Hungary Tourist Visa

Going to Hungary to see your child, or to see Budapest

Your son or daughter is studying medicine in Hungary. Or you have saved for a trip to Budapest and the Danube. Either way, you need a short-stay Schengen visa before you fly. This page tells you, in plain words, how that visa works for Hungary and how we help you get the file right the first time.

A short-stay Schengen visa is also called a type C visa. It lets you stay up to 90 days inside any 180-day window. That 90-day limit covers the whole Schengen area, not only Hungary. So if you go to Hungary and then cross to Austria, the days in both countries count together.

Who this visa is for

Most Indian visitors to Hungary fall into three groups:

• Parents of students. Semmelweis in Budapest, and the universities in Szeged, Debrecen and Pécs, teach many Indian medical students. Parents go for a graduation, a white-coat ceremony, or just to see where their child lives.
• Tourists. Budapest's thermal baths, a boat ride on the Danube, a summer at Lake Balaton, or a drive to the Eger wine region.
• Short business visits. A meeting, a trade fair, or a training week.

You apply to Hungary only when Hungary is your main destination. If you will spend most nights in another Schengen country, you apply to that country instead. If the nights are equal, the country you enter first decides. We check this for you before we start the form, because sending the file to the wrong country is a common and avoidable refusal.

Fee, timing and how long it takes

The visa fee is €90 for an adult. A child aged 6 to 11 pays €45. A child under 6 pays nothing. The visa centre adds its own service charge on top, and that part is paid in rupees at the counter. Use our visa fee calculator to see the full amount for your family.

You can lodge the file up to six months before your travel date. You must lodge it at least 15 days before you fly. The embassy normally decides within 15 calendar days. In some cases this stretches to 45 days, for example when the officer asks for more papers. We tell every client to plan for the longer period, not the shorter one.

Hungary uses VFS Global in India. The centres are in Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and New Delhi. From Punjab, most of our clients travel to New Delhi. Appointment dates come and go quickly, so check the live picture on our Hungary appointment page before you book flights. We never quote a date here because it changes daily.

What goes in the file

The visa officer wants to answer one question: will this person go, do what they said, and come back? Every paper in the file should help answer that. The core set is:

• A passport valid for at least three months after you leave Schengen, with two blank pages.
• The Schengen form, filled in correctly and signed.
• Recent photographs in the right size.
• Flight booking showing entry and exit.
• Where you will sleep each night. For a family visit, this is your child's rental contract or hostel letter plus an invitation letter from them.
• Travel medical insurance of at least €30,000 that is valid in every Schengen state, not only Hungary.
• Bank statements, usually the last six months, plus salary slips or business proof.
• Papers that tie you to India: a job letter with leave approval, property papers, a running business, or family who stay behind.

Your part is simple. We prepare and check the whole file. You attend the visa centre once to give fingerprints and a photo. This is called biometrics. If you gave biometrics for any Schengen visa in the last 59 months, the centre may reuse them, but you still attend to hand in the file.

Where files from India go wrong for Hungary

We see the same problems again and again in Hungary files. Here are the ones that matter most:

The invitation from the student is too thin. A one-line WhatsApp message printed out is not an invitation. The letter should give the student's full name, residence permit number, address, the dates of your stay, and where you will sleep. Attach a copy of the student's permit and enrolment letter.

Parents show the student's money, not their own. The officer wants to see that the visitor can pay for the trip. If the child will host you, say so clearly and still show your own bank history.

Applying to Hungary when the trip is really an Austria or Czech tour. Budapest is a short train ride from Vienna and Prague. If the other stops are longer, Hungary is the wrong country to apply to.

Insurance bought for Hungary only. The policy must cover all Schengen states. Some cheap Indian policies list one country. That gets flagged.

Unexplained large deposits. A sudden ₹5 lakh entry the week before applying looks like borrowed money. If it is real (sale of land, maturity of an FD), we add a one-line note and the proof.

If you were refused

A Schengen refusal comes on a standard sheet. The officer ticks one or more of 16 numbered grounds. Grounds 8 and 10 ("purpose and conditions of stay not shown" and "intention to leave could not be established") are by far the most common for Indian visitors. We explain what each ground means, in simple words, on our Schengen refusal reasons page.

A refusal is not a ban. You can appeal in Hungary within the time limit written on the sheet, or you can apply again with a stronger file. In most family-visit cases, a fresh application with the gaps fixed is the faster route. We read your refusal sheet, tell you honestly which choice makes sense, and build the new file around the exact ground that was ticked.

Talk to us

One call settles four things: which Schengen country you should apply to, whether your bank papers are strong enough, what your child in Hungary needs to send you, and which VFS centre and date fit your travel plan. We are a Punjab-government-licensed consultancy (Licence No. 849/DC/PTA/PLA/LC-3/2024) in Patiala.

Call or WhatsApp +91 91155 80911. Monday to Saturday, 9 AM to 7 PM. Bring your passport and your last bank statement, and we can tell you in ten minutes what your file needs.