Orbán against immigration: Hungary tightens visa issuance rules
Hungarian authorities aim to safeguard local jobs by reducing the number of issued visas, particularly for temporary workers from outside the European Union.
The Hungarian Ministry of Economy announced that the government will now issue a maximum of 65,000 visas to temporary workers from non-EU countries. In 2023, Hungary issued 39,000 visas for temporary workers, a number lower than the maximum set by the previous decree, as reported by Reuters.
Media reports suggest that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in the lead-up to the elections, is compelled to showcase effective methods for combating the economic downturn linked to past inflation. Orban seeks to gain support in the upcoming elections through stringent measures on immigration.
The Hungarian authorities have identified a list of approximately 300 positions deemed ineligible for non-EU workers, including vineyard and garden workers, photographers, legal advisors, roofers, and elevator mechanics.
In a statement, the Orban government emphasized that "the government will protect Hungarian families and jobs, meaning that foreign workers can only be hired if there are no Hungarian workers available to fill the vacancies, as per the law."
It is noteworthy that the unemployment rate in Hungary stood at 4.3% in the three months from September to November.