USA has limited the visa-free regime for Hungarian citizens. The basis for this mass was the mass distribution of passports in Budapest.
On August 1, 2023, entry restrictions for Hungarian citizens were introduced, while maintaining the visa-free regime between the countries. Now the entry permit was only valid for one year instead of two and could only be used once.
The American Embassy believes that Hungary granted citizenship to more than 1 million people in just 9 years (2011-2020) “without adequate security measures to verify their identities.”
As DW notes, in response, the Ministry of the Interior of Hungary, whose statement was quoted by AFP, called the US restrictions “revenge” for the alleged refusal to disclose to Washington the data of Hungarians “living abroad with dual citizenship.”
