Country guide · Hungary

Does Hungary allow dual citizenship with the USA?

Citizenship-by-Descent.com·Last reviewed November 2026

Educational information only — not legal advice. Always verify with the relevant authority, consulate or registry office.

Yes. Hungary allows dual citizenship, so you can be Hungarian and American at the same time, and no route, including claims by descent, asks you to give up US citizenship. A Hungarian who takes US citizenship doesn’t lose Hungarian citizenship under the current Act, and a person claiming through a Hungarian ancestor keeps the passport they already have. There is one new limit. Since 30 June 2025, a Hungarian who also holds a citizenship from outside the European Economic Area, and no EEA citizenship, can have Hungarian citizenship suspended for up to ten years if their conduct threatens Hungary’s public order or security. Americans are in that group. Holding two passports isn’t itself a ground.

The short answer

  • American claiming Hungarian citizenship by descent: you keep US citizenship on every route.
  • Hungarian who becomes a US citizen: stays Hungarian. Taking a foreign citizenship isn’t a ground for loss in the 1993 Act.
  • American naturalising after living in Hungary: giving up US citizenship isn’t on the list of conditions in section 4.
  • Hungarian whose only other citizenship is American: covered by the 2025 suspension rule, which needs threatening conduct, not just dual status.
  • Hungarian who also holds an EU or EEA citizenship: outside the suspension rule.

What the 1993 Act says

Act LV of 1993 has no ban on other citizenships and no duty to choose one. Three of its rules do the work.

  • Section 2(2): a Hungarian citizen who is also a citizen of another state counts as Hungarian for the purposes of Hungarian law, unless a statute says otherwise.
  • Section 1(1): no distinction may be made between citizens according to how they became citizens. A descendant who naturalised has the same status as someone born in Budapest.
  • Section 1(4): the Act isn’t retroactive. Citizenship is governed by the laws in force when the relevant fact or event happened, which is why old laws still matter for families.

Under the Act, citizenship can end in only two ways, and neither happens automatically:

  • Renunciation (section 8). You must hold another citizenship, or show you are likely to get one, and either not be in the Hungarian population register, or have left to settle abroad, or live abroad without a registered address in Hungary. It takes effect when the President’s document is issued.
  • Revocation (section 9). This applies to citizenship obtained by breaking the law, in particular by misleading the authority with false data or concealed facts. It isn’t possible once 20 years have passed since the citizenship was acquired.

The 2025 suspension rule

The Fifteenth Amendment to the Fundamental Law, in force from 15 April 2025, rewrote Article G(3). Its first sentence still bans depriving anyone of citizenship acquired by birth or lawfully. Its next sentences allow the citizenship of a Hungarian who also holds another state’s citizenship to be suspended for a fixed period, say that the person loses Hungarian citizenship for that period, and ban group suspension. Act LXIV of 2025 then added sections 9/A to 9/E to the citizenship Act. Parliament adopted it on 11 June 2025 and it has applied since 30 June 2025.

Who it covers

Section 9/A covers a Hungarian who holds a citizenship from a non-EEA state and has no EEA citizenship besides Hungarian. EEA here means EU members, the other EEA parties, and states whose citizens have the same free-movement rights by treaty with the EU. Citizens of EU candidate countries are treated like EEA citizens. So a Hungarian American is covered. A Hungarian American who also holds, say, Irish or Slovak citizenship isn’t. The rule doesn’t separate citizens by birth from naturalised citizens.

When it can be used

Under section 9/B, the person’s conduct must threaten Hungary’s public order, public security or national security, and suspension must be proportionate to the threat and to the person’s legal and social position. The Act gives these examples of a threat:

  • serving in a third state’s army or public service, unless the service isn’t voluntary, is for a state allied with Hungary, or by its nature can’t create a danger;
  • acting for a foreign power or organisation against Hungary’s sovereignty, constitutional order or national security;
  • being a member of, or keeping contact with, an organisation that counts as terrorist under international law;
  • a final conviction for a crime that seriously endangers public order or the constitutional order, such as genocide, espionage or terrorism, if the threat continues.

The decision-maker must weigh how serious, repeated and deliberate the conduct was, the person’s real ties to Hungary, and the effect on their private and family life.

How it works

  • Who decides: a minister designated by government decree, acting only on the minister’s own initiative. Anyone can send in a report, but the person reporting isn’t a party.
  • How long: up to ten years, with the end date stated in the decision.
  • Challenging it: a claim can be filed within 30 days of the decision becoming final, and the Kúria, Hungary’s top court, sits in a panel of five professional judges and rules within 30 days, or 45 if the decision rests on classified data. It can’t change the decision itself.
  • Assumed second citizenship: if the minister has reason to think you hold another citizenship but has no authentic record of it, you are given at least five days to respond. If you can’t disprove it with an authentic document, the citizenship is treated as existing.
  • Getting it back early: while suspended, you may apply once to show you are no longer a threat (section 9/D).
  • Getting it back at the end: under section 9/E, citizenship comes back when the period ends or if you become stateless. The minister records this on your request, and it runs from the date that decision is final.
  • Expulsion: Act XC of 2023 treats a suspended person as someone who can be expelled from Hungary, with removal within 72 hours in some cases if they don’t leave or come back unlawfully.

