How to buy a Hungarian residence permit?

Believe it or not, it is now possible for foreigners to “buy” a Hungarian residence permit, as  the Decree of the Ministry for National Economy has entered into force on 20 February  2013, it has established the so called „residency bonds”. Pursuant to the provisions of this Decree - amending the Act on the Entry and Stay of Third-Country Nationals – Third-Country Nationals, whose investments in Hungary qualify their entry and stay as being in the interest of the economy at large may receive a residence permit with preferential conditions.

Previously three years of a continuous Hungarian residency was the pre-condition for a permanent residence permit, moreover such permit had a limited duration of at least three months and not more than two years.

The validity period of this special residence permit - acquired through the residency bonds – shall be five years at most, and it may be also extended by maximum five additional years at a time. However, it is still a required, that the applicant:

-          has a place of residence in the territory of Hungary,

-          has  a clean criminal record,

-          is not considered to be a threat to the national security of Hungary.

It shall be considered as a national economic interest, if the applicant certifies, that he/she or the company in which he/she holds a majority of shares, has bought government bonds worth at least EUR 250,000, with a duration of five years. The government bonds are  put into circulation by the Hungarian Government Debt Management Agency Private Company Limited by Shares (hereinafter: “ÁKK”). ÁKK undertakes that it pays off the full amount of government bond’s nominal value at the end of maturity.

Based on the information received from ÁKK, the Parliamentary Committee for Economic Affairs will approve separate enterprises, which will establish contractual relations with the foreign applicants. These enterprises will buy the desired government bonds for the foreign individuals. Eventually, the applicants have to attach a final and irrevocable declaration of the enterprise, that it will use the applicant’s contribution for subscribing the government bond for a nominal value of at least EUR 250,000, and will do so within 45 days after the issue date of the applicant’s residence permit. The enterprises will be entitled to make the purchase declarations for a maximum of two trading days per calendar month as predetermined by ÁKK. One series will be introduced to the market per year and the offering price rate is calculated upon the applied interest rate set by ÁKK at the introduction of the given series.

The bond is issued at a discount price, reduced with the interest, where the discount interest rate at the time the bond is issued is 1.5 percentage points lower,- but no less than 2%- than the most similar five-year secondary market yield of the euro-denominated bond with residual maturity issued by the Hungarian State.

If You, or any acquaintance you know is interested in buying residency bonds, or would like to receive more information on the aforementioned, or might need help with any other immigration cases, please do not hesitate to contact us and our experts will be at your kind disposal.