In January 2024, the new Aliens Act came into force, creating new types of permits and a new framework for the employment of foreigners.2025 brought further changes, with further tightening of the rules, mainly concerning work permits and limiting the number of permits that can be issued. What changes have been introduced by the law, which was substantially amended a year ago? What are the positive experiences and what are the challenges? How does Györgyi Cziczárdi, Managing Director of Expat-Center and relocation expert with more than a decade of experience in the integration of foreign workers in Hungary, see all this?

Employers who want to employ foreign colleagues will also have to adapt to a number of changes in 2025. The law on aliens has become stricter, it is not easy to navigate the maze of different types of cards (permits) and to adapt to the changed expectations. We asked Györgyi Cziczárdi, managing director of Expat-Center and relocation expert, about the regulatory changes, which are also challenging for HR.

While more than 70,000 jobs are unfilled in Hungary today, there are almost 100,000 foreign workers in the country and more than 200,000 inactive people. Emigration and foreign employment is a decades-old phenomenon and has a clear negative impact on the Hungarian economy. Why do Hungarians go abroad and why do they come to work here from Asia?

In 2023, 770,000 Hungarians will be living abroad - calculated the Egyensúly Institute on the basis of data from the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, Eurostat and the United Nations in its study entitled "How to lure Hungarians who have emigrated abroad back home?". According to the institute, although Hungarians working abroad send 2-3% of Hungary's annual GDP back home, the country could gain even more by luring some of them back.

Under new guidelines from Dell, one of the world's largest technology companies, employees who don't come into the office will not be promoted, businessinsider.com reports. The decision comes despite the fact that Dell introduced a hybrid work culture more than a decade ago, long before the pandemic.

Many figures have been published on how many people in different segments of the labour market will be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI). Based on these figures, assistants doing administrative work, organising and filing may feel rightly threatened. Research and development is increasingly focused on developing the emotional intelligence of virtual colleagues - an attribute of the human workforce that was previously thought to be irreplaceable, but is not so hotly eaten," points out the bbc.com article.

They are not unskilled, illegal migrants, but carefully selected, valuable workers who come to work - says László Küzmös, owner of Get Work Trend, a certified temporary employment agency. He said that this year there have been fewer arrivals than expected, and next year they could fill up to 100 000 new jobs. What is the role of a responsible employer in managing expatriates, integrating them into the work environment and the local community?

Foreigners make production more stable, there is less turnover and often a better work ethic. Many companies have been doing it for years, others are just starting to employ third-country workers. The recruiTECH BLUE recruitment conference even answered the frequently asked question: why not give the money to Hungarians?

Nearly two thirds of business travellers feel they have not started out on an equal footing with their colleagues, and attribute this mainly to their age, accent or gender.

What is it like to work from different places, even from other countries? Digital nomads do just that. Kiwi.com has compiled a list of cities where it's best to live when you work remotely.

Hungary scored in the middle of a survey comparing countries in terms of teleworking and entertainment opportunities.

We are now living in the age of the "volatile office". That is, we are in and out. However, everyone needs to find what works for them, not follow trends. Now it seems that the office is becoming a "mothership" and large corporations are also increasingly using the community as an office market.