The Next Passport
Hungarian Citizenship Through a Grandparent
Claiming Hungarian simplified naturalization through a grandparent or earlier ancestor — no generational cutoff under §4(3) of Act LV of 1993 on Hungarian Citizenship.
Last verified: September 6, 2026 · Maintained by The Next Passport (Warner Creates LLC).
The Next Passport is not affiliated with the Hungarian government or any Hungarian consulate. Content is informational only and is not legal advice.
No generational limit — unlike Italian or German law
Hungary's simplified naturalization pathway under §4(3) of Act LV of 1993 has no generational cutoff. Its conditions, including Hungarian language ability, are set out below. This is one of the most permissive descent pathways in Europe.
What you need to establish
Budapest Főváros Kormányhivatala (BFKH), «TÁJÉKOZTATÓ az egyszerűsített honosítási eljárásról» (5 July 2023), section 1:
Egyszerűsített honosítási kérelmet nyújthat be a kérelmező, ha
- saját maga (visszahonosítás) vagy felmenője magyar állampolgár volt vagy valószínűsíti magyarországi származását; VAGY
- magyar állampolgárral legalább tíz éve érvényes házasságban él, vagy magyar állampolgárral öt éve él házasságban és közös gyermekük született;
ÉS
- magyar nyelvtudását igazolja (ezt a kérelmet átvevő szerv ellenőrzi);
- a magyar jog szerint büntetlen előéletű és büntetőeljárás nincs ellene folyamatban, valamint
- honosítása nem sérti Magyarország közbiztonságát és nemzetbiztonságát.
(Hungarian text; no English rendering published.)
1. An unbroken ancestry line to a Hungarian citizen
You must document every generation from yourself back to the qualifying Hungarian ancestor. Each link requires birth certificates, marriage certificates (where applicable), and death certificates for deceased ancestors. What goes with each follows the country that issued it: a US-issued document needs an apostille and a certified Hungarian translation, while a record issued by an EU Member State is exempt from legalisation and from the apostille under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 art. 4. Who may certify the translation, and for which documents, is set out on our Hungarian cost calculator page, under “Who May Certify the Translation — and What That Costs”.
2. Proof that the qualifying ancestor held Hungarian citizenship — or, in the alternative, Hungarian origin
Evidence of the ancestor's Hungarian citizenship can include: a Hungarian birth certificate (anyakönyvi kivonat), Hungarian identity documents, a civil registry extract showing Hungarian citizenship, or Hungarian emigration records. For ancestors born before 1895, church parish registers (anyakönyvek) are the primary source — state civil registration began in 1895. §4(3) is written in the alternative: an ascendant who was a Hungarian citizen, or an applicant who substantiates their origin from Hungary (valószínűsíti magyarországi származását). Documented ancestor citizenship is the ordinary route and the one to aim for. Hungary publishes no evidentiary standard for the origin limb, so if your grandparent's citizenship cannot be documented, that is a case to put to the post or a Hungarian attorney — not a route we can tell you will succeed.
3. Conversational Hungarian ability
The level is: Intermediate-level (középszint) two-way Hungarian — no exam or certificate; assessed by conversation with the consular officer. You attach a short autobiographical statement (önéletrajz) in your own handwriting — written in advance, on the prescribed application form, not composed at the appointment. There is no exam and no certificate: the consular officer assesses your ability in conversation, and the government states that dialect or broken Hungarian is not a problem.
4. Clean criminal record
The clean-record condition comes from §4(1)(b) of Act LV of 1993, incorporated by §4(3), and it concerns Hungarian criminal records — which the Hungarian authority verifies itself. An FBI Identity History Summary is not on the mandatory-attachments (kötelező mellékletek) list, and no US post publishes it as a requirement. Ask the post serving your consular district whether it wants a criminal-history report before you order one, and if it does, ask what issue date it will accept.
Historical situations that change what you document
Each of these is a loss the ancestor suffered, and §4(3) asks whether a felmenő magyar állampolgár volt — WAS a Hungarian citizen — not whether the citizenship survived. So none of them is a condition of the application. What they change is which records you have to produce, and where those records are held.
