Types of accommodation

Author

Hungarian Helsinki Committee Visit Website

On 31 December 2024, there were 2 open reception centres and 1 home for UaSC in Hungary.

The reception centres are:

Source: NDGAP and Directorate-General for Social Affairs and Child Protection.

There is a visible discrepancy between the numbers of occupancy and the maximum capacity of reception facilities in the table above. As of March 2017, open reception facilities were not efficiently used due to the systematic detention of asylum seekers in the transit zones until May 2020 (see Access to the Territory and Place of Detention). After May 2020, the lack of access to asylum procedure is the reason for these very low numbers. Nevertheless, due to the rescued Afghan refugees arriving to Hungary through the Hungarian Defence Forces in August 2021, both reception centres in Vámosszabadi and Balassagyarmat experienced overcrowding for a short time. The Afghan evacuees were moved to private accommodation before the end of 2021. Since their very arrival, they have been assisted by NGOs and volunteers (see more details under Differential treatment of specific nationalities in reception).

Balassagyarmat is a community shelter with a maximum capacity of 140 places for asylum seekers, beneficiaries of international protection, persons tolerated to stay, persons under immigration procedure and foreigners having been held for 12 months in immigration detention. NDGAP provided only an aggregated number of people placed there regarding 2022 (163 persons)^[1] and 2023, (48 persons)^[2] but such number was not provided for 2024.

Vámosszabadi Reception Centre is located outside of Vámosszabadi, close to the Slovakian border. It is a three-storey-high pre-manufactured building, which used to serve as one of the barracks of the Soviet troops stationed in Hungary.^[3] The centre hosts primary asylum seekers. No asylum seeker was placed in Vámosszabadi in 2022 or in 2023 and one asylum seeker in a subsequent asylum procedure was placed there in 2024.

The centres are managed by the asylum authority.^[4] Since 2019, the reception facilities and detention centres fall under the exclusive management and supervision of the central Refugee Affairs Directorate of the NDGAP.^[5]

Unaccompanied and separated children are accommodated in Fót. The Károlyi Istvány Children’s Home in Fót is a home for UaSC located in the North of Budapest and belongs to the Ministry of Human Resources. Its maximum capacity is 130 children.^[6] Prior to 21 May 2020 children above the age of fourteen were detained in the transit zones (as detailed in Detention of vulnerable applicants).

Fót hosts UaSCs whose asylum procedure is still ongoing, recipients of refugee status, subsidiary protection and tolerated status, as well as those who are under the effect of an alien policing procedure. The Children’s Home’s closure was announced in 2016, however it remains open. . The children and staff are constantly kept in the dark about the future of the Children’s Home and any possible plans for the future.

On 31 December 2022, there were 3 unaccompanied asylum seekers present, 1 with international protection status and 22 with international protection status in the aftercare.^[7] On 31 December 2023, there were 3 unaccompanied asylum seekers present, 3 with international protection status, 3 with temporary protection status and 15 with international protection and 2 with temporary protection status in the aftercare.^[8] On 31 December 2024, there were 2 unaccompanied asylum seekers present, 5 with temporary protection status and 5 with international protection status in the aftercare.[9]

^{[1] Information provided by the NDGAP on 13 February 2023.}

^{[2] Information provided by the NDGAP on 19 February 2024.}

^{[3] Cited from the report published by HHC, Safety Net Torn Apart – Gender-based vulnerabilities in the Hungarian asylum system, 26 June 2018, available here.}

^{[4] Section 12(3) Asylum Decree.}

^{[5] Order of the Minister of Interior no. 26/2018. (XII. 28.) amended the order of the Minister of Interior no. 39/2016. (XII. 29.) on the determination of the structural and operational order of the Immigration and Asylum Office.}

^{[6] Information provided by the Directorate-General for Social Affairs and Child Protection on 28 February 2025.}

^{[7] Information provided by the Directorate-General for Social Affairs and Child Protection on 27 January 2023.}

^{[8] Information provided by the Directorate-General for Social Affairs and Child Protection on 20 February 2024.}

^{[9] Information provided by the Directorate-General for Social Affairs and Child Protection on 12 February 2025.}