Destinations
Hungary
Hungary’s Guest Investor Programme, relaunched in late 2024, grants a ten-year EU residence permit from 250,000 EUR in an approved real-estate fund, or a 1 million donation — with no minimum-stay rule and a flat 15% income tax. The thing to be clear about: this is residence, not a passport; citizenship needs eight years and a language exam, and the “recoverable” fund locks your capital for five years at market risk.
Key facts
- From
- €250 000≈ $360 450 — estimated total, family of four, fees included
- Processing time
- 1–3 months
- Physical presence
- The ten-year guest-investor residence permit carries no minimum-stay rule. Naturalisation is a separate, far longer path requiring eight years of residence and a language exam.
Tax at a glance
- A flat 15% personal income tax
- Corporate tax is 9%, the lowest headline rate in the EU
- VAT is 27%, the highest standard rate in the EU
- The Guest Investor Programme gives residence, not citizenship
- Holding the permit does not by itself make you tax-resident
Frequently asked questions
Does the Guest Investor Programme give a Hungarian passport?
No. It grants a ten-year residence permit. Citizenship requires eight years of residence, a Hungarian-language exam and a constitutional test — a separate, much longer road.
What is the cheapest route?
250,000 EUR in units of an approved Hungarian real-estate fund, held for at least five years. The alternative is a non-refundable 1 million EUR donation to a higher-education institution.
Is the fund investment safe?
It is recoverable only after five years, and its value is not guaranteed — it is an investment at market risk, not a deposit. Holding the permit does not by itself make you tax-resident, and it does not remove obligations to a country that taxes on citizenship, such as the United States.