DEFINITIONS
Providing a healthy environment of adequate standard of living consistent with the basic needs of foreign nationals seeking asylum is the State’s responsibility. The Hungarian State fulfils this duty principally through the National Directorate-General for Aliens Policing.
The aid and support provided to this group of foreign nationals (“material reception conditions”) may be restricted or withheld in specific cases. If it later transpires that the person seeking asylum had sufficient means to cover material reception conditions, including the costs of healthcare services (in other words, he/she would have been able to provide for him/herself), the refugee authority may demand the asylum seeker to pay back such costs and expenses, and shall enforce such repayment as taxes.
Duration of entitlement: following submission of the application, until the final conclusion of the asylum procedure. Upon receipt of the application for asylum, the refugee authority informs the foreign national about the aid and support to which he/she is entitled, as well as his/her obligations in relation to the reception conditions.
Reception conditions: material reception conditions and all entitlements and measures defined in an act or government decree relating to the freedom of movement of persons seeking asylum, as well as healthcare, social welfare and the education provided to asylum seekers.
Definition of social eligibility: A foreign national seeking asylum is considered eligible for aid and support if the person seeking recognition or his/her spouse or next of kin living in the same household does not have assets available in Hungary from which to support themselves, and the per capita monthly income of his family, comprising the income of all family members living in the same household, including his/her spouse and next of kin, does not exceed the prevailing mandatory minimum old-age pension. Assets and income shall have the same meaning as defined in Act III of 1993 on Social Administration and Social Provisions.
The asylum-seeker shall, at the time of submitting the application for recognition, disclose his/her financial and income situation using the form prescribed for that purpose.
If the asylum-seeker has assets constituting sufficient means of subsistence or his/her income reached a level where it is considered adequate as provided for above, he/she must report such fact to the refugee authority at the latest within fifteen days from the date of change in the financial and/or income conditions.
Aid and Support Scheme Available During the Reception
During the reception process the asylum-seeker is entitled to the following aid and support on the basis of need or based on his/her individual circumstances:
• Covering material reception conditions, including:
o room and board in the reception facility,
o shares from donations,
o travel allowances,
o covering funeral costs.
• Healthcare
• Reimbursement of the costs of learning and education
• Financial aid, including:
o financial support for leaving the country permanently.
COVERING MATERIAL RECEPTION CONDITIONS
The refugee authority provides material reception conditions for the applicants at designated reception facilities. Reception facilities are institutions providing room and board for asylum-seekers and foreign nationals under international protection. In the reception facilities eligible foreign nationals have access to all the services intended to ensure that their basic everyday needs are properly provided for, as well as to aid, support and social assistance in conformity with the European norms and their individual circumstances throughout their period of eligibility.
In the reception facilities asylum-seekers receive accommodation, three meals a day (or an equivalent amount of money as meal allowance), eating utensils and hygienic supplies (or an equivalent amount of money as hygienic contribution) and, if necessary, clothing. Accommodation in reception facilities is arranged in consideration of maintaining family unity.
During the asylum procedure, the host institution may offer asylum-seekers the opportunity of employment within the confines of the reception centre. For any work contributing to the maintenance and preservation of the reception centre, the foreign national may receive a monthly remuneration of up to 85% of the prevailing mandatory minimum old-age pension.
The refugee authority may accept donations made in money or in kind from natural and legal persons for supplementing the budgetary resources made available for services provided to asylum-seekers, refugees and persons admitted for subsidiary protection, and for improving their living conditions, and shall provide for the proper distribution and accounting of such donations.
Asylums-seekers are entitled to travel allowance at public transport companies (MÁV - Hungarian State Railways, Volán Coach Transport) in specific cases. The refugee authority shall provide a certificate for the asylum-seeker as specified by the legislation on travel allowances available on means of public transportation. The certificate may be issued in the case when the client is in the process of handling administrative matters relating to his/her legal status, or when he/she receives specific healthcare service at the competent regional healthcare service provider, or if participates in a programme operated by a civil society organisation within the framework of State competences, or relies on assistance by such organisation.
In the event of the asylum-seeker’s death, his/her funeral shall be provided for by the mayor of the municipality where the death occurred, provided that there is no one to provide for the funeral or such person cannot be identified or located, or unwilling to provide for the funeral. The refugee authority shall compensate the municipality for the funeral costs.
HEALTHCARE
If the asylum-seeker is not covered by any social security system and is socially disadvantaged, he/she shall be entitled to access specific healthcare services free of charge. Such healthcare services shall include the following:
• Primary health care. Available on site to foreign nationals placed in the reception centre or held in detention in asylum proceedings, or at the general practitioner providing healthcare under regional service obligation to asylum-seekers placed in private accommodation.
• Age-specific compulsory vaccination.
• Outpatient care (examination, medical treatment, costs of medicine and dressings) provided in emergency situations. Specialised healthcare services are available at the healthcare provider responsible for the region in question. Emergency situations shall mean any change in the patient’s health condition culminating in a potentially life threatening situation or that would seriously or permanently impair the patient’s health in the absence of immediate care.
• Inpatient medical care provided in an emergency situation (medical treatment, surgical operation, costs of medicine and dressings, etc.).
• Post-care examinations, medical treatment and medical aids necessary until the recovery from the illness or the stabilisation of the health conditions following the outpatient or inpatient medical care.
• Ambulance service, if the patient’s health conditions exclude any other forms of transportation.
• Emergency dental care and tooth preservation treatment.
• Pregnancy and obstetric care (and in specific cases surgical procedure for the termination of pregnancy).
• Medicinal products, medical aids and dressings prescribed under the fully subsidised public healthcare system to eligible persons free of charge, or with 90% or 100% subsidy.
REIMBURSEMENT OF THE COSTS OF LEARNING AND EDUCATION
In order to ensure that the children of asylum-seekers receive education appropriate for their age, the refugee authority covers the costs of these children’s participation in the public education system during their stay in the reception facility, until the person seeking asylum reaches the age of 21 years.
Accordingly, all reasonable costs relating to the education in pre-school, primary school and secondary school (or in any other educational institution that meets the child’s special needs) – including costs of ticket or pass purchased for travelling to the educational institution on local or long-distance means of transport, the costs of meals in the educational institution and the fee of dormitory accommodation – will be reimbursed by the refugee authority.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
The refugee authority may, upon the asylum-seeker’s request, cover the asylum-seeker’s expenses for leaving the country permanently. Accordingly, if returning to the country of origin or relocating to a third country permanently, the refugee authority provides a ticket (flight ticket) on one occasion based on the certificate issued by the diplomatic or consular mission of the country of destination, and may partly or fully reimburse any other justified travel-related expense also on one occasion.
