How to start a business in Hungary as a foreigner (2026)

Hungary replaced emergency government decrees (repeatedly renewed since 2020) with Act L of 2025, a permanent statute governing the Second (Special) FDI Regime. Any investor whose ultimate beneficial owner is domiciled outside Hungary may be subject to pre-clearance before establishing or acquiring a business in designated sectors, adding a regulatory layer for foreign founders.

Amendments to the General (First) FDI Regime extended the screening deadline from 30 to 45 business days and granted the Hungarian state a statutory right of pre-emption, allowing it to complete blocked deals through Hungarian National Asset Management Inc. Foreign entrepreneurs in strategic sectors now face longer approval timelines before incorporation.

Act XCII of 2021 entered into force, replacing separate registries with a single unified register for all companies, civil organisations, and condominiums. Formations using standard template articles now trigger an automated decision-making procedure targeting registration within one hour, with no judicial intervention required for straightforward cases.

Hungary's Parliament enacted the most substantial overhaul of company registration since 2006, establishing a unified authentic registry for all legal entities and mandating automated registration to remove individual judicial orders from routine filings. Implementation was delayed from an original 2023 target to allow practitioners to prepare, with entry into force ultimately set for 1 July 2023.

Act V of 2013 (the new Civil Code) entered into force, absorbing substantive company law into a single consolidated code, the first time in Hungarian legal history, and replacing the standalone Business Associations Act of 2006. Default rules shifted from mandatory to permissive, increasing flexibility for founders to tailor articles of association.

Building on the 2008 first-instance mandate, Hungary required all second-instance company registration proceedings to be conducted electronically as of 1 January 2012, completing the full digitisation of the judicial registration process from application through appeal.

Under the framework of Act V of 2006, all first-instance company registration proceedings became exclusively electronic as of 1 July 2008. Legal representatives must file applications through the Ministry of Justice's e-filing portal; paper submissions ceased, cutting processing time and administrative costs for new business founders.

Following Act XLIX of 2003, which amended the Companies Act to harmonise with EU law, Hungary joined the European Union on 1 May 2004. EU company-law directives on disclosure, cross-border operations, and capital protection became applicable, giving Hungarian-registered companies immediate access to the EU single market and attracting significant inbound foreign investment.

Parliament passed a comprehensive new Companies Act replacing Act VI of 1988, codifying six entity types including the Kft (limited liability company) with a HUF 3 million minimum capital and the Rt (joint-stock company) at HUF 20 million. The Act tightened governance rules and introduced deemed-approved registration after 60 working days plus 8 further days if the Court failed to act, reducing registration uncertainty.

Hungary enacted Act VI of 1988, the first modern company law in the Eastern Bloc, enabling private investors to form companies and triggering widespread 'spontaneous privatisation' of state assets. This landmark legislation laid the entire legal foundation for market-economy business activity in Hungary and preceded the fall of communism by over a year.