Can I become a Hungarian citizen by descent?

I did as my parents where both Hungarian born. I would suggest contact the Hungarian consulate for info, as I believe some of the rules have changed recently. I did mine about 4 years ago.

It's possible you may be a Hungarian citizen through your grandparents and father, but there are some "it depends." For example, if your grandparents relinquished or otherwise lost their Hungarian citizenship before your father was born, then there'd be no Hungarian citizenship to pass on.  That's just one example of a possible problem, of course. Another common problem is finding all the old documents you need to establish your grandparents' Hungarian citizenship and your descent from them. Sometimes the old documents just don't exist.

As said, you really need to contact an embassy or consulate and discuss your specific situation.

If there's a problem with citizenship by descent, then you could apply for Simplified Naturalization, since you have ancestors who were once Hungarian citizens. This would require Hungarian language skills, though. (There's a long thread here on Simplified Naturalization, so I won't repeat what's discussed there.)

zigglr wrote:

I am a UK citizen however my father's side is Hungarian. His parents moved to the UK during the war, everyone before that lived in Hungary. Can I become a Hungarian citizen by descent?

The existing Hungarian nationality law dates from 1993. Prior to this date, rules for acquisition and loss of Hungarian citizenship may have been different. With the new Hungarian nationality law, by January 2011, every person who was a Hungarian citizen or is a descendant of a person who was a Hungarian citizen before 1920 or between 1941 and 1945 and speaks Hungarian may apply to become a Hungarian citizen even if he or she does not live in Hungary.

Until August 2015, more than 750,000 applications were filed and 700,000 people were already granted citizenship thanks to the new nationality law. These people are mostly from Transylvania (Romania) with 300,000 people, Vojvodina (Serbia) with 130,000 and Ukraine with 120,000.

Dual citizenship is permitted under Hungarian law.

What about if I don't speak Hungarian? My dad never taught me it.

As mentioned before, all it takes is to contact the Hungarian Embassy they will explain everything to you.
Good luck with everything

Maybe you won't have to learn Hungarian, maybe you will. As you've set out the facts, there's a reasonable possibility you're Hungarian by descent and won't have to learn the language. But the law is complicated and we don't know the facts, so you'll really have to contact the embassy or consulate.

Hello everyone I would like to ask that I applied for simplified naturalization at the embassy of Hungary in Beirut and successfully passed my interview. My question is that will they notify me after 3 month that my application is accepted and how long is the waiting period for any update. Will be more than glad to hear from you.

Regards to all

If you can prove your father is/was Hungarian, then you too are a Hungarian. There is no need under those circumstances to be a Hungarian speaker. I know this by personal experience. I just received verification of my Hungarian citizenship based on the fact that my father is a Hungarian citizen.

If you cannot prove your father is a Hungarian citizen, but rather simply that you are of Hungarian dissent, you can use simplified naturalization which is a streamlined way of gaining citizenship. However  there is a requirement that you speak Hungarian at it least a basic, fundamental level.

In Hungary father is not important. just  By mother line!!!

But the rules have changed over time, and the rule that counts is usually the rule in effect at the time of the relevant birth. This is why we keep stressing that everything depends on your particular circumstances.

ehsanbudapest wrote:

In Hungary father is not important. just  By mother line!!!

I am pretty sure it's either parent.

ehsanbudapest wrote:

In Hungary father is not important. just  By mother line!!!

This is not correct. In fact, prior to 1959 it was the exact opposite - FATHER ONLY.

Since then it is either parent. If Dad is a Hungarian, you are a Hungarian.

But of course, if your Dad was born in the US, and hasn't verified his citizenship,  you will need documents going back to your Grandparents showing they were citizens.

marklivesinla wrote:

ehsanbudapest wrote:

In Hungary father is not important. just  By mother line!!!

This is not correct. In fact, prior to 1959 it was the exact opposite - FATHER ONLY.

Since then it is either parent. If Dad is a Hungarian, you are a Hungarian.

But of course, if your Dad was born in the US, and hasn't verified his citizenship,  you will need documents going back to your Grandparents showing they were citizens.

I know it's slightly off topic, but there was a situation fairly recently (<13 years) in the UK where an unmarried father could not pass his nationality to his child born of a foreign mother.   No longer the case as far as I know.