The 2026 changes to the Fundamental Law left this in place: Article G(3) is unchanged in the text in force from 1 October 2026, and the Act’s suspension sections are unchanged in its version of the same date. Section 26 makes sections 9/A to 9/E cardinal provisions, and Article G(3) is part of the Fundamental Law itself, so neither can be changed by an ordinary Act. We found no bill to repeal them, but we couldn’t search Parliament’s bill register directly.

How the rules changed over time

  • The 1879 Act. Act L of 1879 listed five ways to lose citizenship in section 20: release, decision of an authority, absence, legitimation and marriage. Taking a foreign citizenship wasn’t on the list. The “decision of an authority” in section 30 could reach people who entered another state’s service without permission. Absence meant ten uninterrupted years abroad, which could be broken by registering with the authority, a new passport, or a consular record, and it extended to a wife and minor children living with the man (sections 31 and 32). A woman lost citizenship by marrying a foreigner (section 34).
  • The US convention of 1870. Section 47 of the 1879 Act gave way to treaties. Article I of the convention between the US and Austria-Hungary says a citizen of the Monarchy who lived in the US for at least five years without a break and naturalised there is to be held by Austria and Hungary to be an American citizen and treated as one. We found no official statement on how today’s authority applies this to descendants.
  • The 1948 Act. Act LX of 1948 cut the list in section 11 to marriage, legitimation or recognition, release and deprivation. Section 23 treated a Hungarian who also held another citizenship as Hungarian until they lost Hungarian citizenship under that Act. Section 16 let the interior minister deprive someone of citizenship for entering foreign public service without government permission.
  • 1 October 1993. The current Act took effect on the first day of the fourth month after it was promulgated on 15 June 1993. Section 2(2) on dual citizens dates from that original text.
  • 2001 and 2003. Act XXXII of 2001 added the declaration in section 5/A, and Act LVI of 2003 added its limb for children of Hungarian mothers born before 1 October 1957.
  • From 1 January 2011. Act XLIV of 2010 rewrote section 4(3), for cases started after that date. It’s the route to simplified naturalisation for people with a Hungarian ancestor or plausible Hungarian origin, without living in Hungary.
  • 2025. Article G(3) and sections 9/A to 9/E added suspension.

What descendants claiming by descent need to know

Hungary has three routes, and none affects your US citizenship. They differ in when you became Hungarian, which matters for your children.

  1. Confirmation of existing citizenship. Article G(1) makes the child of a Hungarian citizen Hungarian at birth. If that held at every generation, you already are, and the Budapest Government Office certifies it. It asks for each ancestor’s birth, marriage, departure date, and how and when they acquired a foreign citizenship, and advises extra proof of citizenship if the family left before 1945. The certificate is free, and the office’s deadline is 60 days from receipt, not counting certain waiting periods.
  2. Declaration (section 5/A). This covers people deprived of citizenship under the listed post-war laws, people released between 15 September 1947 and 2 May 1990, and people born before 1 October 1957 to a Hungarian mother and a foreign father who didn’t become Hungarian at birth. Citizenship starts on the day of the declaration, not at birth.
  3. Simplified naturalisation (section 4(3)). You need an ancestor who was a Hungarian citizen, or plausible Hungarian origin, a clean record under Hungarian law, no threat to public or national security, and proof of Hungarian language skills. You become Hungarian on the day of your oath or pledge (section 7(2)). See our simplified naturalisation guide and what the language check involves.

If an ancestor became a US citizen, find the date. Our guide to USCIS naturalisation records shows how, and the document chain guide covers the rest. A line that can’t be proved doesn’t end your options, because simplified naturalisation doesn’t depend on an unbroken chain. The routes are compared in our Hungarian citizenship by descent guide.

If you want to leave, or come back

Renouncing has real effects for families. Under section 8(4), you can ask the President to restore citizenship within three years of the renunciation being accepted only if you didn’t acquire a foreign citizenship. In other cases, section 5 lets a former citizen apply for re-naturalisation with a clean record, no security threat and proof of Hungarian language skills. Suspension is different: citizenship comes back under sections 9/D and 9/E, not by re-naturalising.

The US side, and any third citizenship

Hungary’s rule only answers the Hungarian half of the question. On the American half, the State Department’s Foreign Affairs Manual says US citizens who naturalise abroad don’t automatically lose US citizenship and that an intent to keep it is presumed, and 8 U.S.C. 1481 requires an act done with the intention of giving up US nationality. You must enter and leave the United States on a US passport.

