EU Blue Card · 2026 salary thresholds
Two figures, one formula, and one date that catches employers out
The minimum salary for EU Blue Card holders in Hungary rose again for 2026. Below are the five questions HR teams actually ask us about it — each with a straight answer and the legal source underneath, so you can put it in front of your own legal team.
Gross monthly salary, in force for 2026. The amounts were announced by the Minister for National Economy in the Hivatalos Értesítő (Official Gazette Supplement) No. 49 of 30 October 2025, page 4620, under Section 3(1)–(2) of Ministerial Decree 44/2011. (XII. 16.) NGM.
Question 01
How much must we pay an EU Blue Card holder in 2026?
— or HUF 800,838 if the occupation is listed in Annex 1 of the decree. Nothing between the two.
The figure is the gross monthly salary set out in the employment contract. Both thresholds rose by 13.3% from 2025, and that increase was not a policy decision: the amounts are pegged to the national gross average wage published by the Central Statistical Office, so they move on their own every year.
| Section 3(1) — general | HUF 1,001,048 in 2026 · HUF 883,671 in 2025 · +13.3% |
|---|---|
| Section 3(2) — Annex 1 occupations | HUF 800,838 in 2026 · HUF 706,937 in 2025 · +13.3% |
Source: Section 3(1)–(2) of Ministerial Decree 44/2011. (XII. 16.) NGM; 2026 amounts published in Hivatalos Értesítő No. 49 of 30 October 2025. The authority’s own summary is on the NDGAP EU Blue Card factsheet.
Question 02
Does the lower HUF 800,838 threshold apply to our role?
Only if the occupation appears in Annex 1 of the decree. Nothing else lowers the figure — not seniority, not the sector, not the size of your company, not how hard the role was to fill.
- Annex 1 is a closed list. It names shortage occupations by occupation code, and the multiplier for those roles is 1.2× the average wage instead of 1.5×.
- The job title in the contract has to match the listed occupation. An invented or over-creative title is one of the more common reasons a file comes back with a request for clarification.
- There is no discretion in either direction. The authority does not lower the general threshold for a hard-to-fill role, and it does not raise the Annex 1 figure for a senior one.
If you are not certain whether a vacancy maps onto an Annex 1 occupation, send us the job description before the contract is signed rather than after the application is filed. Changing the salary later is straightforward; changing the occupation the case was built on is not.
Question 03
We filed in 2025 — is the salary still compliant?
The threshold that applies is the one in force in the year the employment relationship exists, not the year the application was filed. A file submitted in November 2025 at a then-compliant HUF 883,671 is measured against HUF 1,001,048 once the decision is taken in 2026.
This is the single most common avoidable failure we see across a year-end. The fix is an amendment to the employment contract before the decision is taken — not an appeal afterwards. The same applies to renewals: a Blue Card being extended into 2026 has to clear the 2026 figure, even though the original card was issued against a lower one.
“Almost every refusal I saw from the authority’s side came down to a number nobody re-checked after January. The threshold is published in advance. Missing it is avoidable.”
Henrietta Kígyósi — Founder & Head of Immigration, six years inside Hungary’s immigration authority
Source: Section 3(3) of Decree 44/2011. (XII. 16.) NGM — the amount set for a given year applies to the employment relationship existing in that year.
Question 04
Is that gross or net — and do bonuses count?
Gross, and it is the base monthly salary in the employment contract that has to reach the threshold.
- Variable pay is not what gets measured. Annual bonus, performance pay, sign-on payments and allowances sit outside the figure the authority checks.
- A low base plus a discretionary bonus is a structure that survives an offer letter and fails a permit file. If the package genuinely reaches the threshold, put it in the base.
- Benefits in kind do not close the gap either — housing, schooling and car allowances are part of a good relocation package, not part of the minimum salary.
If your compensation model is built around variable pay, tell us early. There is usually a contract structure that keeps the commercial logic intact and still clears the threshold, but it has to be designed before signature.
Question 05
When will we know the 2027 figure?
The deadline is written into the decree itself, so the update is predictable: the Minister for National Economy publishes the following year’s amounts by the end of October each year.
That makes the planning cycle straightforward. Build the salary review for your foreign hires into November, not January, and you will never be amending contracts under time pressure while a case is already with the authority. We refresh this page within days of publication — bookmark it rather than copying the number into an internal policy document that nobody will remember to update.
Source: Section 3(4) of Decree 44/2011. (XII. 16.) NGM.
The legal basis
Where these figures come from — and how to check them yourself
The decree does not name an amount. It gives a formula, and the amount follows from it: 1.5× the national gross average wage of the second year before the year in question, or 1.2× for Annex 1 occupations. For 2026 the reference figure is the 2024 average wage of HUF 667,365.
| Section 3(1) — general | 667,365 × 1.5 = 1,001,047.5 → published as HUF 1,001,048 |
|---|---|
| Section 3(2) — Annex 1 | 667,365 × 1.2 = HUF 800,838 |
Both reconcile to the forint. The number is arithmetic, not discretion — which is also why nobody can negotiate it. The full chain from statute to this year’s amount is four steps:
- Act XC of 2023, Sections 37–39 — the statutory basis for the EU Blue Card in Hungary.
- Government Decree 35/2024. (II. 29.), Section 24(1) — requires the salary to reach the level set in the decree on calculating minimum remuneration.
- Ministerial Decree 44/2011. (XII. 16.) NGM, Section 3 — the formula, the Annex 1 list, the rule on which year applies, and the 31 October publication deadline.
- Hivatalos Értesítő No. 49, 30 October 2025, page 4620 — the Minister for National Economy’s announcement of the 2026 amounts.
Where this leaves you
The number is public. Knowing what to do about it is the part we are paid for.
If you have a Blue Card case running across the year-end, a compensation structure built on variable pay, or a role you think might sit on Annex 1, a short call will tell you where you stand before it becomes a refusal. Heni spent six years deciding these files inside the immigration authority and nine years running them from the outside.
The initial consultation is EUR 100, credited against the fee if you go ahead.
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Last verified 8 September 2026 by Henrietta Kígyósi, Founder & Head of Immigration at Blue Bishop Relocation. This page states the law as it stands and is not individual legal advice.