Emigration
Act L of 1879, 31. and 32. § (in force until 31 August 1939): 31. §: «Azon magyar állampolgár, ki a magyar kormány vagy az osztr.-magy. közös ministerek megbizása nélkül 10 évig megszakitás nélkül a magyar korona területének határain kivül tartózkodik, elveszti magyar állampolgárságát. A távollét ideje azon naptól számitandó, a melyen az illető a magyar korona területének határát elhagyva távozott a nélkül, hogy magyar állampolgárságának fentartását a 9-ik §-ban megnevezett illetékes hatóságnak bejelentette volna; vagy ha utlevéllel távozott, a mely napon utlevele lejárt. A távollét folytonossága megszakittatik az által, ha az eltávozott magyar állampolgárságának fentartását a fentebb nevezett illetékes hatóságnak bejelenti, vagy ujabb utlevelet szerez, vagy valamely osztrák-magyar konzuli hivataltól tartózkodási jegyet nyer, avagy valamely osztrák-magyar konzuli község anyakönyvébe beiratik.» 32. §: «A magyar állampolgárságnak ily módon történt elvesztése kiterjed a távollevő férfinak vele élő nejére és vele levő atyai hatalom alatt álló kiskorú gyermekeire.» (Hungarian text; no English rendering published.) Act XIII of 1939 (in force 1 September 1939 to 31 January 1949), 2. §: «(1) Az 1879:L. tc. 31. és 32. §-a hatályukat vesztik és helyükbe az alábbi bekezdésekben foglalt rendelkezések iktattatnak. (2) Az a magyar állampolgár, aki a m. kir. kormánytól kapott megbizatás nélkül tíz évig megszakítás nélkül külföldön tartózkodik, Magyarország területének elhagyásától számított tíz év elteltével elveszti magyar állampolgárságát. Nem lehet a tíz évi távollét megszakításának tekinteni a Magyarország területére visszatérést, ha ez esetenként háromhónapi időtartamot nem halad meg. (3) Arra nézve, aki Magyarország területét az előbbi bekezdés szerint kapott megbizatással hagyta el, megbizatásának megszűnte után azonban nem tért vissza Magyarországba, a tízévi határidőt a megbizatásának megszűntét követő naptól kell számítani. (4) Nem veszti el magyar állampolgárságát az, aki az előző bekezdésekben meghatározott tíz év eltelte előtt a belügyminiszternél vagy a lakóhelye - ennek hiányában tartózkodóhelye - szerint illetékes magyar külképviseleti hatóságnál bejelenti a magyar állampolgárság fenntartására irányuló szándékát és magyar állampolgárságának fenntartásához a belügyminiszter hozzájárul. A hozzájárulást megadottnak kell tekinteni, ha a belügyminiszter a hozzájárulás kérdésében a bejelentés megtételétől számított hat hónap alatt nem nyilatkozott. (5) A magyar állampolgárságnak az előző bekezdések értelmében bekövetkezett elvesztése kiterjed a távollevő férfinak vele élő feleségére és vele lévő, atyai hatalom alatt álló kiskorú gyermekeire.» 9. §: «(1) A 2. § rendelkezései a jelen törvény hatálybalépésekor külföldön tartózkodó személyekre is kiterjednek. (2) Az előbbi bekezdésben említett személyeknél a távollétnek a jelen törvény hatálybalépése előtt eltelt idejét a távollét idejéhez hozzá kell számítani. (3) A (2) bekezdésben foglalt rendelkezés szempontjából a távollétnek a jelen törvény hatálybalépése előtt eltelt idejét is a 2. § (2) és (3) bekezdéseinek rendelkezései szerint kell számítani; a távollét folytonosságának az 1879:L. tc. 31. §-a harmadik bekezdésében meghatározott módon történt megszakítása nem jön figyelembe. (4) Azokra a személyekre, akikre nézve a távollétnek az előző bekezdések rendelkezései szerint számított tíz évi időtartamát a jelen törvény hatálybalépése következtében lejártnak kell tekinteni, úgyszintén azokra a személyekre is, akikre nézve ez az időtartam a törvény hatálybalépésének napjától számított egy év alatt jár le, a 2. § (4) bekezdésében foglalt rendelkezések nyernek alkalmazást, ha a magyar állampolgárság fenntartására irányuló szándékukat a jelen törvény hatálybalépésétől számított egy év alatt bejelentik.» (Hungarian text; no English rendering published.)
Women who married foreign nationals before 1957
Act L of 1879 (Hungarian Nationality Act)§34 provided that a Hungarian woman lost her citizenship on marrying a non-Hungarian. The rule was narrowed from 1 February 1949 — from then she lost it only if the marriage actually gave her her husband's citizenship — and it ended entirely on 1 October 1957. Which of those three periods your ancestor married in decides when she stopped being a Hungarian citizen — not whether you can apply, because §4(3) asks what she WAS.
Ancestry from Trianon ceded territories
The Treaty of Trianon was signed in 1920 but took legal effect on 26 July 1921, transferring large portions of historic Hungary to present-day Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, Ukraine, Slovenia and Austria. Article 61 of the Act enacting it removed Hungarian citizenship on that date from everyone whose commune of pertinence (illetőség — a legal attachment to a municipality, not simply where they lived or were born) fell in a detached territory: they acquired the successor state's citizenship «a magyar állampolgárság kizárásával», to the exclusion of Hungarian citizenship. A citizenship lost that way is still one that was held, which is the test §4(3) sets — «akinek felmenője magyar állampolgár volt». The article removes a Hungarian citizenship rather than establishing one. Act XVII of 1922 §24 made the Interior Minister the first and last instance on where a person's illetőség lay, so a birthplace answers the question in neither direction.