I suspect all of those "unequal" parentage/nationality things, regardless of marriage,  have disappeared within the EU/EEA and Switzerland some years ago.

same situation father came to England 1956  I was born British I speak no Hungarian but would like Hungarian
citizenship

You need the paperwork: Father's Hungarian birth certificate, parents' marriage certificate, your birth certificate. UK docs presumably need to be translated and apostilled, but check with the embassy. No language requirement in a case like this.

thanks I have all the docs and my fathers parents documents I was worrying about language test
it seems on UK embassy there is only one document to file is that correct
and google translate will not convert my English well enough.

these documents do I need originals or good copies as they are very old

The embassy may be willing to make a certified copy of the originals and give you back the originals. As well, they may do a translation. All at some cost of course. But only some Hungarian embassies provide these services, so you'll have to ask.

There's also the question how you would apostille old UK documents, if required.

Further, bear in mind that you will never see again whatever documents you submit. Myself, I'd just order new sets of the documents.

I really do not know, I am in a bit different situation, but for me being Hungarian resident (as a Schengen resident is already sufficient). If one settles here I think being a resident is not too difficult, UK, US, Indian, .. nationality in the end might be a plus.

Of course there can be specific reasons, but I am sure that Hungary will be happy to receive clever residents with Hungarian heritage and make them get a Hungarian passport. (I just fail to see the drivers to do so (me being biassed))

Good luck, but I am a bit sceptical on your posts, should be quite easy even if you are outside Schengen or EU for that matter. Welcome I think is given for those with the good heritage in Hungary.

shaneforce3 wrote:

thanks I have all the docs and my fathers parents documents I was worrying about language test
it seems on UK embassy there is only one document to file is that correct
and google translate will not convert my English well enough.

You shouldn't need to do a language test if one of your parents is a Hungarian citizen.   You will automatically be a Hungarian citizen.  You should be able to simply apply for a passport supported by your documentation.

While perhaps not quite the same, I have two kids here - Mrs Fluffy is Hungarian and I'm British.   There was never any question that the kids were not Hungarian and we obtained Hungarian passports for them by just routine application.   They also have British passports (also by routine application supported by Hungarian birth certificates).

It's a two-step process. First he submits the documentation and gets recognized as a Hungarian citizen. Then he applies for a passport.

It'd be different if the poster himself were born in Hungary and had a Hungarian birth certificate, like your children. Then there's no need for formal recognition of citizenship.

The poster should also be aware that the embassy only accepts the paperwork; everything is actually processed in Budapest, so it's not quickly done. A reasonable guess is that Covid's slowed everything down further.

zif wrote:

It's a two-step process. First he submits the documentation and gets recognized as a Hungarian citizen. Then he applies for a passport.

It'd be different if the poster himself were born in Hungary and had a Hungarian birth certificate, like your children. Then there's no need for formal recognition of citizenship.

The poster should also be aware that the embassy only accepts the paperwork; everything is actually processed in Budapest, so it's not quickly done. A reasonable guess is that Covid's slowed everything down further.

Really?  Seems a bit odd.    The UK birth certificate would be acceptable here (was before Brexit anyway) but perhaps with translation.   There was always mutual recognition of documents in the EU so not clear why it wouldn't work by just applying for a passport. 

BTW, the birth certificates in Hungary are in Hungarian, English and French (2009 anyways) and the ones from about 2005 are only in Hungarian.

The UK birth certificate alone isn't enough. He also needs a marriage certificate, UK or otherwise.

Point is, a Hungarian birth certificate standing alone does demonstrate Hungarian citizenship. But without that more documents are needed and they are evaluated in Budapest.

As I mentioned, he'll have to ask the embassy whether his UK documents need to be translated or apostilled.

zif wrote:

The UK birth certificate alone isn't enough. He also needs a marriage certificate, UK or otherwise.

Point is, a Hungarian birth certificate standing alone does demonstrate Hungarian citizenship. But without that more documents are needed and they are evaluated in Budapest.

As I mentioned, he'll have to ask the embassy whether his UK documents need to be translated or apostilled.

OK, you know more.

I'm curious and wonder why would a marriage certificate be required so long as Hungarian Dad was identified as the father on the birth certificate?   What difference would it make who the mother was to nationality passed through the father?   Wondering what the logic was.

BTW, I expect official translations are all that are required - Mrs Fluffy and I were married in the UK and have English language documentation on marriage.    In those days OFFI did that work so it was in a closed system.  There was no requirement for an apostille.

