The United States announced on Tuesday, to seriously reduce the visa-exempt status for those arriving from Hungary. According to the Hungarian government, Joe Biden seeks revenge, while the United States cites only security reasons: they fear criminals entering the United States due to simplified naturalization. One thing is certain: the narrowing has a serious message, moreover, those who want to go to America – especially if they travel regularly, for example – will have a much more difficult time in the future.
Citizens of participating countries may travel to the United States without a visa for up to ninety days for tourism or business purposes under the United States Visa Waiver Program (VWP). All that was needed for this was the so-called ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization).
However, from August 1, the validity period of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for Hungarian passport holders will be halved, from two years to one year, and will be valid for one use only.
This was justified by the security risks stemming from the simplified naturalization introduced in Hungary in 2010.
The reduction in ESTA validity affects new applications received after Tuesday’s announcement and is not retroactive. ESTAs issued before August 1, 2023 are still valid for two years and for multiple entries.
Why is this bad for us?
A total of forty countries participate in the US Visa Waiver Program with Hungary, as well as a large number of EU member states, for example, the United Kingdom, Taiwan and South Korea. Among these countries, only Hungary is affected by the current move. It is clear that the decision of the Americans is not in the interest of many, and it will be difficult for them to travel to the United States.
Moreover, the United States will maintain the restrictions so that the Hungarian government does not eliminate the security risks that have arisen.
Some Hungarian citizens abroad, if they want to travel to the United States, have already done so can face itThey are not covered by the Visa Waiver Program. The reason for this is that those Hungarian citizens whose place of birth is not Hungary cannot be exempted due to a 2021 US decision, they must apply for a visa. Apparently America did not feel that the restrictions introduced two years ago were sufficient, so they finally tightened them for all Hungarian citizens – although, for them, this is a more appropriate solution than the complete abolition of the visa exemption.
A visa waiver is an entry permit that can be processed within minutes and, at best, approved within 72 hours. This option is available with a Hungarian passport of more than ten years. A person who has obtained an entry permit through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization, i.e. this simplified system, can travel to and from the United States multiple times within the time frame.
Hungarian citizens born in Hungary will not have to start a lengthy visa application process in the future either, but their work will be much more complicated. The difficulty is that from now on, the permit becomes valid for one year instead of two, which further aggravates the situation compared to before, since the triggered ESTA will only be valid for a single entry, so it becomes practically a “one-time use”.
At first, it was questionable whether this also meant that Hungarian citizens could only enter the United States once a year without a visa.
However, the US Embassy From the comments on his Facebook page It turns out that it will be possible to apply for several ESTAs per year.
So, let’s say those who are preparing for their two-week trip to America, which they planned ten years ago, will not face any additional complications. On the other hand, those who visit the US regularly are expected to face a more complicated task, with more administration waiting for them, since they will always have to re-apply for an ESTA.
revenge vs. Security – what’s wrong with the Americans?
The reasons for and necessity of the current decision are explained differently by the Hungarian government and the United States. According to a statement issued by the US Embassy The reason for the change can be traced back to the decision of the Orbán government in 2010, when it granted citizenship to Hungarians across the border. For this reason, Americans say that a million people obtained citizenship without proper security checks between 2011 and 2020. This period is considered to continue until 2020, because the government tightened the conditions for naturalization in 2020, and since then fraud has become somewhat more difficult.
At a press conference on Tuesday, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said so Compliance with the visa program alone was the decision side.
According to US government information, criminals also obtained Hungarian passports because before the introduction of biometric passports in Hungary in 2020, identity verification of applicants for Hungarian citizenship was insufficient.
The spokesman did not mention a specific case in which people with questionable backgrounds entered the United States on Hungarian passports. According to his claim, the fact that there were people who were given Hungarian passports without strict examination was taken into account by the US government, and Hungary did not respond to the concerns raised.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, America demanded the data of Hungarians with dual citizenship, which it did not give them. According to their claim, they did not do so because “the safety of the Hungarians abroad was at stake”. They added that, in their opinion, the government of Joe Biden is now taking revenge on the Hungarians.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban and US President Joe Biden at the NATO Summit in Vilnius on July 11, 2023 – Photo: Zoltan Fischer/Prime Minister’s Press Office/MTI
The Minister of State for the Interior, Pence Retvari, described the statement of the US State Department spokesperson as misleading. According to him, Hungary has taken action on every specific US law enforcement investigation and criminal prosecution has been conducted. He repeated that the Americans demanded data that the government had not published. According to the Secretary of State, America could also have handed over the citizenship of Transcarpathian Hungarians to Ukraine. Finally added:
“Since Hungary does not comply with the unwarranted demand of the United States of America, they are obviously taking revenge on the Hungarians.”
