Hungary closes its golden visa: who should hurry before 31 December and who should not start

In brief

• On 4 November the Hungarian government published a bill: from 1 January 2027 the guest investor programme is removed from the law.
• An application filed by 31 December 2026 with the fee paid will be decided under the old rules. Existing cards run to expiry but cannot be extended.
• It makes sense to hurry if you face no sanctions restrictions, your money is clean and documented, and your family's documents can be gathered in three to four weeks.
• For Russian citizens without EU residence the programme has been closed by sanctions since 2022. The closure changes nothing for them except giving dishonest sellers a new pitch.
• If you cannot make it, our position: do not rush, choose a programme that works in 2027 - Greece, Portugal or Cyprus.

What actually happened

The facts are short. On 4 November the government put out for public consultation a package of amendments to law enforcement and public security laws. It contains a provision that removes both the guest investor visa and the guest investor residence card from the immigration law. The start date is 1 January 2027. We set out the transitional rules in our report on the bill.

This is still a bill. But I see no reason to expect the programme to survive. It is not being adjusted, the threshold is not being raised, the conditions are not being changed - it is being removed entirely. When a state wants to keep a programme, it raises the price. When it wants to close it, it writes a date. Here there is a date.

The programme is not yet three years old. It opened on 1 July 2024; in December 2024 the direct purchase of a home for EUR 500,000 was removed before that route ever opened, and throughout it worked in one main form - real estate fund units from EUR 250,000. On paper it was one of the best programmes in Europe: 10 years of status, another 10 on renewal, no requirement to live there, the right to work. In practice the market long struggled to work out whom to sell it to and how, and for a large share of demand it was closed by sanctions.

Why Hungary is doing this

The bill gives no official explanation, so I will say how I see it. Hungary is neither the first nor the last. Over the past three years Europe has steadily wound down residence by investment. Ireland closed its programme in 2023, the Netherlands in 2024, Spain in April 2025. Portugal removed real estate from its Golden Visa and kept only funds. Latvia, as we reported, is reviewing and closing residence through property. I covered the overall autumn picture in my review of EU golden visas.

The logic is the same: golden visas have become politically costly. The European Commission has warned about the risks of such programmes for years, and inside countries they are linked to rising housing prices. Hungary's programme was built on funds, not direct apartment purchases, but that did not save it. The new government that came in after the spring 2026 election is reviewing its predecessor's decisions, and the guest investor programme ended up on that list.

There is a practical lesson for anyone choosing a programme now: choose not only on the entry price but on how durable the programme is. A status that cannot be renewed is worth less than the advertising suggests.

What this means for you. If you are considering EU residence through investment, assess not only today's conditions but the risk that renewal will be closed in a few years. For a family that needs status for 15-20 years, that is the main risk.

Three groups of readers and three different answers

I see three groups of people affected by this news in different ways. Each needs its own answer.

The first group can and should make it. These are nationals of countries not covered by EU sanctions, with money whose origin is documented, and with a family whose documents can be gathered in three to four weeks. For them the Hungarian programme remains a good option until 31 December: a lower entry than Greece or Portugal, no need to live there, the right to work. The downside is 10 years of status with no renewal. If 10 years is enough for you, or you plan to move to permanent residence within that time, it makes sense to go ahead.

The second group should not start. This includes Russian citizens and people living in Russia without citizenship or residence of an EU or EEA country or Switzerland. The programme is closed to them by EU sanctions Regulation 833/2014, as I explained in detail in my article on the myths of the Hungarian golden visa. It also includes anyone without ready proof of their source of funds: such a file is not built from scratch in seven weeks. And those who cannot physically travel to Hungary by mid-December.

The third group already holds a card. For them the news is the most unpleasant: they bought 10 years plus another 10 and will get only the first 10. They do not need to do anything before 31 December, but they need to start planning their next status early, not in the final year.

The arithmetic of seven weeks

I counted back from the end. The bill protects an application filed and paid for by 31 December. Filing is possible only in Hungary, in person with biometrics, and you must hold proof of the investment and of housing. This is what a realistic schedule looks like if you start now:

There is no slack in this schedule except the last week, and that falls over the holidays. The longest link is documents from third countries: certificates, records, legalisation, translations. For a family with children that takes three to four weeks even with good organisation. If you start in early December, I rate the chances as low and do not advise risking money.

There is one more detail that is easy to miss. People entering visa-free currently get 30 days to file after arrival. From 1 January 2027 that option disappears completely. If you arrived on 20 December and counted on filing in January within the 30 days, under the bill you are too late.

What this means for you. If by 15 November you have no decision on a fund and no plan for documents, the real chance of making it drops sharply. Better to admit that now and choose another programme than to lose a fee.

What I would do as an investor

If you are in the first group, your money is ready and documents are being gathered, I would go ahead. But on three conditions. First: do not send money to a fund until it is clear the application can physically be filed by mid-December. Second: choose the fund by its exit terms in five years, not by promised returns. In a closing programme demand for new units will vanish, and selling them in five years may prove harder. Third: any contract with an intermediary must contain a direct clause refunding the fee if the law changes before filing.

