2023 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 5(2) C Naturalisation An important element of the Hungarian Citizenship Act is the possibility of a specific form of naturalisation, which more or less seems to be a re-naturalisation procedure given that, only people who had and subsequently lost Hungarian citizenship are eligible to apply for status. According to art 5 of the Hungarian Citizenship Act, such a person can be re-naturalised if they have: no criminal record under Hungarian law, no pending criminal proceedings against them before a Hungarian court at the time of application, lost their Hungarian citizenship, proven knowledge of Hungarian language, and if their naturalisation does not harm the public order and national security of Hungary. This form of naturalisation provides an opportunity to those persons who found themselves in a situation where they became stateless, for example through administrative struggles caused by renouncing Hungarian citizenship and being naturalised in another country. Consequently, this provision provides a solution to persons whose Hungarian citizenship has been lost but due to certain reasons, such as being stateless, would like to re-acquire it. In this context, it is worth highlighting art 5/A(1)(b) of the Hungarian Citizenship Act, which provides the opportunity to obtain citizenship by means of a declaration addressed to the President of the Republic. This way of acquiring Hungarian citizenship is open to those who were born in Hungary and did not acquire the foreign citizenship of their parents upon birth due to the foreign law governing the citizenship of the parents. This is on the condition that the applicant’s parents had a place of residence in Hungary on the day of the applicant’s birth and had lived in Hungary for at least five years immediately before making the declaration. 32 Consequently, the Hungarian Citizenship Act provides the opportunity to submit a declaration based on the residence of the parents and sets additional requirements for acquiring citizenship. However, it is a stricter condition than the wording of art 1(2) of the 1961 Convention which does not oblige the parents to have residence on the given territory. Thus, while this provision can be considered a way to solve statelessness and reduce the number of stateless people through the acquisition of Hungarian citizenship, it also introduces additional conditions and requirements to fulfil, making this solution only partly appropriate. However, the application of art 5/A(1)(b) has been extended as a result of a legislative amendment in 2023 and s (d) has been added to the same article.33 According to this extended version of the article, a person who is born in the territory of Hungary and has become stateless shall acquire Hungarian citizenship by written declaration addressed to the President of the Republic, provided that they have resided in the territory of Hungary for at least five years immediately prior to the date of making the declaration. 34 This amendment allows persons born in Hungary but who later became stateless to acquire Hungarian citizenship, which is crucial in helping reduce the number of stateless people. The Hungarian Citizenship Act also provides the opportunity to obtain Hungarian citizenship through a naturalisation procedure initiated upon application. 35 Compared to the previous three acts regulating citizenship law, the nationality 32 33 34 35 Hungarian Citizenship Act (n 3) art 5/A (1)(b). Act XXI of 2023 on the Amendment of Certain Laws related to the Development of Public Administration, s 2 (Hungary) (‘Act XXI of 2023’). Act XXI of 2023 (n 33) s 2; Hungarian Citizenship Act (n 3) art 5/A (1)(d). Hungarian Citizenship Act (n 3) art 4(1). 206