Hungary

Hungary is a country with low migration intensity. Despite the economic hardships and relatively strict policy of foreign employment, long-term migration has slowly, but steadily increasing in recent years. The share of foreign citizens on total population has doubled to 2.1 % in the past decade. According to Eurostat, the number of foreign citizens exceeded 200 000 in 2011. It is estimated that up to 40 % of these are ethnic Hungarians from neighbouring countries. At the same time, the number of issued work permits in Hungary has dropped, while the number of Hungarians leaving to work abroad has increased in recent years. The amended citizenship law, which introduced a preferential naturalisation procedure for persons of Hungarian descent, caused a sharp surge in the number of naturalized Hungarians in 2011. Hungary still has no overall policy document on migration policy and integration of migrants.