How to Get a Category CE Driving Licence in Hungary

The most useful thing to know about the Category CE licence in Hungary is that you no longer have to collect it in two stages. For years, the only way to obtain the “CE” kategóriás vezetői engedély, the licence drivers call the “CE jogsi” or “kamionos jogosítvány”, was to pass Category C first and then enrol on a second course for the trailer. An amendment to the national training decree changed that. A car driver whose beginner period is over can now sign up for one combined C and CE course, sit four practical examinations instead of two, and come out entitled to drive both a rigid lorry and an articulated combination.

The shortcut has limits. The amendment did not reduce the training; the minimum Age for applicants under 21 is harder to pin down in the published law than it should be, and the licence is only half of what a haulage employer will ask for.

One course for C and CE, if your beginner status has ended

The combined route was introduced by an amending ministerial decree published in the official gazette, the Magyar Közlöny issue containing the amendment (PDF). It is already in force. To use it, you need a valid Category B licence, and your beginner driver status (kezdő vezetői minősítés) must have ended. That second condition catches people out: a newly qualified car driver has to wait until the beginner period defined in Hungarian law has run its course. Skipping the separate C stage means a heavier examination load. The amendment requires candidates to pass practical examinations for both the towing vehicle and the combination. Hence, a combined candidate takes a handling test and a traffic test in a Category C lorry, then a handling test and a traffic test with the CE combination.

Press coverage when the change was announced, including Infostart’s report on the accelerated route and a piece in Economx, described the ministry’s aim as qualifying heavy goods drivers faster, while noting that the curriculum and hours stayed the same and the beginner restriction was retained. The time saved comes from not finishing one course, waiting for the licence and then starting another. How much that saves depends on the school, examination availability and your own attempts, so any figure a provider quotes is an estimate.

The older route still exists and still makes sense for anyone who already holds Category C. Under the ministerial decree on the training and examination of road vehicle drivers, available on Nemzeti Jogszabálytár (decree on driver training and examinations), a candidate for a combined category such as CE must hold a valid licence for the towing vehicle category, and the beginner status must have ended. The hour counts quoted below belong to the combined course; a C holder’s separate CE course has its own curriculum, so ask the school for the one that applies to you.

What the CE entry on a Hungarian licence covers

Hungary uses the EU category system. Category C covers goods vehicles with a maximum authorised mass above 3,500 kg, which may tow a light trailer of up to 750 kg. CE covers a combination made up of a Category C towing vehicle and a trailer or semi-trailer with a maximum authorised mass above 750 kg. This includes a tractor unit (nyerges vontató) pulling a semi-trailer and a rigid lorry pulling a separate drawbar trailer (pótkocsi). Tankers, tippers, refrigerated trailers, car transporters and low-loaders all fall under the same entitlement, provided the towing vehicle is a Category C vehicle.

The categories are set out in the Government Decree on road transport administration, published on the official legal database as Nemzeti Jogszabálytár (Government Decree 326 on road transport administration). Its annexes hold the detailed definitions and age conditions.

CE does not set an upper limit on a combination’s maximum authorised mass, which is sometimes misread as permission to drive anything. Separate rules on weights, axle loads, and dimensions, plus the registration documents for the tractor and trailer and, for exceptional transport, abnormal load permits, determine what a combination may weigh on the road. The licence only says you are qualified to drive that type of vehicle.

The examination centre’s curriculum gives a sense of scale. For a semi-trailer combination used in training and testing, it requires a permitted combined mass of at least 20,000 kg, a length of at least 14 metres and a width of at least 2.4 metres. The details are in the curriculum and examination requirements for the combined C and CE course (PDF, in Hungarian). It is fair to ask a school whether its combination meets that specification.

Schools train, KAV examines, government offices issue

Licensed training providers (képző szerv), which include driving schools and specialised transport training companies, deliver the theory and practical training and register candidates for examination. There is no private-candidate route: you cannot book the CE examinations yourself without having trained with a registered provider.

The examinations belong to the Közlekedési Alkalmassági és Vizsgaközpont, usually shortened to KAV, the national transport fitness and examination centre. It runs the computer-based theory tests, the practical driving tests and the examinations for the professional driver qualification, and it publishes the curricula and examination requirements that schools must follow.

The transport administration authority issues the licence, which most people access through a government office, the kormányablak. The licensing decree lets you apply at any transport administration authority or government office in the country, not only the one closest to your registered address. Hungary has one national set of rules, with no regional licensing systems like those found in federal states.