The same manual warns that when you are in the country of your other nationality, that country has a predominant claim on you. Read that with section 2(2) of the Hungarian Act: inside Hungary, expect to be handled as a Hungarian.

If you hold a citizenship other than US, check it first. The Budapest Government Office warns that in some countries taking another citizenship can end the original one, and sends you to that country’s authorities. More on the American side is in European citizenship by descent for Americans.

Americans with no Hungarian ancestor can naturalise under section 4(1) after eight years’ continuous residence, with secure housing and income in Hungary, a clean record and a passed exam in constitutional basics taken in Hungarian, unless exempt.

Practical steps

  1. Pick the route that fits your dates. Start with confirmation if every generation may have been Hungarian at the next one’s birth, since it costs nothing and needs no language check.
  2. Line up the facts the office asks for: departure dates, any naturalisation, marriages and births for each generation.
  3. Keep proof of status current. A citizenship certificate is valid for three years (section 11(2)). A valid passport, identity card or certificate proves citizenship under section 10.
  4. Think before renouncing, because it’s hard to reverse once you hold another citizenship.
  5. If you work for a foreign military or government, read section 9/B and take advice if your role touches Hungary.

To check whether you have a claim at all, use our free citizenship by descent checker. For other countries, see dual citizenship by descent, country by country, and for neighbours whose records often overlap, Slovak dual citizenship.

Frequently asked questions

Does Hungary allow dual citizenship with the USA?

Yes. You can be Hungarian and American at the same time. Acquiring US citizenship isn’t a ground for losing Hungarian citizenship under Act LV of 1993, and no Hungarian route requires you to give up US citizenship. Since 30 June 2025, though, a Hungarian who also holds a non-EEA citizenship such as US citizenship, and no EEA citizenship, can have Hungarian citizenship suspended for up to ten years if found to be a threat to public order or security.

Do I have to give up US citizenship to get Hungarian citizenship by descent?

No. Confirming existing citizenship is a finding about a status you already hold, and neither the declaration in section 5/A nor simplified naturalisation lists renunciation as a condition. The Budapest Government Office says in its July 2026 information sheet that giving up a foreign citizenship isn’t a condition of acquiring Hungarian citizenship, but that some countries end their own citizenship when another is taken.

Can Hungary take away the citizenship of a dual citizen?

It can suspend citizenship, but not strip it for good. Article G(3) of the Fundamental Law still says no one may be deprived of citizenship acquired by birth or lawfully. It now also allows suspension for a fixed period, during which the person loses Hungarian citizenship. The maximum is ten years, and group suspension is banned. Separately, citizenship obtained by misleading the authority can be revoked within 20 years.

Could the suspension rule apply to an ordinary Hungarian American?

Being Hungarian and American puts you in the group the rule covers, but that alone isn’t a ground. There must be conduct that threatens Hungary’s public order, public security or national security, and suspension must be proportionate. The Act’s examples are serious: work against Hungary for a foreign power, ties to a terrorist organisation, or a final conviction for crimes such as genocide, espionage or terrorism.

Does serving in the US military put my Hungarian citizenship at risk?

Probably not by itself. Section 9/B lists service in a third state’s army or public service as an example of a threat, but excepts service that isn’t voluntary, service in a state allied with Hungary, and service whose nature can’t create a danger. The Act doesn’t define “allied”. Hungary and the US are both NATO members, so US service appears to fit the exception, but no official text we read says so by name.

My great-grandfather became an American citizen. Did he lose Hungarian citizenship?

It can’t be assumed either way. Acquiring another citizenship isn’t among the grounds for loss in section 20 of the 1879 Act, but ten years’ unregistered absence is, and section 47 makes the Act give way to treaties. A US and Austro-Hungarian convention of 1870 says a citizen who lived five years in the US and naturalised there is to be held to be American. The Budapest Government Office looks at the dates and decides.

I gave up Hungarian citizenship. Can I get it back?

Possibly. Under section 8(4), someone who didn’t in fact acquire a foreign citizenship can ask the President to restore citizenship within three years of the renunciation being accepted. Anyone else whose citizenship ended can apply for re-naturalisation under section 5, which needs a clean record under Hungarian law, no threat to public or national security, and proof of Hungarian language skills. It isn’t a right: the President decides.

Official sources

Checked against these sources on 6 November 2026. All Hungarian texts were read in Hungarian and the summaries are ours. The 1957 citizenship act wouldn’t open, so it’s mentioned only as section 5/A refers to it. Parliament’s bill register couldn’t be searched that day, so look for new bills before relying on the suspension section. Only the Hungarian authorities can decide your case; confirm with the Budapest Government Office or a Hungarian consulate before you act.