The updated AIDA Country Report on Hungary provides a detailed overview on legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2024. It is accompanied by an annex which provides an overview of temporary protection.
A number of key developments drawn from the overview of the main changes that have taken place since the publication of the update on 2023 are set out below.
International protection
- The “state of crisis due to mass migration” which was initially introduced in 2015 remains in effect nearly a decade later. This quasi-permanent legal framework suspends key provisions of the Asylum Act and continues to authorise pushbacks of migrants from any part of the country, without legal procedures or avenues for appeal. The state of crisis has been used to justify derogations from EU asylum standards.
Asylum procedure
- Limited access to asylum: In 2024, only 29 people managed to apply for asylum in Hungary and no recommendation on the approval of entry from the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing was issued in the embassy procedure. The asylum authority continued to issue refusal decisions to people who entered Hungary by regular means and tried to apply for asylum. According to the current legislative framework, they have to submit an intent at the Hungarian embassies in either Belgrade or Kyiv prior to being allowed to apply for asylum in Hungary, despite domestic court judgements that have clearly indicated that an in-merit procedure has to be conducted. At the beginning of 2025, a minor legal amendment allowed applications from some people under detention or compulsory stay. However, the system remains incompatible with EU law.
- Pushbacks persist despite court rulings: In 2024, there were 5,713 recorded pushbacks. Although this represented a decrease compared to previous years, it should probably be attributed more to Serbian border control efforts rather than to any changes in Hungarian practices. In June 2024, the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that Hungary had failed to comply with a 2020 judgment and imposed a €200 million lump sum fine and a €1 million daily penalty on it. Hungary has refused to pay the fine or implement the ruling. In 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) condemned Hungary in one case of collective expulsion.
- No suspensive effect in expulsions: Legislative changes that removed the automatic suspensive effect in appeals against expulsion orders have raised serious concerns about the risk of refoulement.
Reception conditions
- Very low occupancy: Reception centres continued to operate at minimal capacity in 2024.
- Restricted access and poor conditions: NGOs remained barred from accessing reception centres and no activities were provided to residents beyond internet access.
Detention of asylum applicants
- Quasi-automatic detention under the Dublin Regulation: The detention of 83 people who were awaiting Dublin transfers in 2024 indicated a pattern of automatic detention without individual assessment.
- Limited access for NGOs: NGOs continued to be denied entry to detention facilities.
- ECtHR rulings: Seven new judgments in 2024 found violations of the European Convention on Human Rights in connection with detention in transit zones.
Content of international protection
- Citizenship trends: Although the number of naturalisations remained steady, the number of rejected citizenship applications fell dramatically from 119 in 2023 to 42 in 2024.
- Family reunification progress: In 2024, 16 individuals from seven families were reunited with relatives who are international protection beneficiaries in Hungary.
- Limited transparency in security-based decisions: In 2024, courts began annulling protection withdrawal decisions based on classified information that was not shared with applicants. Despite a partial disclosure by one security agency, the Hungarian Helsinki Committee noted that the standard of revealing the “essence of the grounds” remained unmet.
Temporary protection
- Key temporary protection statistics: At the end of 2024, 39,168 people held temporary protection (TP) in Hungary. In addition, there was a slight increase in the number of registrations in 2024 (8,070). (NB/ Ukrainian-Hungarian dual nationals are excluded from TP statistics but still receive related services).
- Exclusion of third-country nationals: Third-country nationals with permanent residence in Ukraine remain excluded from TP. In addition, stricter border controls further hinder access, including for eligible individuals without valid documents.
- Restriction in access to accommodation: Since August 2024, only vulnerable TP holders from war-impacted Ukrainian regions qualify for state-funded shelter. As a result, an estimated 3,000 people lost access to it.
- Barriers in access to education and healthcare: A lack of Hungarian language support continued to hamper school integration in 2024 while healthcare access remained problematic due to uninformed providers and confusion over TP card validity extensions.
The full report is available here and the annex on temporary protection is available here.
For more information about the AIDA database or to read other AIDA reports, please visit the AIDA website.
