Rob P. Says:
My great grandparents were Hungarian and Austrian-Hungarian. What advice can you give me about obtaining Hungarian citizenship?
Global Diversification Expert Ted Baumann Says:
Hi Rob,
Unlike other European countries with ancestral citizenship, like Italy and Ireland, Hungary tends to treat applicants on a more flexible basis. Parents and grandparents are clearly recognized as ancestors for citizenship purposes, but if you can trace and prove ancestry further back, you may still be eligible for a Hungarian passport.
Hungary’s citizenship law is based on the concept of jus sanguinis. which means “right of blood.” A child born to a Hungarian citizen becomes a Hungarian citizen as well, no matter where they were born. Like other countries, to claim Hungarian citizenship by ancestry, there must be an unbroken chain of ancestry from a Hungarian ancestor right through to you.
So, for example, if a Hungarian great grandparent emigrated to the US, produced your grandparent, who in turn produced your parent, they would all be Hungarians unless they fell afoul of several exceptions:
- Hungarian citizens who left the country before 1929 and stayed abroad for 10 years or longer and didn’t apply to keep their citizenship lost it automatically.
- Before October 1, 1957, Hungarian women lost their citizenship if they married non-Hungarian citizens.
- Before October 1, 1957, children born to a non-Hungarian father and a Hungarian mother did not automatically get Hungarian citizenship by birth. The person may have become a Hungarian citizen by a statement, but his/her descendants then had to be naturalized.
But even then, it is possible to get Hungarian citizenship through ancestry through a special procedure. But for that, you must demonstrate an ability to understand and communicate in Hungarian.
The final complication, of course, is the definition of Hungarian citizenship under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Before World War I, Hungary was a kingdom ruled jointly along with Austria by the monarch in Vienna. After World War I, Hungary lost 72% of its former territory. Over 3 million Hungarians found themselves living in neighboring countries, including Austria, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, and Ukraine.
Under Hungarian nationality law, if your ancestor was born on territory that was part of the Kingdom of Hungary before 1921, you can still claim citizenship. Even if they weren’t, however, if you can prove that that ancestor had ancestors of their own born on Hungarian territory, you can still submit an application.
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