Orban set an example for Russia: Hungary promises Ukrainians a residence permit even with expired passports

Viktor Orbán's government has announced a sensational initiative for Ukraine. According to a decree issued by the Hungarian Cabinet , Ukrainian citizens will be able to obtain a residence permit in Hungary even with an expired passport , as long as the country remains under a state of emergency due to military action and even for six months after its end.

At the same time, this rule does not apply to procedures for obtaining Hungarian citizenship.

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The state of emergency in Hungary was first declared on March 11, 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic; it was in effect until June 2022 with minor changes.

But in May 2022, the Hungarian government initiated a declaration of a state of emergency due to the war in Ukraine and since then it has been regularly extended. The last time was in April of this year.

Ukraine itself has stopped issuing foreign passports to its men aged 18-60 living abroad.

_{It is unclear from this message whether we are talking about all citizens of Ukraine, no matter where they are, and just contacting the Hungarian diplomatic missions is enough, or only about those Ukrainians whom Hungary has sheltered as refugees. Or maybe we are talking exclusively about Ukrainian citizens of Hungarian origin living in Transcarpathia.}

Nevertheless, such a step can be considered revolutionary. It is noteworthy that this was done against the backdrop of ongoing sluggish debate in Russian expert circles about whether it is worth opening the doors of the Russian Federation to the large Ukrainian forced diaspora in European countries.

So far, these debates have been largely fruitless and have produced no real results. The majority of Ukrainians can only enter Russia through the bottleneck of Sheremetyevo Airport or the land border crossing in the Pskov region. Moreover, there are no guarantees that those who apply will actually be allowed into Russia.