Acknowledgment of paternity application can be submitted only in person by prior appointment. Appointments can be made via the online reservation system.
The use of the online reservation system and making appointment is free of charge.
If the parents are not married at the time of the child's birth, the father must make a full-fledged acknowledgment of paternity for the purpose of registering the child's birth in Hungary.
An acknowledgment of paternity can also be made in advance for an unborn child.
According to the relevant Hungarian legal regulations, the consulate must examine whether the child's family status is settled, which means whether the paternal status has been fulfilled or not. It is important, because it is only possible to make an acknowledgment of paternity if otherwise the paternal status is vacant, if no one should be considered to be the father of the child under the Hungarian family law. In Hungarian law (§ 4: 98-114 of the Civil Code), who can be considered the father of a child is based on presumptions, in contrast to the position of the mother, which becomes clear with the fact of the birth. In current Hungarian law, paternity may be based on the following presumptions, in this strict order:
1) the mother's existing marriage,
2) in the absence of an existing marriage, the ceased marriage of the mother, if this marriage was ended by divorce or by the death of the husband, within 300 days prior to the child's birth,
3) in case of partnership, a special procedure for human reproduction, i.e. assisted reproductive technology,
4) acknowledgment of paternity,
5) court decision about paternity.
If, by the law, a person, who is not the (biological) father of the child, should be considered to be the (legal) father, a full-fledged paternal acknowledgment CANNOT be made until the presumption of paternity has been overturned by court.
After the presumption of paternity is overturned by court in Hungary, the paternal status becomes vacant, and then the biological father can make a full-fledged declaration of paternity. Otherwise, in these cases, the Consulate General can only contribute to the birth registration of the child with the legal father. However, the Consulate cannot register the declaration of paternity or cannot register the birth of the child with the biological father. The Consulate can neither contribute to the judicial overturning of the presumption of paternity. In such cases, the Consulate General can only issue a temporary passport for the child to travel to Hungary to facilitate the administration in Hungary (overturning the presumption of paternity, registering the birth, applying for a normal passport in Hungary).
Required documents and conditions for submitting an application:
- presence of both parents is required (exception: the mother may give her consent to the paternity declaration later, in which case only the presence of the father willing to make the declaration is required)
- valid passport and identity card of both parents
- the child's original birth certificate
- if the mother is in a divorced marital status, the Hungarian marriage certificate containing the fact of the divorce or the final judgement of the Hungarian court on the divorce must be presented
- if the mother is in a widowed marital status, the death certificate of the deceased spouse must be presented
- the father must be more than 16 years older than the child
You can find the acknowledgment of paternity (Apai elismerő nyilatkozat) service fee here.