Thirty Hours a Week in Term, Ninety Days Full Time Outside It, and Nine Non-Renewable Months to Find Work Afterwards

Answer

The general rule applies to you

No exception is recorded for citizens of Uruguay on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.

172 exceptions recorded across 63 countries · none match Uruguay to Hungary · Residency as a student

Study is one of the twenty-four purposes in section 6(1) of Act XC of 2023 and section 54 sets it out. The applicant needs a registered Hungarian school or an accredited higher education institution in full-time education, proof of language ability sufficient for the studies, the institution's fees paid, and a real Hungarian address reported as their accommodation - section 54(1)(e) asks for an actual registered address rather than a letter from a landlord. The permit runs between one and three years, or the length of a course shorter than a year, and is extendable in the same bands. Work is allowed and bounded: section 54(8) gives thirty hours a week during term and ninety days a year at full time outside it, which is more generous than the twenty hours common in the Union. What the permit does not do is accumulate. Section 54(7) bars the national residence card, section 71(4)(g) bars the family permit, and section 83(5)(f) repeats the settlement bar from the other side. After graduation section 55 offers a job-seeking or business-start permit of at most nine months which section 55(3) states cannot be extended, and which requires the job or the business to fit the level of the studies completed.

Verified with official sourceMonitor - can change2026-10-10

At a glance

Permit length: 1 to 3 years, or the length of a course shorter than a year
Section 54(3) of Act XC of 2023, extendable each time by at least one and at most three years under section 54(4).
Work during term: 30 hours a week
Section 54(8) of Act XC of 2023, which applies to a study permit, a student mobility permit and a student mobility certificate alike.
Work outside term: 90 days a year at full time
Section 54(8) of Act XC of 2023.
After graduation: 9 months to look for work or start a business, not extendable
Sections 55(2) and 55(3) of Act XC of 2023, with section 55(1) requiring the job or business to fit the level of the completed studies.
Family: None: section 71(4)(g) of Act XC of 2023 names the study permit, including job-seeking and business start
Only a child born in Hungary during the permit is covered, under section 71(5).
Counts towards settlement: No, by sections 54(7) and 83(5)(f) of Act XC of 2023
The EU residence card is also closed to a student, by section 87(2)(a).

Requirements

Admission to a registered Hungarian school or an accredited higher education institution, in full-time education
Proof of language ability adequate for the studies, and the institution's fees paid
A real Hungarian address reported as your accommodation

Country-level policy

Every Guide to Hungarian Immigration Still Cites an Act That Was Repealed on 2 January 2024 - and for One Day It Existed With All 120 Sections Gone

Act II of 2007 on the entry and residence of third-country nationals governed Hungarian immigration for sixteen years and it is not law. Act XC of 2023 replaced it, and did so in two steps that are a day apart. Section 350 of the new Act repealed sections 1 to 120 of the old one - every substantive provision, listed point by point across eighteen lettered items. Section 351 then repealed the Act itself. Section 285(1) brought the new Act into force on 1 January 2024 and section 285(2) held section 351 back to 2 January 2024, so for the whole of 1 January 2024 Act II of 2007 existed as a title and a set of empty section numbers with no content in any of them. The National Legislation Database records the consequence on its own page for the Act, which is dated Hatalyos: 2024. 01. 01. - 2024. 01. 01. The new Act opens with a preamble that no other instrument in this corpus matches in tone, and it is worth reading because it states what the drafters were trying to do with the chapters that follow.

You May Hold Only One Ground of Stay at a Time, and on Seven of Them You Cannot Apply for Another From Inside Hungary - During the Permit or After It Expires