The Age. Age question: the decrees leave half answered

Age: where the published sources are least satisfying. The training decree sets out when you may sit the tests: the vehicle handling test for C and CE may be taken before you reach the required Age, and the traffic test for C and CE only from the Age of 18. The annexes to the licensing decree set the Age at which a licence can be issued for Category C or CE, and we could not retrieve those annexes for this article.

What we can say with confidence is the EU baseline. The EU’s Your Europe page on getting a driving licence lists 21 as the standard minimum Age for Categories C and CE, and EU professional driver rules allow lower ages for drivers with a professional qualification. We can’t confirm how those two layers combine for someone aged 18 to 20 in Hungary from the official text. We could not establish whether a younger applicant would receive an unrestricted CE entitlement, a restricted one, or would need to complete the professional qualification first.

For anyone 21 or over, none of this matters. For anyone younger, the question to put to both the school and KAV before paying a deposit is simple: at my Age, which lAgence will I receive when I pass, and does the professional qualification have to come first?

Residence comes before enrolment.

You can obtain a new category only in the EU country where you normally reside. Your Europe defines that as the country where you live for at least 185 days in each calendar year because of personal or work ties. Studying abroad does not, by itself, change your normal residence, although Your Europe notes that students who have studied in a country for at least six months may apply there. The Hungarian licensing decree also references habitual residence (szokásos tartózkodási hely) in Hungary as a condition of licensing procedures.

Recent arrivals should sort out address registration and residence paperwork before approaching a school, since both the provider and the authority will ask for it. Residence for licensing is also separate from permission to work. A CE licence entitles you to drive a vehicle category. It confers no right to live or work in Hungary and cannot support a visa or sponsorship application. Citizens of countries outside the EU need residence and work authorisation under Hungarian immigration rules, which run on a separate track from anything the transport authorities do.

A group 2 medical, sent electronically, and possibly an aptitude check

Heavy goods categories fall into the second medical fitness group (2. alkalmassági csoport), with stricter standards than the first group that covers cars and motorcycles. The licensing decree provides that the medical fitness opinion goes from the examining body to the authority electronically, generally by the next working day after the examination. There is no paper certificate to carry around, but the licence cannot be issued until the opinion is on record.

The doctor’s opinion does more than confirm fitness. The decree allows it to set a validity period shorter than the standard maximum for heavy categories, for example, where a condition needs monitoring. The official material describes a second assessment less clearly. The training decree lists health and professional aptitude conditions (egészségügyi és pályaalkalmassági feltételek) for admission to examinations. Aptitude, pályaalkalmasság, is assessed separately from the medical, but we could not confirm exactly which CE candidates must undergo it. Ask your provider whether it applies to you before you start, not when you try to book a test. The same logic argues for doing the medical early: a condition that rules out group 2 is far cheaper to discover before paying for a course.

Seventy-four lessons of theory and three computer tests

According to the KAV curriculum for the combined course, the minimum theory content is 74 lessons. Traffic knowledge (közlekedési alapismeretek) takes 24 of them, driving theory 14, vehicle structure and operation 18, and occupational safety, fire safety and transport the remaining 10.

The theory examinations are computer-based (számítógépes elméleti vizsga, known as SZEV) and are run by KAV. The combined course has three tests, each with 25 questions and 25 minutes. The pass marks are demanding. In traffic knowledge, you need at least 30 of the 35 available points. For vehicle structure and operation and occupational safety and transport, you need at least 21 of 25. There is very little room for guessing.

Two deadlines in the training decree shape how quickly you need to move. The first examination must be taken within nine months of the course starting; otherwise, the course may have to be repeated. A pass on the traffic knowledge exam stays valid for two years, so if you don’t complete the remaining tests within that window, you may have to repeat the process.

Twenty-eight practical lessons and four driving tests

The combined curriculum sets a minimum of 28 practical lessons, split between the lorry and the combination. Handling practice (sometimes called routine practice) takes at least four lessons in the C vehicle and four with the CE combination. Urban driving takes at least six in the C vehicle and four with the combination. Open road and motorway driving take at least four of each. Two night-driving lessons in the C vehicle complete the count.

Those are minimums, and many learners need more. Reversing an articulated vehicle, coupling and uncoupling, and manoeuvring in a cramped yard take time to learn, and they are also the skills a driver uses every working day long after the test.

