a new company this is the second path, and it needs real contracts and transactions.

The minimum registered capital of a Kft under the Civil Code is HUF 3,000,000, with a minimum contribution of HUF 100,000 per member. The capital is paid into the company’s account and remains the company’s money: it is used in the business, not frozen on deposit. For Indian founders the remittance is made under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme, which we plan with the bank in advance.

The statutory decision period is 21 days, but you can file only once the company is already trading. In our practice six months to a year pass from company registration to status: that is when the contracts, transactions and accounts appear that prove the economic substance of the business. We do not promise ‘within a month’.

As a rule, at the Hungarian consulate in your country of nationality or habitual residence: for Indian citizens that is the consulate in New Delhi or Mumbai, for UAE residents the embassy in Abu Dhabi. Filing inside Hungary via Enter Hungary or the regional directorate of OIF is open only to visa-free nationals on a first application and to holders of an extendable permit.

For extension, yes: the OIF factsheet requires at least 90 days in Hungary in any 180-day period on the permit. For the first issue no presence condition is written separately, but the test ‘your residence is essential to the operation of the company’ assumes you run the business from Hungary.

The national residence card (indefinite residence after 3 years) is not granted to holders of the guest self-employment permit. The EU residence card after 5 years of lawful residence does not exclude this permit, but because of the 3-year cap another basis is needed for the remaining period. Citizenship comes after 8 years of residence with a permanent residence document and an exam in Hungarian. India does not recognise dual citizenship, so we build the long-term strategy at the start.

Corporate income tax is 9% since 2017, local business tax up to 2% set by the municipality. Personal income tax, including on dividends, is 15%; above the annual cap a 13% social contribution tax is added to dividends. Tax residence and the India–Hungary double taxation agreement are checked before you move.

From inside Hungary a holder of the guest self-employment permit cannot apply for an employment permit or the Hungarian Card: the OIF factsheet expressly forbids it. If employment is in your plans, the basis must be chosen before the first filing.

The OIF factsheet for this permit contains no list of excluded nationalities. In practice what matters is the place of filing, the ability to open a company account with a Hungarian bank and the origin of funds. For Indian applicants we plan the LRS remittance of capital and running costs and the bank’s source-of-funds checks before the company is registered.

No. Under the OIF factsheet the family for reunification is the spouse or registered partner and minor children, including dependants and children in your custody. Parents and adult children are not on the list. For them we select a separate basis: a permit of their own or the Guest Investor Programme, where dependent parents are included in the investor’s family.

The income threshold does not rise, because there is none: instead, accommodation, funds and insurance are proved for each family member, and each application carries a fee of HUF 39,000 in person, HUF 26,000 via Enter Hungary or EUR 110 at the consulate. The main difference is timing: the family may file only 1 year after your permit is issued, except for a child born in Hungary.

Yes. If the application is refused through the fault of our team or an error in building the case, we refund the company's service fee less a minimal retention for costs actually incurred. Refund terms, the payment schedule and the rules on retaining service costs are fixed in the contract before work begins. Before we start, we check your documents and risk history free of charge and tell you about any risks in advance.