Hungary is the one origin in this cluster that taxes you for holding the passport. Under the personal income tax act a resident private individual means any citizen of Hungary, and the only exception is for dual citizens who have no permanent or habitual residence at home, which is not a status a move to Tbilisi creates. Georgia's half of the application is identical on every passport. Yours differs in that rule, in a ninety-day clock on your police certificate, and in very little else.
Can you enter Georgia, and for how long?
Yes, for one full year at a time. Hungary appears on the list annexed to the Georgian ordinance approving visa-free entry, which sets the permitted stay at one full year and was last amended on 24 February 2026. We read that text on 1 August 2026, and it is the instrument Georgian border officers apply rather than any summary of it.
So nothing has to be arranged before you fly. Land, assemble the file here and submit it at a Public Service Hall. Filing through a Georgian mission in Hungary is possible and slower, and it removes your ability to correct a queried document at the counter the same week.
Two conditions attach to the entry itself. Since 2026 every visitor needs travel or health insurance carrying at least GEL 30,000 of cover, checked at the border under the 2026 insurance rule. And the year of visa-free stay is presence rather than status, so it accrues nothing toward permanent residence however many times you reset it.
Which route actually fits a Hungarian applicant
Georgia's routes, thresholds and government fees do not move with your passport. For a Hungarian the choice is shaped by two clocks pulling against each other, and by a tax rule that makes physical presence unusually valuable.
The property route at $150,000 and the investment route ask for no home-country criminal record certificate. For a Hungarian that deletes a ninety-day expiry from the middle of the schedule, which is worth more than the paperwork it saves.
Everyone else lands on the work or IT routes, and since 1 March 2026 both sit behind a second permit. The Special Labour Permit is a prerequisite rather than a parallel filing, so a residence permit application submitted before the labour permit has been granted produces a refusal instead of a queue position. Hungarian freelancers on a KATA-style single-person business invoicing Budapest clients from a Tbilisi flat are inside that sequence too once they want the card, though the permit itself turns on who pays you and Budapest clients engage nothing.
The IT residence permit is the route worth thinking hardest about, at $25,000 of annual income, two years of experience and a three-year term. Its condition of 183 days a year in Georgia is usually read as the cost of the route. For a Hungarian it is closer to the point of it, because days in Georgia are the raw material of the only argument that gets you out of Hungarian residence, and the qualifying-work detail is in the IT permit guide.
Your document chain, and the ninety-day clock
The certificate. The hatósági erkölcsi bizonyítvány is issued by the records authority under the Ministry of Interior and requested electronically through ügyfélkapu, by post, or in person at a government office. The consular guidance on the certificate sets out the routes available from abroad. Its validity is fixed by Hungarian law at ninety days from the date of issue.
Ninety days is short. Set it against the Georgian sequence and the problem is obvious: on a work or IT route a labour permit decision comes first, then a residence permit decision on its own track, and the filing has to happen at least 40 calendar days before your lawful stay runs out. Georgia publishes no fixed validity window, so a reviewing officer applies a judgement about whether a document is current, and the Hungarian date is normally the tighter of the two. Order the certificate once the labour permit is in hand, not at the start.
Three apostille authorities, and you probably need one. Hungary designates three competent authorities under the Apostille Convention: the Hague Conference register records the Ministry of Justice for public documents executed by judicial authorities other than notaries, the Hungarian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries for notarial documents, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for public documents executed by all other authorities.
The erkölcsi bizonyítvány comes from an interior ministry body and an anyakönyvi kivonat from the civil registration system, so both are foreign ministry documents. A straightforward Hungarian file is therefore one office rather than three. The split only bites if your file contains a notarised declaration, a divorce judgment or an adoption order, and then the paper goes to whichever of the other two authorities matches its origin.
Translation happens in Georgia, on the paper original, after the apostille is attached. A translation prepared in Hungary is itself a Hungarian document needing its own authentication. What gets rejected is set out in the full apostille sequence, the police certificate procedures by country and the rules on certified translation. Give your name exactly as your passport spells it, because everything downstream inherits that spelling.
What Hungary does when you leave
Citizenship is the test. Section 3 of Act CXVII of 1995 on personal income tax defines a resident private individual to include any citizen of Hungary, with an exception for dual citizens who have no permanent or habitual place of residence in Hungary. The other limbs of the definition, three months of free movement plus 183 days, permanent residence status, a sole permanent home or a centre of vital interests, are alternatives for people who are not Hungarian citizens. If you hold the passport, the first limb has already caught you.
The exception is narrower than it looks. It requires two things at once: a second citizenship, and no Hungarian residence on the register. A Georgian residence permit supplies neither, because a permit is not a nationality. Nor does the Georgian citizenship endgame open the door, since Georgia does not generally permit dual citizenship and expects renunciation, which would leave you with one passport rather than two. Reporting your departure and giving up your lakcím is a registration duty worth doing on its own terms, and it addresses only half of a two-part test.
What actually works is the treaty. Where Hungarian law says resident and Georgian law says resident, the convention decides which country wins, on permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode and then nationality in that order. That is an evidence exercise, and the evidence is days, a lease, a family, a bank and a Georgian tax residence certificate rather than a residence card. Georgia's own test is 183 days in a rolling twelve-month window, and the gap between holding a permit and being tax resident is where Hungarians lose money. Put your own facts to a Hungarian adviser before relying on the tie-breaker.
The treaty position and the citizenship endgame
Georgia's Ministry of Finance publishes 58 double tax treaties in force and Hungary is on that list, with the most generous published ceilings of any origin in this cluster: nothing or 5 per cent on dividends, nothing on interest, nothing on royalties, and a twelve-month permanent establishment threshold. The Hungarian treaty is also one of those covered by the multilateral instrument, and the ministry publishes a synthesised text alongside the original. Read the synthesised version, because the original alone no longer states the operative rules. How relief is claimed sits in the treaty network guide.
