Info leaflets for asylum seekers in Hungary
last update: January 2012
Information leaflets for asylum seekers in 9 languages (arabic, are now available on the Website of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. Published with the support of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee.
The Hungarian asylum procedure
Different forms of protection that you can get in Hungary
- Refugee status (menekült): A person who has a well-founded fear of being persecuted in his/her country of origin because of his/her race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a “particular social group”.
- “Persecution” usually means a serious human rights violation, such as torture, inhuman or degrading treatment, slavery, physical or sexual violence or very serious discrimination.
- If you experience problems because you are a woman, or because of your gender identity or sexual orientation or for having any other special characteristic that cannot be changed (or you do not want to hide it), you can fall under the “particular social group” category.
- Subsidiary protection status (oltalmazott): A person who is at a real risk of suffering any of the following harms in his/her country of origin:
- Death penalty
- Torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment,
- Serious threat to a civilian’s life or person because of indiscriminate violence in an armed conflict but NOT because of his/her race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a “particular social group”.
- Tolerated status (befogadott): A protection status based on a more general (not individualized) risk of harm in the country of origin.
REMEMBER: Bad economic or environmental conditions in your country of origin do not usually make you entitled to any of these forms of protection.
Procedure for claiming asylum: How do I ask for asylum?
You should submit the asylum application as soon as possible, by contacting the Immigration Office or the Police (Rendőrség), if you are in jail, at the border or at the airport.
If you arrived in Hungary with false documents, you should immediately mention this, and if possible show your real documents otherwise this can cause problems later in your asylum procedure.
There are no formal requirements, you can ask for asylum in writing or orally and in any language.
If you are afraid that the officer will not understand your asylum application, clearly say the word “MENEKÜLT” (refugee) or “MENEDÉK” (asylum) in Hungarian and also submit a written application in your language. You have
to sign the written application yourself.
ATTENTION: If you entered Hungary illegally, the immigration authorities probably will first start an expulsion procedure. If this is your first asylum application your expulsion will be suspended, but if it is already your second application, it will not prevent the expulsion. In case you receive the expulsion decision, you can appeal against it within 8 days and also ask for the suspension of the deportation. You should submit the appeal to the Immigration Office or the Police directly and they will send it to the competent court. You can ask for help from a lawyer of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
How is the application processed?
a. The “admissibility procedure” (előzetes vizsgálati eljárás)
You will have an interview with an immigration officer, usually within a few days after your arrival. You will be asked questions regarding your personal data, how you came to Hungary and about the reasons why you are asking for protection. Don’t forget to mention your family members living in Europe, your health problems and whether you experienced serious problems in one of the European countries on your way to Hungary.
The authorities will first examine whether a Dublin procedure should start in your case. If yes, the admissibility procedure is suspended until the Dublin decision is issued.
Further on, your application will NOT be admitted to the “in-merit procedure” (examination in details), and will be refused, if:
- you have already been recognized as a refugee by another EU member state, or by another country and this status is still valid and you can go back to this country,
- you have applied for asylum again after having been rejected in a previous asylum procedure in Hungary, and your new application does not contain any new elements,
- you stayed or travelled through a “safe third country” before coming to Hungary and you had an opportunity to ask for adequate protection there,
- you have relatives in a “safe third country” and you can lawfully enter that country,
- your reasons for asylum are obviously irrelevant (for example your only claim is that you are not able to find a job at home),
- your country of origin cannot be established because you are not telling the truth,
- you did not ask for protection within a reasonable time, even though you had the opportunity to do it earlier.
The admissibility procedure takes maximum 22 working days (about a month). In Dublin cases it can take longer. If you apply for asylum at the airport, the Immigration Office has to finish the admissibility procedure within 5 working days.
The admissibility procedure will be stopped and closed if you miss the interview or if you disappear!
If the Immigration Office decides that your asylum application is “inadmissible”, you have the right to appeal. You should submit your appeal to the Immigration Office within 3 days and the Office will forward it to the competent court. In your appeal, you have to explain why you don’t agree with the decision. The Court might decide to interview you. The deadline for the Court to take a decision is 8 days. However, in practice this might take
longer. You can ask the lawyer of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee to help you write your appeal.
Which countries does the Immigration authority consider to be “safe third country”?
Any country where:
- your life and liberty are not in danger because of your race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership of a “particular social group” and you are not exposed to the risk of serious harm;
- they would not send you to another country where you would be exposed to death penalty, torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and
- you can apply for recognition as a refugee and receive adequate protection.
If you don’t agree that a « safe third country » is actually safe for you, you have to prove this in the above mentioned appeal.
Where will I stay during the admissibility procedure?
- If you are at the airport and the decision is not taken within 8 days, you will be transferred to the refugee camp in Debrecen or to an immigration jail.
