Budapest has slammed the travel restrictions on Hungarian citizens imposed by the US on Tuesday as Washington’s “revenge” over its refusal to provide the personal data of its citizens to American officials.
The restrictions are linked to the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) that allows the citizens of America’s allies – a total of 40 predominantly Western nations – to enter the US for business or tourism purposes for up to 90 days without needing to get a visa. Hungary was also on the VWP list.
Now, however, Hungarians can only travel to the US once within a period of one year under the Electronic System for Travel Authorization – an automatic mechanism that determines if a person can be allowed into the US under the VWP. For subsequent trips, Hungarians will have to re-apply for authorization and pay fees of between $4 and $21, depending on the decision issued in a particular case.
Under the regular VWP rules, authorization needs to be obtained only every two years and the number of entries to the US is unlimited over that period. Hungary has now become the only VWP nation subjected to such restrictions so far.
The US explained the decision by claiming that Budapest had for years granted citizenship to people without sufficiently verifying their identities. According to AP, nearly 1 million people received Hungarian passports over nine years between 2011 and 2020. A US official told the news agency that some of the new Hungarian passport holders are supposedly “criminals” who pose a threat to the US and have no real connection to Hungary.
The move provoked an angry reaction in Budapest. Hungary’s Interior Ministry insisted that Washington sought to get ahold of the personal data of Hungarian dual citizens living abroad.
“Hungary does not release this to anyone, because the safety of Hungarians abroad is at stake. That is why [US] President Joe Biden’s government is now taking revenge on the Hungarians!” the ministry said in a statement.
According to Magyar Nemzet, a major Hungarian newspaper, Washington was primarily interested in obtaining the personal data of people living outside the EU, namely in Serbia’s Vojvodina and Ukraine’s Transcarpathia regions. The US was concerned by the fact that people who would normally require a visa to enter could travel to America without one by utilizing the VWP mechanism, the paper added.
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