Order matters here. The training decree states that practical training on the road starts only after a successful handling examination. The handling test therefore comes early, not at the end, and checks manoeuvres, vehicle preparation and safety checks. The traffic test then assesses driving in real conditions, including urban and open road sections. On the combined route, the cycle runs twice: handling and traffic in the C lorry, then handling and traffic with the CE combination. You can retake failed tests, but each attempt is booked again and carries its own examination fee. Repeated failures can bring additional requirements, so extra lessons are usually a better investment than rebooking straight away.

Sitting the exams if your Hungarian is not fluent

Examinations are conducted in Hungarian. For candidates who do not speak the language, the training decree allows an oral examination with an interpreter. Two conditions apply: the candidate pays the interpreter, and the request must be made in advance, which the decree sets at 15 days before the examination.

The interpreter rule solves the examination problem but not the training one. Not every school teaches in other languages, and 74 theory lessons followed by tests with high pass marks are hard work in a language you half understand. A foreign driver’s first question to a school should be which language the lessons are taught in.

From the last test to the licence card

Once you pass every required examination and the medical opinion is on record, the transport administration authority issues the Category on your licence card. Exact requirements depend on your circumstances, but applicants should expect to need:

• a valid identity document, such as a Hungarian identity card or a passport, with proof of residence for foreign nationals;
• the existing driving licence, Category B for the combined route or Category C for the separate CE course;
• the medical fitness opinion, which the doctor sends electronically;
• any registration forms your training provider requires;
• proof that the relevant fees have been paid.

Many applicants do not need to bring photographs. The licensing decree allows the authority to take your photograph and signature from the national registers where they are already held. Foreign nationals should ask whether they need new images. Some procedures, including exchanging a foreign licence, require personal attendance.

If you have also completed the professional qualification described below, you can ask to have the harmonised EU code 95 recorded on the licence. The decree ties the validity of code 95 to the professional qualification certificate, not the licence.

What it costs, and what nobody publishes in one place

Hungary has no official total price for a CE licence, and no national average we can verify. The bill includes the school’s training price, KAV’s examination fees, the medical, any aptitude assessment, the licence fee itself, and any extra lessons and retakes you need. Only some of those numbers are public.

KAV sets examination fees nationally and charges them per examination. Infostart recently reported an average increase of about 11 per cent. That report gives the Category B figures: the theory test went from 4,600 HUF to 5,100 HUF, and the traffic test from 11,000 HUF to 12,200 HUF. Candidates whose examinations were already booked were reported to keep the old rate. The same report lists aptitude assessments at 25,400 HUF for the first instance and 28,400 HUF for the second instance. We did not find an official list of heavy goods examination fees, and they differ from the Category B figure. Hence,o the Category B numbers show only the direction and rough scale of the change. Ask the school or KAV for the current CE fees before budgeting.

Each provider sets course prices, which vary by region, vehicle, package, and the number of practicals included. A written quote is the only reliable way to compare them, and the useful questions are the ones that expose extras: whether examination fees are included, whether vehicle hire for the test is charged separately, what each additional lesson costs, how the theory is delivered, and whether the professional qualification is bundled in.

For the professional qualification, one provider publishes its examination charges. Arriva’s published GKI fee table lists 12,700 HUF per subject for the computer-based theory examination, 14,500 HUF per subject for the case study examination and 17,900 HUF for issuing or replacing the driver qualification document. Arriva mainly trains bus drivers, so its course prices are not a guide to goods vehicle training. Still, the table shows the usual structure: a training fee from the provider plus separate examination and document fees.

GKI, the second qualification most employers ask for

The licence alone covers driving the vehicle. Driving it for a living, for example, for a haulage company, generally also requires the professional driver qualification. In Hungary, this is the Gépjárművezetői Képesítési Igazolvány, or GKI, the national form of the EU Driver Certificate of Professional Competence, recorded on the licence as code 95. Initial GKI training ends in examinations at KAV. Many schools run it alongside the licence course, and the press reported that the combined route lets the professional qualification begin while licence training is still underway. Planning the two together avoids finishing the licence and then waiting to become employable.

The qualification has its own renewal cycle, set at every five years through periodic training, as a written question to the Hungarian Parliament about GKI training confirms. The format of periodic training has been reformed. Industry reporting by Trans.INFO described an option under which drivers who complete in-person, practice-oriented periodic training do not have to sit an exam, and providers now publish both exam-based and exam-free periodic courses; Arriva’s fee table, for example, includes an exam-free option. We could not verify the number of hours required for initial or periodic GKI training in Hungary, so we cannot provide a figure.

