Hungary offers residency permits for 250,000 euros

Foreign investors can now snag themselves Hungarian residency permits for 250,000 euros ($325,000), following the approval of a bill amendment in Hungary's parliament Tuesday.

The new law creates a category of "investor residency", obtainable if an investor purchases "five-year state bonds issued by the state debt management centre to a value of 250,000 euros or more".

A total of 265 deputies voted in favour of the new entity, which is a first in Hungary but which exists in Canada and other immigrant destination countries. Sixty-five voted against, while 19 abstained.

The text makes no reference to nationality, but Antal Rogan, parliamentary leader of the right-wing Fidesz party and president of a lawmaker group building ties with China, earlier said foreign business delegations often criticised bureaucratic hurdles.

He also said other countries, for example Switzerland, other European Union members and the United States, also issue residency permits if certain conditions are met, usually dependent on the size of investment.