How to get a visa to Hungary in 2025

You don't need a special reason to fly to Hungary, just the desire and a Schengen visa. Here apply the entry rules of the European Union, and we've figured out what documents are needed in 2025 for a visa to Hungary. Read, gather, and get tickets for the Moscow – Budapest route: there you'll find thermal complexes, the Danube, langos, goulash, and paprikash.

What visa is needed for Hungary

For tourists from Russia, a short-stay Schengen visa of type C is required for a trip to Hungary. With it, you can stay in the country for up to 90 days within a six-month period.

Since September 2022, the simplified visa regime with Russia has ceased to be in effect. Therefore, the visa application process has become longer. Now, the validity period of a visa is often limited to a couple of months (instead of six months) or even just the dates of the trip.

If you already have a Schengen visa issued by another EU country, you can enter Hungary with it.

What types of visas are there for Hungary

To Hungary, as to other Schengen Area countries, two main types of visas are issued: short-stay Schengen visas type C and long-stay national visas type D. For tourism, the first option is requested. A short-stay visa can be single-entry, double-entry, or multiple-entry.

What documents are needed for a Type C visa to Hungary

A package of documents is collected for each applicant separately. It includes:

• Valid international passport. Its validity period must be at least 3 months after the intended date of departure. The passport must have at least two blank pages for visa stamps.
• Application form for a Schengen visa – filled out by hand or typed, in capital Latin letters, in Hungarian or English, and signed with a blue pen. For children, the application form is signed by parents. The pages of the application form are stapled in the upper left corner.
• Copies of international passport pages with information about visas issued in the last 3 years, if any.
• Copies of all filled pages of the internal passport – main page, page with marital status and registration.
• Two passport-sized photographs – 3.5×4.5 cm, color, on a white background, taken no more than three months ago.
• Proof of accommodation – hotel or apartment booking with full payment confirmation. Confirmation from the hotel is also required – on official letterhead with a stamp and signature; a simple booking from a domestic aggregator will not suffice. If traveling with a tour package – a tourist voucher.
• Paid travel documents for both directions – flight tickets with booking code (PNR), passenger's surname and name, airline indication, for verification of their authenticity and mandatory payment confirmation (original or electronic receipt, invoice, etc.). A route receipt will not suffice. For travel by train or bus – tickets with similar data + date and time of travel.
• For those traveling by private car – vehicle registration certificate, international insurance, and driver's license.
• Proof of employment/occupation – certificate from place of work or study, pension certificate. For self-employed and individual entrepreneurs – 2-NDFL or 3-NDFL certificates. The certificate must indicate the date of issue, registration number, position, salary amount, length of service, information about granted leave and preservation of the employee's job after leave, purpose of issuing the certificate, name of the issuing authority, signature, phone number, original employer's seal. The validity period of such a certificate is no more than one month.
• Proof of sufficient financial means for travel – bank statements (ensure they have a bank employee's stamp and signature), employment certificates, transaction data for the last three months.
• If you are not paying for the trip yourself, but a close relative is, they will need to write a sponsorship letter in free form and attach a document proving kinship with the applicant, as well as a copy of the first page of the internal passport. A letter from any other sponsor will need to be notarized.
• Medical insurance, valid in the Schengen Area for the entire duration of the trip, with a minimum coverage amount of 30,000 €. A copy of the policy and proof of payment – receipt, bank statement, certified by the bank.
• Signed consent for personal data processing.
• Visa fee payment receipt. As of June 2024, it is 90 €. Payment of the consular fee at the Hungarian consulate is made exclusively with a Russian bank card.

What documents are needed for minors

• For children under 14 – copy of birth certificate. The original must be presented upon submission.
• For children over 14 – internal passport.
• Original consent of a parent or legal guardian for travel, not older than three months. It will need to be notarized if the child is traveling alone or with only one parent (guardian, trustee, adoptive parent). Consent will not need to be attached to the rest of the documents only if the parent has full parental rights (the other parent has died, has been deprived of parental rights). For a more detailed description of documents, see here.
• Copy of valid Schengen visa for the accompanying adult, if documents are not submitted simultaneously.

How to apply for a visa to Hungary

The Hungarian Embassy is in Moscow (Mosfilmovskaya St., 62), and general consulates are in St. Petersburg (Marata St., 15), Yekaterinburg (Gogol St., 15), and Kazan (Spartakovskaya St., 6). Only those applying for a long-term visa to Hungary can submit documents directly to the embassy. In other cases, it is better to contact VFS Global visa centers (even despite the service fee of 30 €).

The visa application must be submitted no earlier than 6 months and no later than 15 days before the trip. The processing time for documents is from 10 to 45 days. You can track the application status on the VFS Global website. Fingerprint scanning and photographs are mandatory steps for all applicants over 12 years old.

To submit documents, you need to book an appointment in advance. This is not an easy task; sometimes you have to wait a long time for available slots. Therefore, we recommend setting reminders and checking availability daily, even several times a day. If several people are traveling together, try to get one appointment for the entire group. 

Tips for submitting documents

• choose a visa to Hungary if you intend to visit this specific country.
• do not consult ChatGPT when preparing your documents: neural networks may overlook important details.
• use the visa checker on kupi.com when searching for tickets.
• use the services of VFS Global – they are an official partner of the Hungarian embassy and consulate. They do not charge an additional fee for booking an appointment to submit documents.
• there are no direct flights from Russia to Hungary. Plan your routes considering the estimated travel dates and try to choose tickets so that, in case of possible delays, your trip fits within the visa's validity period.