Hungary: Increased Scrutiny of Work Permit Applications; Transition to New Digital Application System
November 19, 2025
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At a Glance
- Immigration practitioners have observed an increase in scrutiny of work permit applications. This includes:
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- District employment offices applying increased scrutiny as part of labor market testing; and
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- Increased enforcement of existing requirements to provide quarterly labor reports as part of a work permit application.
- This may extend processing timelines or increase administrative burdens for employers filing work permit applications.
- Separately, following the transition to the Document-to-User Assignment system, digital immigration applications must now use a qualified electronic signature certificate and timestamp service.
The situation
Immigration practitioners have observed an increase in scrutiny of work permit applications. Separately, there is a new requirement for electronic signatures following the transition to the Document-to-User Assignment system.
A closer look
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Increased scrutiny of labor market testing. District employment offices are more strictly scrutinizing labor market tests, particularly by way of a more diligent assessment of whether Hungarian jobseekers have been properly considered prior to approval of a work permit application. Among other measures, this includes sending jobseekers who are not fully qualified for interviews and requesting additional information on language skills for certain applicants. |
The increased scrutiny may extend processing timelines or increase administrative burdens for employers filing work permit applications. Additionally, it is likely to lead to higher rates of application refusals. Employers should anticipate longer preparation periods, ensure robust evidence of local recruitment efforts, and plan accordingly to mitigate delays in onboarding foreign employees. |
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Increased scrutiny of quarterly labor report. Hungarian authorities are now more strictly enforcing the requirement to attach to each work permit application the quarterly labor reports submitted to the Hungarian Central Statistical Office (KSH) for the two quarters preceding the application. Notably, the Ministry for National Economy has instructed that compliance with this requirement must be verified at least once per employer per quarter. |
As this rule only requires providing a copy of the reports already filed with the KSH and does not involve preparing or submitting new data, the administrative burden is light. However, applicants must nonetheless ensure that this documentation is included with work permit applications.
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New electronic signature requirement. Effective November 1, 2025, the Document-to-User Assignment (FEDOR) service was integrated into the ePapír platform. As a result of this integration, digital applications must now include the electronic signature certificate of a pre-determined company representative and this service is now subject to an annual fee. |
By reducing the number of company representatives who can sign relevant immigration-related documents, as well as introducing a fee, these changes add administrative and cost barriers to the process. |
Background
In some cases, the tightening of scrutiny by authorities has been based on unpublished ministerial instructions; while in other instances, it is based on increased active enforcement of pre-existing regulations (for instance, the labor report requirements).
Looking ahead
These reforms highlight a push by the Hungarian authorities to better standardize and scrutinize immigration procedures. Further reforms in this regard may be seen in the near- to mid-term.
This alert is for informational purposes only. If you have any questions, please contact the global immigration professional with whom you work at Fragomen.