Section 7(1) of Act XC of 2023 states a principle no other statute in this corpus states so plainly: a foreign national may stay in Hungary on one ground at a time, and where they acquire an entitlement on a second ground the earlier one must be withdrawn. The architecture built on it is what makes the Hungarian system hard to move around in. The guest self-employed permit (section 21(6)), the employment permit (section 28(8)), the guest worker permit (section 31(4)) and the White Card (section 62(5)) each carry the same sentence: during the permit's validity and after it expires, a residence permit on another ground may not be applied for within the country. The holder has to leave and apply from abroad. A second layer bars the same people from settled status: section 83(5) lists thirteen permit types from which the national residence card cannot be reached, and section 84(3)(b) excludes White Card time from the three years anyone else would be accumulating. A third layer bars them from bringing family: section 71(4) lists nine classes of sponsor who cannot, with one exception in section 71(5) for a child born in Hungary while the permit is in force. And section 19(3) adds a condition on extension that reads oddly until you see what it is for: a permit may be extended only where the holder's stay on it has already exceeded ninety days in any 180, which stops a permit being obtained and then renewed by someone who never really came. Section 7(2) requires the person to leave the country without delay when the entitlement expires.

What applies to you

Nothing changes for a citizen of Uruguay

We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.

What the law says

Text layer - verbatim verified2023. évi XC. törvény a harmadik országbeli állampolgárok beutazására és tartózkodására vonatkozó általános szabályokról · 54. § (1) · consolidated to 2026-10-01

«54. § (1) Tanulmányi célból tartózkodási engedélyt az a harmadik országbeli állampolgár kap, aki a) Magyarországon a köznevelés információs rendszerében működőként regisztrált köznevelési intézménnyel nappali rendszerű iskolai oktatás, vagy a nappali oktatás munkarendje szerint létesít vagy létesített tanulói jogviszonyt, vagy államilag elismert felsőoktatási intézmény vagy Magyarország területén engedéllyel működő külföldi felsőoktatási intézmény teljes idejű képzése keretében tanulmányok folytatása, illetve a felsőoktatási intézmény által szervezett, a tanulmányok folytatását előkészítő képzésben való részvétel érdekében kíván Magyarország területén tartózkodni, b) igazolja, hogy a tanulmányok folytatásához megfelelő nyelvismerettel rendelkezik, c) befizette a köznevelési vagy a felsőoktatási intézmény által kirótt díjakat, d) igazolja a 17\. § (1) bekezdés a) pontjában, c) és d) pontjában, valamint f)–i) pontjában meghatározott feltételek teljesülését, és e) magyarországi szálláshelyeként valós belföldi lakcímadatot jelentett be.»

Our translation - not official

Section 54 (1) A residence permit for the purpose of study shall be granted to a third-country national who a) establishes or has established a pupil relationship with a public education institution registered as operating in the public education information system in Hungary in full-time school education or under the full-time timetable, or wishes to stay in the territory of Hungary in order to pursue studies within a full-time programme of a state-recognised higher education institution or of a foreign higher education institution operating under licence in the territory of Hungary, or to take part in a preparatory programme organised by the higher education institution, b) proves that they have adequate language knowledge for pursuing the studies, c) has paid the fees charged by the public education or higher education institution, d) proves that the conditions laid down in section 17(1)(a), (c) and (d) and (f) to (i) are met, and e) has reported a real domestic address as their accommodation in Hungary.

Known to be out of date. The National Legislation Database dates this time-state 2026. 10. 01. - 2026. 12. 31., which on its own definition in section 1 of Government Decree No 338/2011. (XII. 29.) means the text changes on 1 January 2027. The instrument that changes it was not read.

Five conditions, and the fifth is a real registered address rather than an undertaking from a host.

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About this source

The Hungarian state's own electronic collection of legislation, operated for the Minister of Justice by Magyar Kozlony Lap- es Konyvkiado Kft. under a public service contract, and the only place a consolidated Hungarian statute is published at all. Section 29(1) of Act CXXX of 2010 defines it; Government Decree No 338/2011. (XII. 29.) sets the duties. Section 2(1) of the decree requires every statute in force to appear in consolidated form with all of its past time-states back to 1 January 2010 and its next three; section 2(3) requires the consolidation within three working days of promulgation. **Read the host carefully: section 8(1) of the decree still names www.njt.hu and the service that answers is njt.jog.gov.hu.** The address shape is njt.jog.gov.hu/jogszabaly/{YEAR}-{NUMBER}-00-00 for an Act, using the Act's Roman numeral converted to Arabic - Act XC of 2023 is 2023-90-00-00, Act LV of 1993 is 1993-55-00-00, Act CXVII of 1995 is 1995-117-00-00 - and njt.jog.gov.hu/jogszabaly/{YEAR}-{NUMBER}-20-22 for a government decree, so Government Decree No 35/2024. (II. 29.) is 2024-35-20-22. The decisive thing on every page is the line under the title: Hatalyos: 2026. 10. 01. - 2026. 12. 31. By the definition of a time-state in section 1 of the decree, the closing date is the day before the text changes, so a page with a closing date is telling the reader that the law will be different on the day after it, and Nem ismert means no change is yet scheduled. Footnotes at the foot of the text name, for every amended paragraph, the Act or decree that put the current words there, which is the only machine-readable amendment history in the corpus.

