Residence permit for the purpose of family reunification may be issued to those third-country nationals whose third-country national family member resides in Hungary based on a sort of residence permit.
Those third-country nationals who are a family member of a Hungarian citizen may get a residence card or a permanent residence card. You can find more information about these residence cards in Hungarian language at https://drkrlegal.hu/magyar-allampolgar-csaladtagja-altal-igenyelheto-vizum-es-tartozkodasi-kartya/. Consequently, those third-country nationals who are a family member of a Hungarian citizen can not get a residence permit for the purpose of family reunification.
Thus the precondition of acquiring a residence permit for the purpose of family reunification is having a third-country national family member living in Hungary who qualifies as a sponsor. To acquire the sponsor status, the sponsor shall have a residence permit, immigration permit, permanent residence permit, interim permanent residence permit, a national permanent residence permit, an EC permanent residence permit, a residence card or a permanent residence card. The sponsor’s third-country national family member is entitled to apply for a residence permit for the purpose of family reunification. The application shall be submitted by the family member to the Immigration and Asylum Office of Hungary.
General Rules
Normally the applicant shall fulfil and verify the general conditions of acquiring a residence permit. You can read about these conditions in English at https://drkrlegal.com/hungarian-residence-permit/.
The definition of the family member
Family member is:
- the third-country national’s spouse,
- the minor child (including adopted and foster child) of the third-country national with his/her spouse,
- the minor child (including adopted and foster child) of the third-country national if he/she has custody over the child and the child is dependent on him/her,
- the minor child (including adopted and foster child) of the spouse of the third-country national if his/her spouse has custody over the child and the child is dependent on him/her.
Besides the above listed persons, the residence permit for the purpose of family reunification may be granted to the
- supported parent, or
- sibling or relative in direct line (if he/she cannot provide for themselves due to health reasons)
of a sponsor, or his/her spouse, or to a person with refugee status.
Considering the fact that Hungary does not acknowledge polygamy, the sponsor’s spouse cannot get a residence permit if the sponsor’s other spouse possesses a residence permit or visa issued for the purpose of family reunification.
There is no possibility in Hungary for the reunification of civil partners, because according to immigration law a civil partner does not qualify as a family member. Therefore, the reunification of civil partners can be settled with another type of residence permit.
The applicant shall prove the family relation. If the applicant cannot prove it and the Immigration Authority establishes that the family relation was created by the third-country national in order to acquire the residence permit for the purpose of family reunification, the Authority refuses the issue or extension of the residence permit, and withdraws those residence permits which have already been issued. Also, the circumstances of the family’s coexistence may be controlled by the Authority on the premises.
The family reunification right of people with refugee status
The refugee status can also establish the reunification of a family, therefore a third-country national who has been acknowledged as a refugee can be a sponsor. Accordingly, residence permit for the purpose of family reunification may be graanted to the family member of a person with refugee status, also to the parent or (in absence of it) to the legal guardian of an unaccompanied minor with refugee status.
The spouse of a person with refugee status may only get a residence permit for the purpose of family reunification if their marriage was contracted before the entry of the person with refugee status to Hungary.
Considering the fact that refugees often do not have their personal papers (and the acquisition of these papers is rather difficult) the residence permit for the purpose of family reunification cannot be denied to the refugee’s family member solely on the grounds of the missing papers. In these cases the family relation may be verified by any reliable means (e.g. by a DNA analysis). In this perspective, third-country nationals with refugee status can practice their right to family reunification favourably.
Validity period
The family members acquire with the residence permit the right to reside in Hungary independently from the sponsor.
The validity period of the residence permit for the purpose of family reunification is 3 years in general, but it may be extended with another 3 years in every event. According to the Hungarian law, the validity period may be 4 or 5 years in certain cases, according to the type of the residence permit the sponsor possesses.
The validity period is influenced by the regulation according to that the validity period of the family member’s residence permit follow the validity period of the sponsor’s residence permit. There is a general rule which is applicable in this case, according to which the validity period of the residence permit issued for the purpose of family reunification cannot exceed the expiry date of the applicant’s passport, therefore the expiry of the applicant’s passport also effects the validity period of the residence permit.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