Because the licence and the GKI expire on separate dates, one can lapse while the other is valid. A driver with a valid licence and an expired GKI cannot drive professionally where the qualification is required. A driver with a valid GKI and an expired licence also cannot drive.

Three further documents sit outside both the licence and the GKI. Most professional goods driving requires a personal digital tachograph driver card, which you apply for separately. Drivers carrying dangerous goods need an ADR training certificate, with its own course and examination. EU rules on driving time, breaks, and rest govern how professional drivers work, not whether they are licensed. An employer will usually want to see every document that applies to the job: licence, GKI or code 95, driver card and, where relevant, ADR.

Driving in Hungary on a licence issued elsewhere

The licensing decree treats licences from EEA states and from the rest of the world very differently. A licence issued in an EEA state entitles you to drive in Hungary for as long as it is valid, and you are not required to exchange it just because you have moved. You can exchange it on request, in person, at the transport administration authority. Once Hungary is your normal residence, though, new categories and renewals are handled there: an EU Category B holder who wants CE trains and tests in Hungary, and a category is issued on a Hungarian licence.

A licence from outside the EEA can generally be used for one year counted from the start of residence, provided it meets the requirements of the relevant international convention or comes with a certified Hungarian translation. After that year, you need a Hungarian licence. The decree then sets out three possible outcomes for exchange: exchange without any examination; exchange after a theory test, without a course; or exchange after both theory and practical tests, for example where the foreign categories cannot be matched to the EU system. Which outcome applies depends on the issuing country and Category. Exchange does not mean the Category is recognised, so ask the authority specifically about C and CE before assuming they will carry over.

An International Driving Permit does not change this picture. It is a translation that accompanies the national licence, not a licence in its own right, and it does not extend the one-year period that starts when you take up residence.

Professional qualifications follow a similar split. Hungary generally recognises a qualification from another EU country, shown by code 95 or a qualification card. Qualifications from outside the EU usually do not replace the GKI, and drivers holding them should expect to complete the Hungarian requirements.

Five-year licences and renewal without a test

Heavy goods entitlements in Hungary are time-limited. The licensing decree sets a maximum validity of five years from issue for Categories C1, C1E, C, CE, D1, D1E, D and DE, and, as noted above, the medical opinion can shorten it. Renewal does not involve a new driving examination. It does require a fresh Group 2 medical opinion, which is the first step to booking. A driver who needs the licence for work should start the process well before the date on the card.

The new EU directive has been adopted but is not yet Hungarian law.

A new Driving Licence Directive has been adopted and published on EUR-Lex, which member states must transpose into national law over several years, and related amendments to the Driver CPC rules were adopted at the same level. None of this changes Hungarian practice on its own. We found no evidence that Hungary has transposed the directive yet, so the decrees described here remain the applicable rules. Reports of lower ages, accompanied driving schemes or digital licences describe future changes until the Hungarian decrees are amended and in force.

A sequence that avoids the usual delays

Taken together, the rules above suggest an order of work that keeps the deadlines on your side:

1. Confirm your residence status and, if you are under 21, which licence you would receive at your Age.
2. Check that your beginner period has ended, then choose between the combined C and CE course and the separate CE course.
3. Book the Group 2 medical and ask whether you need an aptitude assessment.
4. Collect written quotes stating course fees, included lessons, extra lesson price, and which fees are excluded.
5. Enrol and plan GKI training alongside the licence course.
6. Take the first theory examination within nine months, and request an interpreter at least 15 days before each examination.
7. Pass the handling test, then the road training and traffic test, twice on the combined route.
8. Apply for the licence at any government office, with code 95 recorded if your GKI is complete.

This article could not confirm the age table in the licensing ddecree’sannexes, the current official examination fees for heavy goods categories, or exactly when an aptitude assessment is required. KAV has the final word on examinations and fees, and the transport administration authority, reached through any kormányablak, has the final word on issuing and exchanging licences. Check both against the current decrees before you pay for a course.

A GKI recorded next to CE is what haulage work in Hungary generally requires; after that, drivers can create a profile in the FastDriver.eu driver section and browse current vacancies. FastDriver.eu is a job portal only, with no power to issue licences, approve qualifications or guarantee a job, visa or work permit.

Official sources

• Government Decree on road transport administration (licence categories, validity, exchange)
• Decree on the training and examination of road vehicle drivers
• KAV curriculum and exam requirements for C and CE (PDF)
• Magyar Közlöny amendment introducing the combined C and CE course (PDF)
• Your Europe: getting a driving licence in the EU
• EUR-Lex: the new EU Driving Licence Directive