Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar has restricted the influx of workers from non-EU countries through a government decree published in the Official Gazette on Saturday, DPA reported, BTA reported.
New residence permits in Hungary under the migrant scheme introduced by the previous government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will no longer be issued with immediate effect.
Magyar took office on May 9 after his centrist TISA party won a landslide victory in parliamentary elections in April.
Hungary employs around 90,000 workers from non-EU countries, representing around 2 percent of the workforce. Most of them work in battery and automotive manufacturing, construction, courier services and as seasonal workers in agriculture. Most are from the Philippines, Ukraine, China, Vietnam and India, DPA reported.
Limiting the influx of migrant workers was among the promises Magyar made during his election campaign. He justified his pledge by arguing that more Hungarians should have jobs and that companies should be prevented from undercutting wages by hiring foreigners, even though employers say there is a labor shortage in many sectors in Hungary.
The new regulation stipulates that existing residence permits in the country remain valid until they expire. It is not specified whether expiring permits can be extended.
The decree does not completely stop issuing residence permits to third-country nationals in Hungary. Instead, the ban applies to the Orbán government's simplified guest worker scheme. The mechanism allowed for the relatively seamless hiring of workers through agencies controlled by Orbán, a practice that Magyar strongly criticized in his election campaign.