June 6, 2026, 12:35 p.mJune 6, 2026, 12:35 p.m
Peter Magyar and his Tisza party have ruled Hungary since May 9th.Image: keystone
The new Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar has issued a government decree restricting the influx of guest workers from non-EU countries. New residence permits under the guest worker regulations of the previous government of Viktor Orban will no longer be issued with immediate effect, states the regulation that appeared in the Hungarian official gazette on Saturday night.
Magyar has been in power since May 9th after his bourgeois Tisza party clearly won the April 12th parliamentary election. According to estimates, there are around 90,000 workers from non-EU countries employed in Hungary, which is around two percent of the people employed in Hungary. They work primarily in the battery and motor vehicle industries, in construction, as seasonal workers in agriculture and in delivery services. Most of them come from the Philippines, Ukraine, China, Vietnam and India.
Restricting the influx of guest workers was a promise in Magyar’s election campaign. Orban’s defeater justified this by saying that more Hungarians should get jobs and that companies should be prevented from driving down wages by employing foreigners. Industry and employer associations point out that there is a labor shortage in many sectors in Hungary.
The regulation stipulates that existing residence permits remain valid until they expire. It leaves open whether expiring permits can be extended. It does not mean a complete end to the issuing of residence permits to non-EU citizens. Rather, the stop refers to the Orban government’s simplified guest worker regulations.
This enabled the relatively smooth recruitment of workers outside the EU via placement agencies controlled by businessmen close to Orban. Magyar also denounced this practice during the election campaign. (sda/awp/dpa)