- If you are a minor (under 18 years) and you have no adult family member to take care of you in Hungary, you will be sent to the children’s home in Fót.
you, you should ask for a special examination by a doctor, who can officially say if you are younger or older than 18 years. Ask help from a lawyer of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee.
b. The “in-merit procedure” (érdemi eljárás)
Your “credibility” plays a very important role in this procedure, so it is very important that you give a detailed explanation during the interview(s) of why you had to leave your home country. Try to concentrate on the problems you had at home and the things that you are afraid of in your country. Try to make sure that you do not tell conflicting statements!
If you cannot remember a name, place or date, don’t panic and don’t invent false details. Just try to give as much information as possible and explain to your officer why it is difficult to remember such details. It is not obligatory to submit any documentary evidence (certificates, judgments, articles, photos, etc.) to support your asylum application. But if you have these with you, they can help to show that what you are saying is true.
A written record will be prepared in Hungarian during the interview. This record must contain all the important elements of what you said during the interview. At the end of the interview, this written record will be read and translated to you. When you sign the interview record, you also sign that you agree with its content. This means that it will be almost impossible to claim afterwards that there was some misunderstanding! So listen very carefully when the records are read out!
In most cases, it is very hard to talk about the reasons for asking for asylum. But if you do not tell your real problems during the interview, the authority will not realize that you need protection. If you feel tired during the interview, you can always ask for a short break. You may also ask for help from a doctor or psychologist from the Cordelia Foundation (see contacts) about how to talk to the officer about painful things that you would prefer not to remember.
Keep in mind that the officer, the interpreter, your lawyer, your social worker and the judge all have the strict obligation to keep everything that you say secret. Nothing will be told to the authorities of your home country (not even the fact that you applied for asylum).
After the interview with your asylum officer, it is possible that the national security services will interview you as well.
The deadline for the in-merit procedure is 45 working days, but this can be extended for 22 working days. The Immigration Office usually makes a decision in 45 to 90 days.
Where will I stay during the in-merit procedure (including the appeal procedure)?
- If you were not detained then you will be able to stay in the Debrecen open refugee camp.
If you want to leave for more than 24 hours you have to get permission from the camp administration. However, if you leave the camp without permission for more than one day, the Immigration Office will think that you have disappeared and will close your asylum procedure.
- You may also arrange your own private accommodation. However, you have to first submit a request to the Immigration Office to allow you to stay in private accommodation. To do this, you will have to submit the copy of the certificate that proves who the owner of the apartment is (tulajdoni lap), plus the rent agreement (lakásbérleti szerződés) or a declaration from the owner that proves that he/she gives you shelter (befogadó nyilatkozat).
- If you are a minor (under 18 years) and you are in Hungary without any adult family member, you will stay in the children’s home in Fót.
Keep in mind that if you chose to stay at private accommodation you must be available at the address you give to the Immigration Office. Make sure that your name is clearly written on both the door and the mailbox of the house. If you do not receive the letters that the Immigration Office sends you, they will think that you have disappeared and they will close your asylum procedure.
How will I know when and where the interviews take place?
Rights of the asylum seekers
- Use your mother tongue or another language that you speak well (right to an interpreter).
- Request an interpreter and an asylum officer who is the same sex as you.
- Receive a written copy in Hungarian of all decisions taken during your asylum procedure.
- Be informed about the content of the decision(s) in your mother tongue or another language that you understand well.
- Receive free legal assistance from a lawyer and/or from a non-governmental organization.
- Contact the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Budapest
- Once your procedure gets to the in-merit phase, unless you are in detention (jail), you will receive the humanitarian residence permit.
- You have a right to a monthly allowance once your case is referred to the in-merit procedure.
- However this is only if you are not detained and if you are not residing at a private address.
- You have a right to basic medical care and emergency medical assistance. The doctors visit the refugee camp and detention centres a few times a week.
- You can work only if you are staying in the refugee camp and only inside the camp. Contact the camp administration for more information. However, if the asylum procedure takes longer than a year, you then have the right to work outside the camp. For this, first you have to obtain a valid work permit (munkavállalási engedély). Contact a social worker of the Menedék Association or the Immigration Office for help (see contacts).
- Your children have a right to attend school. If they are present in the country for less than a year, they can attend school upon your request.
Make sure that you and the interpreter understand each other without difficulty. Interpreters must behave in a neutral way; they do not have the right to ask you their own questions or to try to get you to withdraw your asylum application. If you have communication difficulties with the interpreter or you think that the interpreter is not neutral, tell these problems immediately to the officer and/or your lawyer and ask for another interpreter.
Booklet on Hungarian Asylum System and DublinII in Hungary
Helsinki Committee Hungary produced a new booklet on the asylum procedure in Hungary.
You can find the booklets to download as PDF in various languages (French, Russian, Somalian, Arabic, English and Farsi) on the following Webpage: