Reduced 3-year naturalisation by 3-year marriage to a Hungarian citizen — házastársi kedvezményes honosítás (§4(2), 3 év)

Eligible (marriage limb): a person in a valid marriage to a Hungarian citizen for at least 3 years OR the surviving spouse of a deceased Hungarian citizen, who has 3 years' continuous Hungarian residence preceding the application, and satisfies §4(1)(b)–(e) (clean record; secured livelihood/housing; no security harm; §4/A exam or exemption).

A §4(2) marriage applicant MUST sit the §4/A constitutional-basics written exam in Hungarian (unless exempt under §4/A(2)), whereas a §4(3a) marriage applicant (HU-MAR-02) need only prove Hungarian-language knowledge informally. This is the material lighter-touch distinction between the reduced-residence and zero-residency preferential marriage routes.

Filing: in person, in Hungarian, on the prescribed form, before the registrar (anyakönyvvezető) / kormányablak / Kormányhivatal, or — abroad — before the Hungarian consul (125/1993. (IX. 22.) Korm. rendelet §13(1)).

No statutory maximum timeline for the §4(2) reduced track appears in the primary text; duration is governed by general administrative-procedure rules and practice. Statutory constraint: oath within 1 year of notification (§7(1)).

The §4(2) reduced naturalisation track is ILLETÉKMENTES (fee-free). Naturalisation became fee-free from 2021-01-01 (kormany.hu first-instance illetékmentesség); the Itv. Melléklet XV. cím citizenship-fee items were repealed (2017. évi II. törvény onward). 'HUF 133,400' is the SUPERSEDED pre-2021 figure. Only consular translation fees may apply. P1 correction applied.

Operative law: Act LV/1993 consolidated, hatály 2025.XII.23 (current as of 2026-05-31). §4/A exam regime since 2001-07-01 (2001:XXXII); detail 119/2005. Fee-free regime from 2021-01-01. Age-exemption §4/A(2)(c) = 60 (current; 65 superseded). No enacted change to §4(2) as of 2026-05-31.

§6 / §4(7) exceptional grant overlay: the President may, on the minister's proposal, exempt an applicant from certain §4(1) conditions where Hungary has an important interest (fontos érdek), but the applicant must still hold a registered Hungarian residence. This discretionary overlay can apply to a §4(2) spouse applicant who is short of a condition, but does not eliminate the 3-year residence.

Historical marriage-based citizenship contrast: until 1957-09-30, marriage automatically altered citizenship (1879:L §5 acquisition by a foreign wife; §20(5) loss by a Hungarian woman; 1948:LX softened loss from 1949-02-01). 1957:V (in force 1957-10-01) abolished marriage as an automatic mode of acquisition/loss, consistent with the 1957 Convention on the Nationality of Married Women (HU ratified 1959-12-03). Today, marriage gives only a facilitated naturalisation track, not automatic acquisition.