Standing: Maintains the text in force

Cannot be cited for: **Nothing published here is the authentic text and Hungarian law says so in terms.** Section 25(1) of Act CXXX of 2010 confers authenticity on the Magyar Kozlony and section 25(2) forbids a consolidated text from being published in the Magyar Kozlony at all, so the authentic text and the current text are in two different places by design and the consolidation is never the authentic one. Neither Act CXXX of 2010 nor Government Decree No 338/2011. (XII. 29.) uses the word hiteles of this database anywhere. The practical limitation that follows is narrower than it sounds and bites hard in one place: **an amending provision disappears from here once it has done its work.** Section 12(2) of Act CXXX of 2010 makes an amending provision lose force the day after it takes effect, and the consolidated text of the amending Act then prints only a footnote saying so, stripping the subtitle headings with it. Act XC of 2023 as served here therefore contains neither section 350 nor section 351, the two provisions that repealed the statute it replaced; Act LXXXIV of 2024 as served here contains neither section 135, which removed the 500,000 EUR property option from the guest investor programme, nor the subtitle that would say which commencement date applied to it. **For what was enacted, and for when, read the Magyar Kozlony issue.** It also cannot be cited for anything kept outside the statute book, and the 2023 immigration Act pushes a great deal out there: the government decree naming which nationalities may hold a guest worker permit or a National Card, the ministerial communication fixing the annual permit number under sections 28(4) and 30(4), the communication listing excluded occupations, the communication fixing the EU Blue Card salary under section 48(7) of Government Decree No 35/2024. (II. 29.), and the registers of preferential employers and qualified temporary-work agencies. Nor is it the place to read a figure a statute re-indexes: section 25(3) of Act CXXX of 2019 prints a health service contribution of 7,710 forints set in 2020 and in the same breath provides that the rate in force is published each year by the National Tax and Customs Administration on its own website.

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verified2023. évi XC. törvény a harmadik országbeli állampolgárok beutazására és tartózkodására vonatkozó általános szabályokról · 54. § (8) · consolidated to 2026-10-01

«A tanulmányi célú vagy hallgatói mobilitási tartózkodási engedéllyel, illetve a hallgatói mobilitási igazolással rendelkező harmadik országbeli állampolgár munkát a szorgalmi időszakban hetente legfeljebb harminc órában, szorgalmi időszakon kívül évente legfeljebb kilencven napon teljes munkaidőben végezhet.»

Our translation - not official

A third-country national holding a study or student mobility residence permit, or a student mobility certificate, may work at most thirty hours a week during the term and, outside the term, at most ninety days a year at full working time.

Thirty hours is above the twenty that Directive 2016/801 allows member states to set as the floor.

Read it at the source

About this source

Standing: Maintains the text in force

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verified2023. évi XC. törvény a harmadik országbeli állampolgárok beutazására és tartózkodására vonatkozó általános szabályokról · 55. § (1)-(3) · consolidated to 2026-10-01

«55. § (1) Az a harmadik országbeli állampolgár tanuló kaphat álláskeresés vagy vállalkozásindítás céljából tartózkodási engedélyt, aki érvényes tanulmányi célú tartózkodási engedéllyel rendelkezik és igazolja, hogy tanulmányait sikeresen befejezte, rendelkezik a 17\. § (1) bekezdés a) pontjában és f)–i) pontjában meghatározott feltételekkel, és a harmadik országbeli állampolgár által betölteni kívánt állás, illetve az általa indítani kívánt vállalkozás illeszkedik az elvégzett tanulmányok szintjéhez. (2) Az e § szerinti tartózkodási engedély érvényességi ideje legfeljebb kilenc hónap. (3) Az e § szerinti tartózkodási engedély nem hosszabbítható meg.»

