Hungary has announced it will reduce the number of guest worker and employment-related residence permits to 35,000 for 2025, down from the 2024 limit of 65,000. This decision, confirmed by the Hungarian Ministry of National Economy, aims to safeguard local jobs and protect Hungarian families. The Ministry stressed that international workers will only be employed if positions cannot be filled by Hungarian citizens.
For the past two decades, Hungary has regulated the number of third-country workers allowed in the country with an annual quota based on the average number of vacancies over the previous four quarters.
To further protect the labor market, the Hungarian government has decided to tighten regulations for foreign workers. In line with this change, employers will need to prove that they cannot find suitable candidates from Hungary before hiring from abroad. Additionally, private recruitment agencies will be banned from hiring workers from non-EU countries under the new rules.
In 2024, Hungary had set the guest worker cap at 65,000, allowing workers from 15 countries, including North Macedonia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan, to enter. The new immigration law, which came into effect on January 1, 2024, will see the guest worker regulations fully implemented by July 1, 2024.
