Is a same-sex registered partner considered a family member for the purposes of asylum?

According to Section 1 of Act XXIX of 2009 on Registered Partnerships (hereinafter: Act XXIX of 2009), a registered partnership is established in Hungary if two persons of the same sex, both of whom have reached the age of eighteen, jointly declare before a registrar that they wish to enter into a registered partnership.

According to Section 3, (1) of Act XXIX of 2009, if this Act does not provide otherwise or does not exclude the application of these provisions, the rules applicable to marriage shall apply to registered partnerships; the rules applicable to spouses shall apply to registered partners; the rules applicable to widows shall apply to the surviving registered partner of a deceased registered partner; the rules applicable to divorced persons shall apply to a person whose registered partnership has been terminated; the rules applicable to single persons shall apply to a person who has not been married and has not entered into a registered partnership; and the rules applicable to married couples shall apply to registered partners.

According to the legal justification of the above legislation, the Act makes it generally clear that where legislation establishes rights or obligations for spouses, married couples, or marriage, those rules should also apply to registered partners and registered partnerships.

According to Section 15 of Act XXVIII of 2017 on Private International Law, the legal relationships affecting the legal capacity, capacity to act, and personal rights of a person granted asylum or subsidiary protection in Hungary shall be governed by Hungarian law.

According to Section 37, a registered partnership is valid only if the substantive legal conditions for the establishment of a registered partnership are met according to the personal law of both parties at the time of the establishment of the registered partnership.

However, the establishment of a registered partnership is not precluded, nor does it affect its validity, if the personal law of the prospective registered partner does not recognize the institution of same-sex registered partnership, provided that

a) the prospective registered partner who does not have Hungarian citizenship certifies that there is no impediment to his or her marriage under his or her personal law, and

b) at least one of the prospective registered partners is a Hungarian citizen or has a habitual residence in Hungary.

The formal requirements for the validity of a registered partnership shall be governed by the law in force at the place and time of establishment.

Accordingly, in asylum procedures, the rules applicable to spouses shall apply to registered partners.