Our translation - not official

Section 55 (1) A residence permit for the purpose of job-seeking or starting a business may be granted to a third-country national student who holds a valid study residence permit and proves that they have successfully completed their studies, has the conditions laid down in section 17(1)(a) and (f) to (i), and where the position the third-country national wishes to fill or the undertaking they wish to start fits the level of the studies completed. (2) The validity of the residence permit under this section is at most nine months. (3) The residence permit under this section may not be extended.

Nine months, once, and the job has to match the degree.

Read it at the source

About this source

Standing: Maintains the text in force

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Text layer - verbatim verified2023. évi XC. törvény a harmadik országbeli állampolgárok beutazására és tartózkodására vonatkozó általános szabályokról · 6. § (1) · consolidated to 2026-10-01

«6. § (1) Harmadik országbeli állampolgár Magyarországon tartósan a) vállalkozási vagy befektetési célból aa) vendég-önfoglalkoztatóként, ab) vendégbefektetőként, b) munkavégzési célból, mint vendégmunkás ba) szezonális munkavállalás célú tartózkodási engedéllyel, bb) beruházás megvalósítása céljából kiállított munkavállalási célú tartózkodási engedéllyel, bc) foglalkoztatási célú tartózkodási engedéllyel, bd) vendégmunkás-tartózkodási engedéllyel, c) magasan képzett személyként munkavégzési célból, vagy valamely, az ország számára kiemelten fontos területen jártassággal rendelkező személyként ca) Magyar Kártyával, cb) EU Kék Kártyával, cc) vállalaton belül áthelyezett személyként, cd) kutatóként, ce) vállalkozás Magyarországra történő áthelyezése esetén Vállalati Kártyával, d) állampolgársághoz kötött munkavégzési, vagy más, e törvény szerinti célból Nemzeti Kártyával, e) az e törvényben meghatározott egyéb okból, azaz ea) tanulmányi célból, eb) képzési célból, ec) gyakornokként, ed) hivatalos célból, ee) ideiglenesen munkát vállaló turisták foglalkoztatására vonatkozó nemzetközi szerződés alapján, ef) Fehér Kártyával, eg) kiküldetés céljából, eh) gyógykezelés céljából, ei) önkéntes tevékenység folytatása céljából, ej) nemzeti érdekből, ek) családi együttélés biztosítása céljából, vagy el) humanitárius ok miatt»

Our translation - not official

Section 6 (1) A third-country national may stay in Hungary for a long term a) for the purpose of business or investment aa) as a guest self-employed person, ab) as a guest investor, b) for the purpose of work, as a guest worker ba) with a residence permit for seasonal employment, bb) with a residence permit for employment issued for the purpose of realising an investment, bc) with a residence permit for employment, bd) with a guest worker residence permit, c) as a highly qualified person for the purpose of work, or as a person with expertise in a field of particular importance to the country ca) with a Hungarian Card, cb) with an EU Blue Card, cc) as a person transferred within an undertaking, cd) as a researcher, ce) with a Corporate Card where an undertaking is relocated to Hungary, d) with a National Card for work tied to nationality or for another purpose under this Act, e) for another reason specified in this Act, namely ea) for the purpose of study, eb) for the purpose of training, ec) as a trainee, ed) for official purposes, ee) on the basis of an international agreement on the employment of temporarily working tourists, ef) with a White Card, eg) for the purpose of posting, eh) for the purpose of medical treatment, ei) for the purpose of voluntary activity, ej) in the national interest, ek) for the purpose of ensuring family unity, or el) for a humanitarian reason

Study is point ea) and training is point eb). They are separate purposes with separate chapters.

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About this source

Standing: Maintains the text in force

We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source

Practical notes

Nothing here was read about tuition, about which institutions are on the public education information system, or about the Stipendium Hungaricum scholarship, which is administered outside this Act.

