On Tuesday, August 1st, the US announced new travel restrictions on citizens from Hungary because of concerns that the identities of nearly 1 million foreigners who were issued Hungarian passports between 2011 and 2020 were not sufficiently verified, as reported by the Associated Press (AP). The information was released by the US Embassy in Hunagary and a government official.
The restrictions apply to the US Visa Waiver Program, which allows passport holders from 40 countries to enter the United States for business or tourism without a visa for up to 90 days.
Now, the travel validity period for Hungarian passport holders under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) has been reduced from two years to one year, and each traveler will be limited to one entry into the United States. These are the only such restrictions among the 40 states participating in the Visa Waiver Program. According to the AP, the senior US government official said the change followed years of failed US attempts to work with the Hungarian government to resolve security concerns.
This is a really unfortunate day. This is not the outcome the United States sought or is seeking.
David Pressman, US Ambassador to Hungary
Viktor Orban’s government began offering a simplified naturalization procedure to those claiming Hungarian ancestry in 2011, even if they did not live or did not intend to live in Hungary. Thousands of the at least 2 million ethnic Hungarians living in neighboring countries, mainly Romania, Serbia and Ukraine, acquired Hungarian citizenship through the simplified procedure. The US official noted that some of those passports might have been granted to “criminals who pose a security threat and have no connection to Hungary.”
In light the decision, Hungary’s Interior Ministry issued a statement noting that the US had asked for the personal data of ethnic Hungarians abroad with dual citizenship, as reported by the AP. The Hungarian government argued that it wished to protect its citizens’ security and would not provide that information. “This is why President Joe Biden’s administration is now taking revenge on Hungarians,” the statement said.
David Pressman, the US ambassador in Budapest, told Politico that for many years the US government had asked its Hungarian counterpart to look into the potential security vulnerability but that the government of Hungary had opted not to address it. “This is a really unfortunate day,” Pressman said to Politico. “This is not the outcome the United States sought or is seeking.”
Some critics argued that the simplified program had other motives. The scheme would allow non-tax-paying ethnic Hungarians residing in other countries to vote in Hungarian elections. The goal, according to the critics, was to offer Orban’s ruling Fidesz party an advantage.