If you are in the second group, I would not start. This is not a case for trying your luck. Money sent to a fund or an intermediary with no chance of a result then takes months to recover, and not always successfully. For Russian citizens with capital who want to live in Europe, the working routes lie in other countries, and we have discussed them many times.

The cost of a mistake here is asymmetric. If you skip Hungary and choose Greece or Cyprus, you pay more but get a working status. If you go in with no chance, you lose time, the fee and possibly months recovering money from the fund. With odds like these, caution pays better than haste.

If you already hold a card, I would do three things. Write down the expiry dates of your card and your family's cards. Eighteen months to two years before they end, choose the next basis: permanent residence if you have really lived in Hungary and qualify, the self-employment permit or the White Card for remote work. And not sell the units before five years: the bill lets the authorities withdraw a card if the investment has gone.

Five mistakes people make when a programme closes

Every programme closure follows the same script. People hurry, intermediaries push, and decisions are taken faster than they are checked. These are the mistakes I warn against first:

1. Paying a fee before checking eligibility. First check citizenship, residence, sanctions and money, then sign and pay. The reverse order is the main source of lost money.
2. Choosing a fund by promised returns. In a closing programme what matters most is the exit in five years: who buys back the units, at what valuation and with what fee.
3. Hoping the deadline will be extended. The bill may change, but you cannot plan around a softer version. Plan around the one that has been published.
4. Forgetting the family. Under the bill family members' cards are capped at 10 years. If a child is 12 now, in 10 years they will need their own basis, and it is better to think about that early.
5. Confusing residence with tax residence. A residence card does not make you a Hungarian tax resident if you do not live there. Conversely, if you move and spend more than 183 days a year there, you will pay tax in Hungary.

None of these mistakes is specific to Hungary. They recur with every closure, and we saw them in Spain in spring 2025 and in Portugal when real estate was removed from the Golden Visa.

What to choose if Hungary is out of reach

For those who cannot make it, the good news is that working programmes remain in the EU. The bad news is that each costs more than Hungary and each has its own conditions. Here are the main ones:

The Greek Golden Visa remains the clearest replacement: 5 years of status, renewable, no need to live there. But note the bill on a 15% home purchase tax from 1 July 2027 for those who are not EU tax residents. If you buy, buy before that date. We covered how the programme has changed in our article on the 2024-2026 changes.

The Portuguese Golden Visa costs more, from EUR 500,000 in funds, but offers a path to citizenship. Under the new law it takes 10 years, as described in our article on the programme changes. For those who need permanent status at once there is Cyprus permanent residence for a new-build purchase from EUR 300,000. A detailed comparison of the three countries is in our review, and the full list in our residence by investment catalogue.

If what you need is not residence but a second passport for freedom of movement, the logic is different. Then look at citizenship by investment programmes, where the result is a passport, not a status with an expiry date.

What the closure means for the market

For the European residence by investment market, Hungary's closure removes the cheapest entry into Schengen with the right to work and no requirement to live there. After 1 January 2027 the lowest bar in the EU is EUR 250,000 in Greece, but only for converting non-residential buildings. For an ordinary home outside large cities Greece asks EUR 400,000, and Portugal EUR 500,000 in funds.

I expect part of the demand to move to Greece and Cyprus, adding pressure on prices where taxes for foreign buyers are already rising. For Hungarian real estate funds the closure means the end of new money from programme investors. Those who already hold units should follow the fund's reports closely and how it plans to fund redemptions in five years.

Our forecast

I expect the law to be adopted before year end in a form close to the published one. The 1 January 2027 date in the text shows the government wants to finish quickly. The transitional rules may be refined, but the closure itself will not be abandoned.

I expect a surge of applications in December and pressure on OIF and the funds in the last two weeks of the year. Those who file in mid-December will be better placed than those who come on 29-30 December. I also expect some intermediaries to keep selling the programme after 1 January under the label of "transitional rules". If you are offered to file in January without a guest investor visa issued before 1 January, that is not a transitional rule, it is untrue.

More broadly, I expect pressure on EU golden visas to continue in 2027. Programmes that are open now will become more expensive and acquire more conditions. That is an argument for choosing a country in the coming months rather than putting it off for a year.

What to do now

Our team carries out client and source of funds checks and prepares family documents with legalisation and translations. If you want to know your chances before 31 December or choose a replacement, book an online consultation. The programme is described on the programme page, in the guide and in our full review.

How this article was prepared

This article was prepared on 8 November 2026. Sources: the Hungarian government bill published for public consultation on 4 November 2026; Act XC of 2023 on the entry and residence of third-country nationals; the filing procedure on the website of the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing (oif.gov.hu); EU Council Regulation 833/2014. The forecast, schedule and assessments are the position of BRIDGES.