Deprivation of citizenship (1946–1990)
Act LV of 1993 §5/A(1)(a) gives a declaration (nyilatkozat) route to the person who was deprived of Hungarian citizenship — under Acts X of 1947, XXVI of 1948, LX of 1948 or V of 1957, under the 7970/1946, 10.515/1947 or 12.200/1947 decrees, or whose citizenship ended by release between 15 September 1947 and 2 May 1990. It is not open to their descendants. Citizenship is acquired on the day the declaration is made, with no retroactive effect and no language requirement. For a grandchild, that route is closed and the ordinary §4(3) application is the one to make — a deprivation in your family history does not defeat it, because §4(3) asks whether an ascendant was a Hungarian citizen, not whether they still was. What the deprivation changes is which records prove that citizenship as it stood before it.
Documents for grandparent path
Your documents (applicant)
- • Honosítási- visszahonosítási kérelem — the official naturalization application form, filled in before the appointment
- • Birth certificate — a US record is apostilled and filed with a certified Hungarian translation; a record issued by an EU Member State is exempt from legalisation and from the apostille under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 art. 4; who may certify the translation is set out on our Hungarian cost calculator page, under “Who May Certify the Translation — and What That Costs”
- • Valid photo ID (US passport or driver's license)
- • FBI criminal background check — only if your post asks for one; not a mandatory attachment
- • 2 passport-style photos
- • Handwritten autobiographical CV in Hungarian (önéletrajz) — written in advance on the application form
Each ancestor in the chain (parent, grandparent, etc.)
- • Birth certificate
- • Marriage certificate
- • Death certificate (if deceased)
What goes with each of those follows §14(5) of Act LV of 1993 and not the document type: authentication follows the country that issued the record, a certified Hungarian translation follows the language it was issued in, and both limbs yield by name to a directly applicable EU act. A US record is apostilled and translated. A record issued by an EU Member State is exempt from legalisation and from the apostille under Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 art. 4. Who may certify a translation, and for which documents, is set out on our Hungarian cost calculator page, under “Who May Certify the Translation — and What That Costs”.
Hungarian qualifying ancestor
- • Birth record — from whichever country's registry holds the register for the birthplace today. Inside Hungary that is a Hungarian anyakönyvi kivonat; in territory ceded after 1920 the register went with the territory, so it comes from the registry of the country that holds that place now. What has to be attached then follows §14(5) of Act LV of 1993 — authentication by the issuing country, translation by the language the extract is in — and both limbs yield to a directly applicable EU act. Where the registry is in an EU Member State — among them Slovakia, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria, while Ukraine and Serbia are not — Regulation (EU) 2016/1191 art. 4 exempts the extract from legalisation and from the apostille alike. Confirm with your post before you pay for either.
- • Hungarian citizenship proof — passport, identity card, or civil registry extract
- • Pre-1895 church records (if born before 1895) — parish register extract from the parish or diocesan archive that holds it, which for a ceded birthplace is in that country rather than in Hungary. A Hungarian-issued, Hungarian-language extract needs no apostille and no translation.
- • Opt record (if from ceded Trianon territory) — option declaration for Hungarian citizenship
Processing timeline
What Hungary and its posts publish about how long it takes is set out on our page “Hungarian Citizenship Processing Times”.
There is no nationwide booking system, and the portal most often named — konzinfo.mfa.gov.hu — is the consular information site, not a booking page. Washington books through konzinfobooking.mfa.gov.hu; Los Angeles and New York's general portal use konzinfoidopont.mfa.gov.hu. For simplified naturalization specifically, New York and Chicago both take appointments by email — Chicago says outright that its online system does not cover egyszerűsített honosítás. Konzinfo Ügysegéd (konzinfougyseged.mfa.gov.hu) is a third system again, for preparing the application electronically and attaching documents. Start from the page of the post serving your consular district rather than from a portal. Applications are filed with a career consular officer — the Embassy in Washington DC and the Consulates General in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago each serve their own consular district. Confirm intake and the booking method with your post as early as possible.
The oath (fogadalom) — and the one-year deadline
Approval is not the end of the process. Once the application is granted, you are invited to take the fogadalom — the citizenship oath or affirmation. Under §7(1)(c) the location is your choice: before any Hungarian mayor, or before the head of any Hungarian diplomatic mission. You declare that choice on the application form and may change it once up to five days beforehand.
Watch the deadline. If the oath is not taken within one year of the first invitation, the naturalization certificate lapses — the statute puts it directly: az első felhívást követő egy éven belül nem kerül sor, a honosítási okirat hatályát veszti. Citizenship is acquired on the day of the oath, not on the day of approval, and only after it can you apply for a Hungarian identity card and passport.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a generational cutoff for Hungarian citizenship by descent?