Why the marriage certificate? As you might recall from other posts here, there can be problems if the child is not legitimate. Not sure if that is an absolute bar these days but nonetheless why look for problems, and not handing over a marriage certificate is asking for delay and problems.

As to the apostille requirement, Hungary is not consistent. Not required for Simplified Naturalization documents but usually required for citizenship verification documents like here, though there are exceptions for some countries. Only way the poster can know for sure is to ask the embassy.

zif wrote:

Why the marriage certificate? As you might recall from other posts here, there can be problems if the child is not legitimate. Not sure if that is an absolute bar these days but nonetheless why look for problems, and not handing over a marriage certificate is asking for delay and problems.

As to the apostille requirement, Hungary is not consistent. Not required for Simplified Naturalization documents but usually required for citizenship verification documents like here, though there are exceptions for some countries. Only way the poster can know for sure is to ask the embassy.

Good info, thanks.

There was a similar thing going on in the UK.   Only the father could pass on nationality when the mother was a foreign national and to do that, one had to be married.  It was a travesty of inequality and that rule or regulation was rescinded some years ago.  Now, in the UK nationality can be passed on without being married.   I wonder if there was some EU legal challenge about it.

BTW, in mid-2000s,  I had to sign a paper to say our child was MY child before they would issue the HU birth certificate.  There's note on the birth certificate saying, I'm British.  I don't think had to do that in the late 2000s with the 2nd child and the birth certificate was issued in HU. But it also has a note saying I'm British.   As far as I recall UK birth certificates don't record nationality of the parents.

Current UK birth certificates record the birthplace of each parent but not the citizenship

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/05/17 … 260515.jpg

zif wrote:

Current UK birth certificates record the birthplace of each parent but not the citizenship

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/05/17 … 260515.jpg

Indeed, my own (UK) birth certificate does not record nationality.     

There's another type of birth certificate in the UK system and that's the consular birth certificate.   It's optional to have one of these and the fees charged are really high.  So only one of our kids has one. 

The older one has the local HU language version only so the consular version can be used in the UK without translation. 

The other  kid doesn't have a consular version as model certificate is "internationalised"  language wise and recognised in UK and HU.   

The Embassy did also tell me that consular certificate copies are lodged in Liverpool.  I did ask why it was necessary to have one and they said it was for record keeping in the UK.   

An interesting difference on UK issued certificates and the consular version is that it shows my claim to citizenship was -  S11(1) (a) British Nationality Act 1981.  Doesn't record Mrs Fluffy's nationality.

All very interesting but not directly relevant for the OP.

BTW, I like the Occupation on your link - Prince/?Princess of the United Kingdom.    I might have said "Self-entitled Prince/ss....." or "Overly self-important Prince/ss...."

The US also has a consular birth record for Americans born overseas and it's really important to get it ASAP after birth. They make late registration purposely difficult and without it the child does not have a US birth certificate. So it's a must-have.

I've been at my local consulate a couple of times when couples brought their infant in for registration. So funny to see them lift the little child up so the consul gets a good view through the glass. Funny because at two weeks babies tend to look all alike.

zif wrote:

The US also has a consular birth record for Americans born overseas and it's really important to get it ASAP after birth. They make late registration purposely difficult and without it the child does not have a US birth certificate. So it's a must-have.

I've been at my local consulate a couple of times when couples brought their infant in for registration. So funny to see them lift the little child up so the consul gets a good view through the glass. Funny because at two weeks babies tend to look all alike.

We had to get a passport for our HU eldest pronto as we were travelling. I went first for the UK passport as I could get it in 2-3 days, not months. We had a professional photographer taking a picture on the hospital bed!    It was a major effort to get  the birth certificate issued locally in quick time.  I had to take a HU speaker to lean on the registrar.   

All that was at a time when UK embassies issued passports.  They don't do that now, everything has to be done by post and courier at high (i.e. rip off) prices.  It's a bit infuriating they don't issue passports now.

I can understand that about the US birth certificate.  It didn't matter so much for British citizens as way back then, all EU issued documents were mutually recognised.  I expect that continues but one can see how it could easily go wrong with Brexit if some civil servant took their eye off the ball when agreeing mutual recognition of documents.

My very eldest kid has yet another EU issued (non-UK, non-HU) birth certificate and never had a problem at all with  the UK authorities.