Notice2025-18031
Hungary Electronic System for Travel Authorization Validity and Eligibility
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 18, 2025
Effective
September 11, 2025
Issuing agencies
Homeland Security Department
Abstract
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in consultation with the U.S. Department of State, is normalizing Hungary's Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) travel authorization validity period, and changing the eligibility for citizens or nationals of Hungary traveling under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) to the United States. This announcement reverses the 2023 DHS determination to reduce the ESTA travel authorization validity period for travel by citizens or nationals of Hungary from two years to one year, and to limit the validity of an ESTA for citizens or nationals of Hungary to a single use for ESTA applications. DHS is making these changes because Hungary has addressed the vulnerabilities that led to earlier ESTA restrictions.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 179 (Thursday, September 18, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 179 (Thursday, September 18, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45046-45047]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-18031]
[[Page 45046]]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY
Hungary Electronic System for Travel Authorization Validity and
Eligibility
AGENCY: Office of Strategy, Policy, & Plans; DHS.
ACTION: Announcement of Electronic System for Travel Authorization
validity period and eligibility.
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SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in
consultation with the U.S. Department of State, is normalizing
Hungary's Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) travel
authorization validity period, and changing the eligibility for
citizens or nationals of Hungary traveling under the Visa Waiver
Program (VWP) to the United States. This announcement reverses the 2023
DHS determination to reduce the ESTA travel authorization validity
period for travel by citizens or nationals of Hungary from two years to
one year, and to limit the validity of an ESTA for citizens or
nationals of Hungary to a single use for ESTA applications. DHS is
making these changes because Hungary has addressed the vulnerabilities
that led to earlier ESTA restrictions.
DATES: This decision was effective on September 11, 2025. The changes
will be implemented by September 30, 2025.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Caitlin Finn, Office of International
Affairs, Office of Strategy, Policy, & Plans, Department of Homeland
Security, 2707 Martin Luther King Jr Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20528.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
A. The Visa Waiver Program
Pursuant to section 217 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
(INA), 8 U.S.C. 1187, the Secretary of Homeland Security (the
Secretary),\[1]\ in consultation with the Secretary of State, may
designate certain countries for participation in the Visa Waiver
Program (VWP) if certain requirements are met. Those requirements
include, among others:
(1) a rate of nonimmigrant visitor visa refusals for citizens or
nationals of the country below the statutorily established threshold;
(2) certification by the government seeking designation for VWP
participation that it issues machine-readable passports that comply
with internationally accepted standards;
(3) a determination by the Secretary, in consultation with the
Secretary of State, that the country's designation would not negatively
affect U.S. law enforcement and security interests;
(4) an agreement to report, or make available through INTERPOL or
other designated means authorized by the Secretary, information about
the theft or loss of passports to the U.S. government within the
designated timeframe;
(5) the country's government's acceptance for repatriation of any
citizen, former citizen, or national not later than three weeks after
the issuance of a final order of removal; and
(6) an agreement with the United States to share information
regarding whether citizens and nationals of the country traveling to
the United States represent a threat to the security or welfare of the
United States or its citizens.
INA section 217(c)(2)(A)-(F), 8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(2)(A)-(F).
The INA also sets forth requirements for countries' continued VWP
eligibility and, where appropriate, probation, suspension, or
termination of program countries. See INA section 217(c)-(f), 8 U.S.C.
1187(c)-(f).
Citizens and nationals of VWP countries may apply for admission to
the United States at U.S. ports of entry as nonimmigrant visitors for
business or pleasure for a period of ninety days or less without first
obtaining a nonimmigrant visa, provided they are otherwise eligible for
admission under applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. To
travel to the United States under the VWP, an alien must, without
limitation:
(1) be seeking entry as a visitor for business or pleasure for
ninety days or less;
(2) be a citizen or national of a VWP country;
(3) present a valid unexpired electronic and machine-readable
passport that meets program requirements and is issued by a designated
VWP country to the air or vessel carrier before departure;
(4) execute the required immigration forms;
(5) if arriving at a port of entry into the U.S. by air or sea,
arrive on an authorized carrier;
(6) not represent a threat to the welfare, health, safety or
security of the United States;
(7) not have failed to comply with the conditions of any previous
admission as a nonimmigrant visitor;
(8) possess a round-trip transportation ticket;
(9) obtain an approved travel authorization via Electronic System
for Travel Authorization (ESTA);
(10) waive the right to review or appeal a decision regarding
admissibility at the port of entry or to contest, other than on the
basis of an application for asylum, any action for removal; and
(11) meet other program requirements.
INA section 217(a)-(b); 8 U.S.C. 1187(a)-(b); see also 8 CFR part 217.
Hungary was designated for participation in the VWP on November 17,
2008. See 73 FR 67711 (Nov. 17, 2008).
B. ESTA Validity Period and Eligibility
Pursuant to DHS regulations, a travel authorization issued under
ESTA is generally valid for a period of two years from the date of
issuance for all citizens and nationals of that VWP country. See 8 CFR
217.5(d)(1). However, the Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary
of State, may increase or decrease the ESTA travel authorization
validity period and eligibility for a designated VWP country. See 8 CFR
217.5(d)(3); see also INA section 217(h)(3)(C)(i), 8 U.S.C.
1187(h)(3)(C)(i) (``[T]he Secretary of Homeland Security may revoke any
such determination [of an ESTA travel authorization validity period] or
shorten the period of eligibility under any such determination at any
time and for any reason.'').\[2]\ DHS publishes notice of any changes
to ESTA travel authorization validity periods in the Federal Register
and updates the ESTA website to reflect the specific ESTA travel
authorization validity period. See 8 CFR 217.5(d)(3).
II. Change to Hungary's ESTA Validity Period and Eligibility
DHS conducts the statutorily required review of each VWP country at
least once every two years to evaluate the effects that continuing the
country's designation in the program will have on U.S. national
security, law enforcement, and immigration enforcement interests. See
INA section 217(c)(5)(A), 8 U.S.C. 1187(c)(5)(A). Prior administrations
reduced the validity period of ESTA travel authorizations for Hungarian
travelers and limited the validity of an ESTA for Hungarian travelers
to a single use. See 88 FR 50759 (Aug. 2, 2023).
DHS, in consultation with DOS, has since determined that Hungary
has sufficiently addressed the vulnerabilities that led to the ESTA
restrictions and has confidence in its ability to continue to partner
with DHS to meet all VWP security requirements. DHS, therefore, is
extending the ESTA validity period to two years, and allowing multiple
entries for applications received beginning September 30, 2025.
[[Page 45047]]
Consistent with DHS's statutory obligations to review each VWP
country's compliance with all program requirements every two years, DHS
will review Hungary's implementation of all VWP requirements and report
findings to Congress. The Secretary of Homeland Security, in
consultation with the Secretary of State, also retains the authority to
suspend or terminate Hungary's designation as VWP country.
Kristi Noem,
Secretary of Homeland Security.
[FR Doc. 2025-18031 Filed 9-17-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-9M-P
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