New Hungarian leader restricts permits for migrant workers
06.06.2026, DPA
Photo: Kai Jane/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
The new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar restricted the influx of migrant workers from non-EU countries by a government decree published on Saturday, keeping a promise he made to voters.
New residence permits under the migrant worker scheme introduced by the previous government under former prime minister Viktor Orbán will no longer be issued with immediate effect. The decree has just been published in the Hungarian Official Gazette.
Magyar took office on May 9, after his centre-right Tisza Party won a clear victory in the parliamentary elections in April. Some 90,000 workers from non-EU countries are employed in Hungary, accounting for around 2% of the workforce, according to estimates.
Most work in the battery and automotive industries, in construction, as seasonal workers in agriculture and in delivery services. The majority come from the Philippines, Ukraine, China, Vietnam and India.
Restricting the influx of migrant workers was among the promises Magyar made while campaigning to replace long-time leader Orbán. The new leader justified the vow by arguing that more Hungarians should be getting jobs and that companies should be prevented from driving down wages by employing foreigners, though there is a labour shortage in many sectors in Hungary, according to industry and employers’ associations.
The new regulation stipulates that existing residence permits remain valid until their expiry. It does not specify whether expiring permits can be extended.
It does not signify a complete end to the granting of residence permits to non-EU citizens. Instead, the ban refers to the Orbán government’s simplified guest worker scheme, which enabled the relatively smooth recruitment of workers from outside the EU through agencies controlled by Orbán. Magyar slammed this practice during campaigning.
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