No. Hungary's simplified naturalization pathway under §4(3) of Act LV of 1993 (as amended by Act XLIV of 2010) has no generational limit. Its conditions, including Hungarian language ability, are set out on this page under What you need to establish. The practical challenge is documentary: each generation requires birth, marriage, and (where applicable) naturalization records.
My ancestor emigrated to the US and became a US citizen. Did they lose Hungarian citizenship?
Your ancestor may well have lost it — and for your application that usually does not matter. Two historical rules are in play. Absence: Act L of 1879, 31. and 32. § (in force until 31 August 1939) and Act XIII of 1939, 2. § and 9. § (in force 1 September 1939 to 31 January 1949), quoted in full on this page under Historical situations that change what you document. Foreign naturalization: Act XIII of 1939 §1 ended the Hungarian citizenship of anyone who naturalized abroad — including people already naturalized before it, from that Act's own entry into force on 1 September 1939 — and extended the loss to a wife and children where the new country's law covered them. So the common reassurance that Hungary's tolerance of dual citizenship protected emigrant ancestors is simply wrong for that era. The reason it usually does not sink your claim is different and better: §4(3) is satisfied by an ascendant who WAS a Hungarian citizen. A citizenship your great-grandfather held and later lost still satisfies it. What an attorney is for is proving that he held it in the first place.
My great-grandmother was Hungarian but she married an American. Did she lose Hungarian citizenship?
It turns on which of three periods the marriage falls in. Act L of 1879 §34 provided flatly that a Hungarian woman lost her citizenship by marrying a non-Hungarian. From 1 February 1949 that was narrowed: she lost it only if the marriage actually gave her her husband's citizenship, so a woman who acquired nothing by marrying kept hers. The rule ended entirely on 1 October 1957. Marriages from 1 October 1957 onward cost nothing. For earlier ones, the marriage date decides when she stopped being a Hungarian citizen — and, as elsewhere on this page, that is not what §4(3) asks. §4(3) asks whether an ascendant WAS a Hungarian citizen, not whether she remained one, so a marriage that did end her citizenship is part of the claim. What it changes is which records prove the citizenship she held before it.
My ancestor was from a region that became Romania / Slovakia / etc. after Trianon. Does that affect my claim?
It affects what you collect, not whether you can apply. The Treaty of Trianon was signed in 1920 but took effect on 26 July 1921, and Article 61 of the Act enacting it removed Hungarian citizenship on that date from every person whose commune of pertinence (illetőség) lay in a detached territory: they acquired the successor state's citizenship «a magyar állampolgárság kizárásával» — to the exclusion of Hungarian citizenship. Read that against §4(3), which asks whether a felmenő «magyar állampolgár volt» — WAS a Hungarian citizen. A citizenship that ended later is still a citizenship that was held, so a Trianon loss is evidence for the first limb rather than an obstacle to it. What Article 61 cannot do is supply the citizenship in the first place: it takes one away («a magyar állampolgárság kizárásával»), and its territorial clause is written over «a volt Osztrák-Magyar Monarchia» — the whole former Monarchy, which was wider than the Kingdom of Hungary whose citizenship Act L of 1879 governed. Whether your ancestor ever held it is the separate question the eligibility check asks. Illetőség was a legal attachment to a specific municipality and is not the same as birthplace or residence, which is why two people born in the same town can be in different positions, and Act XVII of 1922 §24 made the Interior Minister the first and last instance on where it lay — a birthplace settles it in neither direction.
My ancestor had their citizenship stripped by the communist government. Can I still claim?
Not by the route that is usually described to you. Act LV of 1993 §5/A(1)(a) does provide a declaration (nyilatkozat) route — acquisition on the day the declaration is made, and no language requirement — but it opens "megszerzi a magyar állampolgárságot az a személy: a) akit … megfosztottak": the person who was deprived, in their own right. It is not open to their descendants, and it is not retroactive. It reaches a wider set of losses than the four deprivation Acts alone, including the 7970/1946, 10.515/1947 and 12.200/1947 decrees and citizenship that ended by release (elbocsátás) between 15 September 1947 and 2 May 1990 — so if the person themselves is living, it is worth raising. As a grandchild your route is the ordinary §4(3) application, and the deprivation does not defeat it: §4(3) asks whether an ascendant was a Hungarian citizen, not whether they still was. A Hungarian attorney should evaluate the documentation.
Check your eligibility
Our free eligibility check walks through the Hungarian simplified naturalization rules — including historical chain-breaker situations. Takes about 3 minutes.
Check your eligibility →The Next Passport is not affiliated with the Hungarian government, Ministry of the Interior, or any Hungarian consulate or embassy. Content is informational only and is not legal advice.