Not the job title, and not how urgent it is. Send us these four before an offer goes out and one conversation is usually enough.
These are the five that matter for employers. Family members are covered separately, below.
| Permit | Who it fits | Labour test | Family | Validity | Decision time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Residence permit for employment | General roles with no specific higher-education requirement. Currently open to Georgian, Armenian and Filipino nationals. | Required | Not available | 2 years 3 in total |
Statutory70 daysIn practice70–90 days |
| Hungarian Card | IT, engineering and natural sciences. The degree must have been earned outside Hungary. | Required | Available | 3 years renewable by 3 |
Statutory70 daysIn practice60–70 days |
| EU Blue Card | Higher-education professionals in any field, where the salary meets the threshold: HUF 1,001,048 gross per month in 2026. | Required | Available | 2–4 years renewable by 4 |
Statutory70–90 daysIn practice60–70 days |
| Intra-corporate transfer (ICT) | A manager, specialist or trainee moved from another entity in the same group, after at least 3 months there. | Not required | Available | 3 years trainees 1 |
Statutory70 daysIn practice60–70 days |
| National Card | Nationals of eight countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Belarus, Moldova, Montenegro, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine. | Not required | Available | 2 years renewable by 3 |
Statutory21 daysIn practice70–90 days3× the deadline |
Family reunification is its own permit: statutory deadline 21 days, in practice 60–70. Current as of August 2026.
The authority publishes a deadline for each permit. It is a real number, but it does not measure what an HR team assumes it measures. It measures the days the authority itself works on the file — not the days on a calendar.
FilingThe deadline starts when a complete file is submitted — not when the offer is signed.
The authority worksThese are the days the published deadline measures: 21, 70, or 70–90, depending on the permit.
The clock stopsA request for a missing document, or a suspension set out in law. Nothing caps how long this takes on a calendar.
DecisionThe deadline resumes where it stopped. What the employer waits through is the sum of all four.
The clock stops, and the law says it may. Time spent supplying missing documents, and any period in which a case is suspended, is not counted towards the deadline. That is why the two shortest deadlines on the list — the National Card and family reunification — are the two that run longest in practice.
A family member is the clearest example: their case is suspended until the sponsor is decided, because the sponsor is the one who supports them. The suspension does not count, so 21 days becomes two months on a calendar. We explain the mechanism in full in why a 21-day permit takes three months.
Add document preparation, certified translation, apostille and consular appointments, and the realistic total from decision to legal start date is four to five months.
Not on missing paperwork. These are the things that actually delay a case, per permit type.
A fixed price per case, agreed before we start.
The first call is free. If your case needs a decision on which permit applies before we can quote it, that is a EUR 100 consultation, deducted from your fee if you go ahead. All prices are net, excluding VAT and third-party costs.
For most employees it is one document. The permit that allows someone to live in Hungary also carries the right to work for the employer named in it. Short assignments of under ninety days work differently, and EU, EEA and Swiss nationals need no work permit at all.
The residence permit for employment, the Hungarian Card and the EU Blue Card. The intra-corporate transfer permit and the National Card do not. There are exceptions, and which ones apply depends on the circumstances of the employing company.
Because the deadline does not run continuously. Time spent supplying missing documents, and any period in which the case is suspended, is not counted towards it. A family member is the clearest example: their case is suspended until the sponsor is decided, so the calendar time is far longer than the deadline suggests.
Four to five months before the intended start date. The authority deadline is only part of it. Document preparation, certified translation, apostille and consular appointments all happen before the file is even complete.
Where the qualification was earned, who the employer will be and what the role is, what it pays, and whether there is Hungarian or EU family. We will tell you which permit applies, how long it will take, and whether your start date is realistic.