Information note: State legal aid in asylum procedures
Although Hungarian law guarantees state-funded legal aid for asylum seekers in need, significant barriers limit access, particularly for people in detention. Our new brief examines the gap between legal entitlement and effective access and sets out the changes needed to make legal aid meaningful in practice.
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Váltás magyarraAccess to legal aid is hindered at several stages. Detained asylum seekers receive no specific assistance with completing and submitting applications, while the official register of legal aid providers is available only in Hungarian. Even where legal aid is granted, applicants are generally expected to identify and contact a provider themselves, and providers are not required to accept their case. The limited number of lawyers with relevant expertise creates a further obstacle: in 2026, only 15 of 187 registered legal aid providers listed immigration and asylum as a field of activity.
The extremely low number of applications further illustrates these barriers: one person requested state legal aid in 2023, two in 2024, and three people submitted five applications in 2025. As a result, asylum seekers continue to rely heavily on legal assistance provided by civil society organisations. While this support is essential, it cannot substitute for an effective, accessible and adequately resourced state legal aid system.
Our recommendations focus on making legal aid effective in practice: providing clear information and practical assistance with applications, ensuring that a qualified provider is available when legal aid is granted, improving remuneration and funding for interpretation, and ensuring effective access for independent NGO lawyers to reception and detention facilities.
Read the full brief for more detail and recommendations.
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