The language condition in section 54(1)(b) is about the language of the course rather than about Hungarian. No instrument read here sets a level for it.

Sources1 · all accessed 2026-10-10

consolidates
2023. évi XC. törvény a harmadik országbeli állampolgárok beutazására és tartózkodására vonatkozó általános szabályokról
Nemzeti Jogszabalytar, Igazsagugyi Miniszterium · consolidated to 2026-10-01
Known to be out of date. The National Legislation Database dates this time-state 2026. 10. 01. - 2026. 12. 31., which on its own definition in section 1 of Government Decree No 338/2011. (XII. 29.) means the text changes on 1 January 2027. The instrument that changes it was not read.
About this source
The Hungarian state's own electronic collection of legislation, operated for the Minister of Justice by Magyar Kozlony Lap- es Konyvkiado Kft. under a public service contract, and the only place a consolidated Hungarian statute is published at all. Section 29(1) of Act CXXX of 2010 defines it; Government Decree No 338/2011. (XII. 29.) sets the duties. Section 2(1) of the decree requires every statute in force to appear in consolidated form with all of its past time-states back to 1 January 2010 and its next three; section 2(3) requires the consolidation within three working days of promulgation. **Read the host carefully: section 8(1) of the decree still names www.njt.hu and the service that answers is njt.jog.gov.hu.** The address shape is njt.jog.gov.hu/jogszabaly/{YEAR}-{NUMBER}-00-00 for an Act, using the Act's Roman numeral converted to Arabic - Act XC of 2023 is 2023-90-00-00, Act LV of 1993 is 1993-55-00-00, Act CXVII of 1995 is 1995-117-00-00 - and njt.jog.gov.hu/jogszabaly/{YEAR}-{NUMBER}-20-22 for a government decree, so Government Decree No 35/2024. (II. 29.) is 2024-35-20-22. The decisive thing on every page is the line under the title: Hatalyos: 2026. 10. 01. - 2026. 12. 31. By the definition of a time-state in section 1 of the decree, the closing date is the day before the text changes, so a page with a closing date is telling the reader that the law will be different on the day after it, and Nem ismert means no change is yet scheduled. Footnotes at the foot of the text name, for every amended paragraph, the Act or decree that put the current words there, which is the only machine-readable amendment history in the corpus.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: **Nothing published here is the authentic text and Hungarian law says so in terms.** Section 25(1) of Act CXXX of 2010 confers authenticity on the Magyar Kozlony and section 25(2) forbids a consolidated text from being published in the Magyar Kozlony at all, so the authentic text and the current text are in two different places by design and the consolidation is never the authentic one. Neither Act CXXX of 2010 nor Government Decree No 338/2011. (XII. 29.) uses the word hiteles of this database anywhere. The practical limitation that follows is narrower than it sounds and bites hard in one place: **an amending provision disappears from here once it has done its work.** Section 12(2) of Act CXXX of 2010 makes an amending provision lose force the day after it takes effect, and the consolidated text of the amending Act then prints only a footnote saying so, stripping the subtitle headings with it. Act XC of 2023 as served here therefore contains neither section 350 nor section 351, the two provisions that repealed the statute it replaced; Act LXXXIV of 2024 as served here contains neither section 135, which removed the 500,000 EUR property option from the guest investor programme, nor the subtitle that would say which commencement date applied to it. **For what was enacted, and for when, read the Magyar Kozlony issue.** It also cannot be cited for anything kept outside the statute book, and the 2023 immigration Act pushes a great deal out there: the government decree naming which nationalities may hold a guest worker permit or a National Card, the ministerial communication fixing the annual permit number under sections 28(4) and 30(4), the communication listing excluded occupations, the communication fixing the EU Blue Card salary under section 48(7) of Government Decree No 35/2024. (II. 29.), and the registers of preferential employers and qualified temporary-work agencies. Nor is it the place to read a figure a statute re-indexes: section 25(3) of Act CXXX of 2019 prints a health service contribution of 7,710 forints set in 2020 and in the same breath provides that the rate in force is published each year by the National Tax and Customs Administration on its own website.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source