How much a visa for Hungary costs in 2026
The consular fee for a type C Schengen visa (short stay: up to 90 days in any 180) is €90 for adults and €45 for children aged 6 to 11; under 6 it is free. Citizens of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus pay €35 under their countries' agreements with the EU; citizens of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan pay the same €90. Citizens of Russia pay the full fee: the EU–Russia visa facilitation agreement has been suspended since September 2022.
The visa centre charges its own service fee on top of that.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Consular fee | €90 |
| Visa-centre service fee | varies by country |
| Vizir, Documents plan | €49 |
| Vizir, Full service plan | €129 |
Where to apply
You apply to the consulate of the country that is the main destination of the trip — or the country of first entry if the time is split equally — in the country where you legally live. If you are only visiting the country you apply from, the consulate takes the application only if you justify why you are not applying where you live. For Russian nationals the bar is higher: the European Commission tells consulates to take such applications only in hardship and humanitarian cases.
Most consulates take applications through a visa centre: you book a slot, hand in the documents and give fingerprints there.
Which documents you need
- Passport. Valid for at least 3 months after you leave the Schengen area, issued within the last 10 years, with 2 blank pages. Russian citizens: Hungary still recognises a five-year passport without a chip, but a visa in such a passport is not valid in the 15 Schengen states that do not — France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium among them.
- Application form, signed, and a 35×45 mm photo.
- Travel medical insurance for the whole trip, valid in all Schengen states, with cover of at least €30,000.
- Purpose and accommodation: hotel bookings or an invitation, tickets or a booking, an itinerary.
- Money: a bank statement and an employer letter stating your position and salary.
- Ties to home: job, family, property — whatever shows you will return.
Fingerprints are taken when you submit; they stay valid for 59 months, and children under 12 do not give them. A consulate may ask for more documents — the general procedure is set out on the European Commission's site. Vizir builds the list for your case and checks every document against the form.
When to apply
You can apply no earlier than 6 months and no later than 15 days before the trip. The Visa Code gives consulates 15 days to decide, or up to 45 when they look closer.
Since April 2026 the Entry/Exit System (EES) has been running at all external Schengen borders: passports are no longer stamped; at the border your face is photographed and your fingerprints are checked against the ones you gave for the visa.
Refusal rates in 2025
Schengen consulates received 12.2 million applications in 2025 and refused 14.6% of them. The rate depends heavily on where the application is lodged:
| Where the application was lodged | Refused |
|---|---|
| Belarus | 2.3% |
| Russia | 6.4% |
| Kazakhstan | 9.1% |
| Azerbaijan | 9.8% |
| Armenia | 10.9% |
| Kyrgyzstan | 11.0% |
| Uzbekistan | 16.3% |
| Worldwide | 14.6% |
If you apply in Russia
Since November 2025 a European Commission decision applies: Russian nationals who live in Russia and apply there get, as a rule, a single-entry visa for the specific trip. A one-year multiple-entry visa remains open to spouses, children and parents of EU citizens and of Russians legally living in the EU who have used three visas in the past two years; a nine-month one to seafarers, truck and bus drivers and train crews travelling for work, with two visas used in two years. Others get one only by proving a need for frequent travel and a clean visa record. Multiple-entry visas issued earlier stay valid until they expire.
The rule does not cover Russian nationals who legally live in another country and apply there.
In Russia, Hungary takes applications through VFS Global; the service fee is set by the visa centre. In 2026 it takes 3–5 weeks from submission to getting the passport back. In 2025 Hungary's consulates in Russia handled 28,540 applications and refused 7.0%.