On nationality, Hungary would not object. Hungarian law permits multiple citizenship and does not withdraw a Hungarian passport from someone who naturalises abroad. Georgia is the obstacle, with its general rule against dual citizenship and an exception only by presidential decree on state-interest grounds. The dual citizenship position therefore decides the endgame, and permanent residence at ten years is the outcome most Hungarians should actually be planning for.
Timeline, cost and the verdict
Count backwards from the shortest clock. Georgian law requires the application to be filed at least 40 calendar days before your lawful stay expires, and anything filed inside that window is refused review rather than assessed. On a work or IT route the labour permit decision sits in front of that. Now fit both inside ninety days of certificate validity and you can see why the Hungarian order of operations is labour permit first, certificate second, filing third. Georgian government fees are the same on every passport, and the full cost breakdown by route sets out the state fees alongside ours. The counting rule is in the 40-day rule.
Works with conditions, then, and the conditions are Hungarian rather than Georgian. Entry is free for a year, the apostille chain is simpler than most of this cluster, and the treaty ceilings are as good as they get. What does not resolve itself is residence. A Hungarian who moves to Georgia and changes nothing else stays a Hungarian resident by statute, and the comparison across nationalities shows how unusual that is. Plan the days, keep the evidence, and get the certificate.
A three-year permit for IT professionals earning $25,000+ a year, with two years of experience behind them. Longer than any other work route.
See what it costs, from $450
Key takeaways
- Hungarian citizens enter Georgia visa-free for one full year, verified against the Georgian visa-free ordinance on 1 August 2026.
- The hatósági erkölcsi bizonyítvány is valid ninety days from issue, so order it after the labour permit is granted rather than before.
- Hungary designates three apostille authorities, but the police certificate and civil registry documents both go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
- Notarial documents go to the chamber of notaries and judicial documents to the Ministry of Justice, which only matters if your file contains one.
- The property and investment routes need no criminal record certificate, which removes the ninety-day clock entirely.
- Since 1 March 2026 the Special Labour Permit comes before the work or IT residence permit, single-person businesses included.
- Under the personal income tax act a citizen of Hungary is a resident private individual, and the exception needs a second citizenship and no Hungarian residence.
- The realistic relief is the treaty tie-breaker, which runs on evidence of days and life in Georgia rather than on deregistering an address.
Frequently asked questions
Can Hungarian citizens enter Georgia without a visa?
Yes, for one full year at a time, and the period resets when you leave and return. Hungary is on the list annexed to the Georgian ordinance on visa-free entry, checked on 1 August 2026. Every visitor also needs travel or health insurance carrying at least GEL 30,000 of cover, which has applied since 2026.
How long is a Hungarian erkölcsi bizonyítvány valid?
Ninety days from the date of issue, fixed by Hungarian law. That is the shortest window of any origin covered in this cluster, and it has to accommodate a labour permit decision, a residence permit decision and the 40-day filing rule. Order it late in the sequence rather than early.
Which police certificate does Georgia want from a Hungarian applicant?
The hatósági erkölcsi bizonyítvány, issued by the records authority under the Ministry of Interior and then apostilled. It can be requested electronically through ügyfélkapu, by post or in person. Give your name exactly as your passport spells it, because the apostille and the Georgian translation both inherit that spelling.
Who apostilles a Hungarian document for Georgia?
It depends on which authority issued it. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade handles documents from public authorities generally, which covers the police certificate and civil registry extracts. Notarial documents go to the Hungarian Chamber of Civil Law Notaries, and judicial documents to the Ministry of Justice.
Am I still a Hungarian tax resident after moving to Georgia?
Under Hungarian domestic law, almost certainly yes. The personal income tax act treats any citizen of Hungary as a resident private individual, and the only exception is for dual citizens with no permanent or habitual residence in Hungary. Holding a Georgian residence permit does not meet that description, so the domestic rule keeps applying.
Does giving up my Hungarian lakcím end my Hungarian tax residence?
Not on its own. The statutory exception has two limbs, a second citizenship and the absence of a Hungarian residence, and deregistering satisfies only one of them. Reporting your departure is still worth doing as a registration matter, but the argument that actually settles residence is the treaty tie-breaker.
Is there a Hungarian tax treaty with Georgia?
Yes. Georgia's Ministry of Finance lists 58 treaties in force and Hungary is among them, with published ceilings of nothing or 5 per cent on dividends and nothing on interest or royalties. It is one of the treaties amended by the multilateral instrument, so read the synthesised text the ministry publishes rather than the original alone.
How does the treaty tie-breaker actually work for a Hungarian?
Where both countries treat you as resident, the convention decides in order: permanent home, then centre of vital interests, then habitual abode, then nationality. It is an evidence exercise. Days in Georgia, a lease, family, banking and a Georgian tax residence certificate are what carry it, and Hungarian advice on your own facts is worth paying for before you rely on it.
Can a Hungarian citizen work remotely from Georgia without a permit?
Yes. The Special Labour Permit follows who pays you rather than where you sit, so invoicing a Hungarian company from Tbilisi does not engage it. The permit is required in three situations: employing foreign staff in Georgia, trading as an Individual Entrepreneur with Georgian clients, and applying for a work or IT residence permit. If you want the residence card, the labour permit comes first whoever your clients are.
Can a Hungarian citizen become Georgian and keep Hungarian nationality?
Hungary would allow it, because Hungarian law permits multiple citizenship and does not withdraw a passport for naturalising abroad. Georgia is the obstacle, since it does not generally permit dual citizenship and expects renunciation, with exceptions by presidential decree. Permanent residence after ten years asks nothing of your Hungarian passport. </content>