Thanks to the simple naturalization introduced in 2010, people of Hungarian descent and Hungarians living across the border can easily obtain Hungarian citizenship. the According to the 2020 summary of the Central Bureau of Statistics In the first ten years after its introduction, nearly a million people acquired citizenship in this way, most of them from neighboring countries. It is assumed that the majority of them are entitled to citizenship based on the law, however, citing 2018 data from the US Department of Homeland Security, The Washington Post writes that nearly 700 non-Hungarian citizens obtained passports and adopted false identities, including 65 on The least came through the US Visa Waiver Program.
The reason for this is that Hungarian citizenship is accompanied by a Hungarian passport, so the visa exemption is now also available for those with recent citizenship. This made it easier for nationals of countries who were born in a country where there is no US visa waiver agreement to exit. If we look at the neighboring countries: Slovakia, Slovenia, Austria and Croatia have a US visa exemption, but Ukraine, Romania and Serbia do not.
In 2018, nearly 700 foreigners managed to fraudulently obtain Hungarian passports. Also an article writer According to Direkt36, the US government deemed this to be such a serious problem that it temporarily changed Hungary’s status in the Visa Waiver Program. And in 2018, employees of the Department of Homeland Security traveled to Budapest and made it clear to the Hungarian government that if the issue was not resolved, Hungary would be excluded from the Visa Waiver Program – moreover, all this happened during the presidency of Donald Trump, whom Viktor Orban considers a close ally.
the 24 h He knows that Americans were still interested in data from Hungarians living across the border during Trump’s presidency. The United States claims it did its best for many years to avoid the current change and address long-term security risks from Hungary’s streamlined naturalization process, but they say the Hungarian government decided not to address the concerns that were raised.
Free Europe: During negotiations, the Americans can get tough
the Free Europe He wrote that, citing security concerns, the US government had indeed requested full access to the database on those who had obtained Hungarian passports through the simplified naturalization procedure, but that was denied in Budapest. The newspaper knows that intense negotiations are underway (or underway) between the Ministry of Interior and the competent American authorities to resolve the situation. It is conceivable that the US side left the table there during the negotiations to announce the restriction of the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) for Hungarian citizens.
Allegedly, a potential settlement between the parties was on the horizon, according to which the Hungarian government had not yet released the database, but would have immediately fulfilled any US request. According to Free Europe
It is possible that as per the original plans, an agreement could not be reached before the announcement, they wanted it to last until October.
The declaration of the Americans also states that the situation is not final, so it is easy to change it. However, according to the newspaper’s government informant, that change could be negative if no deal is reached: that is, they would simply reinstate full visa requirements for all Hungarian citizens.
similar This step is a final warning Andras Simonyi was also the former ambassador to Washington. Simonyi drew attention to the fact that the exemption does not apply to Hungary, it is a privilege that America recognizes that a particular country has special status. He added: It is not easy to obtain a visa exemption, although he previously had the confidence of President George W. Bush, but he also had to win Congress.
Perhaps it is no coincidence that I just ran out of patience
Even with the current decision, the United States is practically depriving Hungary of the advantage given to its allies.
like Washington Post It also draws attention, perhaps it is no coincidence that the US government has just run out of patience. Despite the fact that Hungary and the United States are members of the same alliance system, in recent months relations have become more and more tense: there are more and more brilliant signals from the Americans, which are immediately met with an ironic refutation from the Hungarian government.
The current announcement came a day after government representatives did not go to the parliamentary session called by the opposition, delaying the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership even further. America has repeatedly called on Hungary not to delay the decision any further. In April, Joe Biden had already requested consent from the Turks and Hungarians separately – the Turks meanwhile removed all obstacles to consent, of which then-Secretary of State Peter Szijjarto spoke of only a technical problem.
The United States sent several messages to the Hungarian government through the American ambassador. In April, the Russian spy bank, which was still partly owned by the Hungarians, and its Hungarian leader were also placed on the US sanctions list. There is a constant exchange of letters between US Ambassador David Pressman, who was appointed last year, and members of the government: Orbán dubbed the ambassador “journalist” in February (a possible translation of his name), who recently responded to one of Orbán’s sentences with a helmet-lowered gif, But also on Péter Szijjártó’s trip to Moscow she criticized him. And in June, the United States was also among the countries that signed the statement calling Hungarian legislation stigmatizing LGBT people worrisome.
