Every autumn, employers of EU Blue Card holders in Hungary wait for the same number: next year's salary threshold. This year it arrived on 30 October. In issue 54 of the Hivatalos Értesítő (Official Bulletin), the Minister for Social Affairs and Families announced that in 2027 a Blue Card holder's gross monthly wage must be at least HUF 1,091,244, or HUF 872,995 in nine healthcare occupations. Compared with this year's HUF 1,001,048 and HUF 800,838, that is a rise of about 9%: HUF 90,196 a month for most roles and HUF 72,157 in healthcare.

How the threshold is calculated

Many people assume the figure is a fresh policy decision each year. It is not. A formula unchanged since 2011 sets it: under Decree 44/2011 of the Ministry for National Economy, a Blue Card holder's monthly pay may not be less than one and a half times the national average gross monthly earnings published by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) for the year two years earlier. The 2027 threshold therefore rests on 2025 earnings, just as the 2026 threshold rested on 2024 earnings.

2026 2027
Earnings year used 2024 2025
General threshold (× 1.5) HUF 1,001,048 HUF 1,091,244
Healthcare occupations (× 1.2) HUF 800,838 HUF 872,995

Working backwards from the notice, the ministry used average earnings of HUF 727,496 a month: one and a half times that is 1,091,244, and 1.2 times is 872,995. The method also makes the threshold predictable. The 2028 figure will follow from 2026 earnings and must be published by 31 October 2027.

The lower 1.2 multiplier applies only to a closed list of healthcare roles: general practitioners, pharmacists and specialist pharmacists, optometrists, dietitians and nutrition advisers, physiotherapists, health visitors (védőnő), paramedic officers, and degree-level nurses and midwives. Every other role falls under the general threshold, and what decides the category is the FEOR occupation code in the employment contract, not the job title.

What counts as salary

The answer lies in the EU Blue Card Directive, (EU) 2021/1883, which the Hungarian rules transpose. The directive keeps two concepts apart. The threshold is based on the average gross annual salary in the member state, which the Hungarian decree calls the average earnings published by KSH. What is measured against it, however, is the worker's own gross annual salary, derived from the monthly or annual salary set out in the employment contract or binding job offer. Average earnings set the bar; the contractual salary has to clear it, and only what follows from the contract counts.

In line with this, the immigration authority's guidance accepts regular or irregular wage-type payments on top of base pay, provided that their payment and the contributions due on them are certain in advance or can be verified afterwards. A bonus usually does not meet that test, because its payment cannot be planned in advance. Cafeteria and other fringe benefits are not wages at all, so gross pay must reach the threshold without them.

What this means for people already working here

Employers can easily overlook this, yet the decree is clear: the threshold set for a given year applies to every employment relationship in place during that year, not only to new applications. If a Blue Card holder's salary met the 2026 threshold but falls short of HUF 1,091,244, the employer has to raise it from 1 January 2027. This only matters, of course, for those paid close to the threshold: if someone already earns more than the new figure, the change makes no difference to them at all.

The stakes go beyond employment law. Blue Card applications and extensions are decided in the single application procedure, where, unless the applicant is exempt by law, the government office acts as a specialist authority and will not support the application if the employer intends to pay less than the threshold. If the specialist authority does not support the permit, the immigration authority will not accept the purpose of stay as proven, and as a result it will treat neither the means of subsistence nor full health insurance cover as proven either. The specialist authority may also examine separately whether the rules were followed while the previous permit was valid. And even where the specialist authority supports the application, the immigration authority can still refuse it if the employer failed to raise the salary to the threshold that applied earlier. The directive leaves no room here: where the salary no longer meets the threshold, member states withdraw the Blue Card or refuse to renew it.

Insider tip: Every extension requires a new employment contract, but that is not the only thing the authority looks at. Using the previous year's income certificate from the tax authority (NAV), it can check whether the employer actually raised the worker's pay when the threshold went up. The contract amendment that goes with the pay rise is rarely requested in practice, but it can be, so keep it ready alongside the application.

A wider view: When the decree took effect in 2011, the threshold was HUF 299,700. By 2025 it had reached HUF 883,671, and in 2026 HUF 1,001,048. The 2027 figure is more than three times the original, even though the multiplier has never changed; only wages have grown. The directive lets each member state set its threshold anywhere between 1.0 and 1.6 times the average gross annual salary: Hungary chose 1.5, and for shortage occupations it used the option of applying 80% of that, which gives the 1.2 multiplier. In my view the lesson is clear: a Blue Card holder's salary is not a one-off decision, because the threshold rises every year with national average earnings. This is a personal opinion, but apart from the guest investor permit I consider the EU Blue Card the most advantageous residence permit available today. That is exactly why companies planning to hire on a Blue Card should think ahead about whether they can commit to the mandatory rise every year, if the employee is paid at the threshold.

What to do now

Employers should review the contracts of all their Blue Card employees before the year ends. Where gross monthly wages fall short of the 2027 threshold, the contract amendment on the pay rise, effective 1 January, is best signed in December. Pending applications need a closer look. If an application was filed this year and the decision also comes this year, the preliminary agreement does not need to be amended. If the decision is likely to slip into next year, however, it is worth attaching the amendment on the pay rise, as this makes processing and decision-making smoother.

For employees, the issue becomes pressing at extension time, and it is not only their own permit at stake. Family members' permits are tied to the main applicant, since a family reunification permit is only available to relatives of someone who holds a residence permit themselves. If the government office does not support the Blue Card because the pay is too low, or the immigration authority does not issue it, the family's applications are refused too. The question is then not how long their permits last, but whether they can stay at all.

If you have a question about your own situation, Horizontes Nova is happy to help you find your way.

This article is for general information only. It reflects the legal position as of 1 November 2026 and does not constitute individual legal advice.

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