Visa requirements for Hungarian citizens

As a result, many chose to leave Hungary and settle in the West, such as famed cellist János Starker, who emigrated to the United States in 1948 because it was impossible for him to tour abroad with a Hungarian passport.

Visa-free travel for Hungarians was introduced by several countries, including Sweden in 1986,[5] the United Kingdom in 1990,[5] Germany in 1990,[6] France (1990),[5] Spain in 1990,[5] Belgium in 1991,[5] South Korea in 1991[7] and Chile in 1992.

[8] 1993 saw Israel,[9] South Africa,[5] Portugal[5] and Tunisia abolish the requirement for ordinary Hungarian tourists to obtain visas in advance of departure.

[19] Following the accession to the European Union in 2004 and the Schengen Area in 2007, visa requirements were also lifted by several other countries including Georgia (2005),[20] Bosnia and Herzegovina (2005),[5] North Macedonia (2005),[5] Colombia (2005),[5] Moldova (2007),[21] Botswana (2008),[22] Taiwan (2008),[23] and Thailand (2011).

Kinga Göncz, the country's then foreign minister, even went as far as to describe it as "a landmark in our relations [with the United States], since the visa waiver was essentially the single unresolved issue.

"[26] However, Hungarian President László Sólyom, who had promised upon his election in 2005 never to visit the United States as long as fingerprint requirements were part of U.S. visa procedures, refused to sign the agreement on the U.S. Visa Waiver Program, fearing it would give the United States too much access to Hungary's criminal registry.

[54] Hungarian citizens were made eligible for eVisas by Guinea and Malawi (October 2019), Saudi Arabia (September 2019), Suriname and Pakistan (April 2019), Tanzania and Papua New Guinea (November 2018),[55] Ethiopia (1 June 2018),[citation needed] Djibouti (February 2018),[56] Egypt (December 2017),[57] Azerbaijan (January 2017),[58] India (August 2015)[59] and Myanmar (October 2014).

[394] A Hungarian ordinary passport, with visa-free access to all of the world's developed countries, is a very convenient travel document by international standards.

[442] The Hungarian diplomatic passport holds the distinction of being the only travel document in the world granting such visa-free entry to all G8+5 member states.

Many African countries, including Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, South Sudan, Uganda, and Zambia, require all incoming passengers older than nine months to one year[444] to have a current International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis, as does the South American territory of French Guiana.

[445] Some other countries require vaccination only if the passenger is coming from an infected area or has visited one recently or has transited for 12 hours in those countries: Algeria, Botswana, Cabo Verde, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Lesotho, Libya, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In the absence of specific bilateral agreements, countries requiring passports to be valid for at least 6 more months on arrival include Afghanistan, Algeria, Anguilla, Bahrain,[453] Bhutan, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Curaçao, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel,[454] Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Laos, Madagascar, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Oman, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Peru,[455] Philippines,[456] Qatar, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkey, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and Vietnam.

Countries requiring passports with a validity of at least 3 months beyond the date of intended departure include Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Honduras, Montenegro, Nauru, Moldova and New Zealand.

Countries requiring passports valid for at least 3 months on arrival include Albania, North Macedonia, Panama, and Senegal.

Countries that require a passport validity of at least one month beyond the date of intended departure include Eritrea, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Macau, the Maldives[458] and South Africa.

[460] Some countries, including Australia, Canada, Fiji, New Zealand and the United States,[461] routinely deny entry to non-citizens who have a criminal record, while others impose restrictions depending on the type of conviction and the length of the sentence.

[467] Fingerprinting countries/regions include Afghanistan,[468][469] Argentina,[470] Brunei, Cambodia,[471] China,[472] Ethiopia,[473] Ghana, Guinea,[474] India, Japan,[475][476] Kenya (both fingerprints and a photo are taken),[477] Malaysia upon entry and departure,[478] Mongolia, Saudi Arabia,[479] Singapore, South Korea,[480] Taiwan, Thailand,[481] Uganda,[482] the United Arab Emirates and the United States.

2 Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Russia and the partially recognised republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia each span the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia.