Hungarian driving license for international students in Debrecen

5 min readFeb 4, 2022

In this blog, I am sharing my experience with you about how I got my Hungarian driving license — B category in Debrecen as an international student. I will walk you through the information, locations, and resources. Please note that this post neither covers exchanging your home country driving license nor international driving license. All information provided represents my simple experience as of 2020/2021 and subject to future updates.

Perquisites before starting

Your highest education degree translated and notarized — If you are a student at a Hungarian University(e.g., University of Debrecen) your student card with the latest semester valid sticker and active student status should be enough.
Valid residence permit for six months at least
Valid passport
Three months of your time
It is always good to have a Hungarian speaking friend/partner who can help with translation when needed. If you don’t, there is always someone out there willing to translate for a reasonable budget.
Around 300k Ft / 850 € as of 2020/2021

Perquisites for first driving license application according to the Hungarian government

Meet the

medical
specific drivers’ aptitude
training and test requirements

Have a normal place of residence in Hungary
In the case of foreign citizens who had stayed in Hungary six months before the application
Are not considered as unfit to drive from the road safety point of view

Moving into the details

I created a simple flowchart to visualize the process steps! Red boxes represent the exams you have to pass.

Step 1: Medical Certificate

If you are a student at the University of Debrecen, you can obtain the certificate after a simple medical examination from the university’s GP or other clinics that provide this kind of certificate.
Please take your Passport, Social security/TAJ card, residence permit, and address card. If you pass, the certificate is issued immediately for 10000 Ft.

Step 2: Red Cross First Aid Certificate

It is not a prerequisite for the other steps, however, you need to finish it before applying for a driving license. I would suggest acquiring it after your medical certificate and before joining a driving school. Unfortunately, there is no first-aid English training in Debrecen, and the exam takes place in Hungarian. You can study online from several sources listed below:

After studying first aid for around 5 hours, you can book an appointment for your exam. Please don’t forget to bring a friend with you who speaks Hungarian along with the required documents. If you pass, the certificate is issued immediately and costs 8200 Ft.

Step 3,4,5,6: Driving school

Debrecen has about three driving schools that offer English training. I finished my theoretical training with one and the practical training with another. I am not here to advertise any of them, but I would recommend, Pegazus Autosiskola, I will explain why:

Friendly office with a professional English speaking lady — communication is a no-brainer.
Offer intensive training package — You can finish your driving practice in a month. With other schools, it could take up to 5 months!
“Full-time” friendly yet experienced driving instructors with good English knowledge

Extra insights : )

Step 4: Theoretical Exam

The driving school will provide you with an online account for the theoretical training portal called “eTitán”. You will be constrained with time-frame and practice/login hours. For this reason, I recommend you to keep a studying schedule to finish within a month. Please note that you need to log out when you are not practicing or concentrating as the practice/login hours are counting. You can read the full Student’s User Manual.

If you are running out of practicing hours or time-frame, you can pay extra to extended your session. Upon module completion, you will receive a certificate, and you can start practicing mock exams. When you are ready, you can ask your school to book you an appointment for the theoretical exam. The exam is performed on a touch screen, and the final result is announced immediately. Try focusing on the priority situation questions as each represents 3 points. Other questions only represent 1 point. You need to score 65 out of 75 minimum to pass. You have one minute per question. The exam is similar to the mock exams, so try to solve as much as you can.

Exam location: Arany János u. 53, Debrecen, 4025

Be on time — 15 mins earlier
Student card with the latest sticker/ Hungarian active student status
Resident permit, Passport, and address card
Maybe a pen!

Step 6: Practical Exam

After your successful theoretical exam, your driving instructor can start with your driving practice. You have to finish at least 30 hours of practice driving 580 km. The time frame within which you can finish depends on the schedule and mindset of your instructor and yours. I advise you to choose a full-time driving instructor to have flexible scheduling and goal settings. Upon meeting the training criteria, the exam will be scheduled by the school. The test is 50 minutes of continuous driving. Please comply with the rules as much as possible to avoid instant fail mistakes. Try preventing them at all costs, even if it means skipping an instruction or driving slower. The time is always on your side! Instant fail mistakes are the primary reason for failing. They can be anything from over-speeding to missing the brake check before setting off! Your instructor should be monitoring and tracking your mistakes for improvements.

Tóth Dávid was my instructor, with whom I finished the driving practice in a month. I managed to pass my driving exam like a breeze on the first trial. He is 100% committed to driving instructing with a flexible schedule and goal planning mindset. David will be your partner, not your instructor. Believe me, you will miss him when you are done, and he will miss you too. I strongly recommend Tóth Dávid as your instructor. Feel free to reach him out and set up your license plan.

Apply!

Congrats! You fulfilled all the requirements and it is time to apply for your European driving license — B category. Collect the following documents:

Passport
Residence permit
Address card
Medical certificate — fit to drive “Step 1”
Red Cross first-aid certificate — “Step 2”
Copy of your successful driving test — “Step 6”

Book an appointment online, submit your application and receive your license within eight working days.

Location: Debreceni Kormányablak (Piac utca), Debrecen, Piac u. 42–48, 4024