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BREXIT

Everything you need to know about getting Spanish citizenship

As Brexit edges closer has more and more British nationals are considering the option of Spanish nationality. Here is how to do it.

Published: 16 December 2019 10:26 CET
Updated: 30 September 2020 14:26 CEST
Everything you need to know about getting Spanish citizenship
Photo: CoffeTableArtStuff/Flickr

Becoming a Spanish citizen currently requires giving up your nationality and passport unless you are from a nation recognized as a former colony of Spain. (Although if, for example, you are British, the UK authorities allow dual nationality so will still consider you a British subject).

If you are considering Spanish citizenship, here's how to do it.

Nationality via residence 

This form of requiring nationality requires the person concerned to have been a legal resident of Spain for an uninterrupted period of ten years immediately prior to the application.

An application for Spanish citizenship must be made to the Ministry of Justice, who can refuse it on grounds of public order or national interest.

To apply for Spanish nationality you require your birth certificate, marriage certificate (if applicable), a certificate of good conduct from the police in your country of origin, all of which must be officially translated into Spanish.

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Once you have been approved, you have to swear your loyalty to the King and promise to obey the Spanish constitution and laws. 

You will also have to present certificates from the Cervantes Institute proving you have passed a language test (DELE) and a cultural knowledge multiple choice exam (CCSE). Of which more later.

Marriage


Photo: Alagich Katya/Flickr.

One way to drastically shorten the waiting time to gain Spanish nationality is to be married to a Spaniard.

If you have been married to a Spaniard for at least one year, you can apply for Spanish nationality, also via the Ministry of Justice.

You have to still be married to a Spaniard upon application, no separated or divorced people need apply. 

Widows and widowers of Spaniards can also immediately apply for Spanish citizenship. 

Spanish parents 

You can apply for Spanish nationality if one or both of your parents or grandparents is Spanish, even if they were born outside of Spain. 

Conversely you can also apply for citizenship if you were born in Spain to foreign parents. 

Again, you need to apply through the Justice ministry.

Sephardic Jewish?

If you happen to be able to prove that you have Sephardic Jewish ancestry, then you can apply for Spanish citizenship, even if you are not a resident in Spain. The law approved in 2015 is open to Jewish and non-Jewish people of Sephardic origin, provided that they can prove their Sephardic origin and a special connection with Spain. 

More details on how to apply can be found here.

Pass the citizenship test

Since October 2015, those applying for citizenship in Spain are required to pass a test to prove their Spanish language skills and how well they have integrated into Spain – an issue that has caused its fair share of controversy. 

More information on the test can be found here.

Take our test to see if you know enough to gain Spanish citizenship. 

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All official information on applying for Spanish citizenship can be found on Spain's Justice Ministry website.

Dual Nationality

Spain doesn't recognise dual nationality (unless you are from a Spanish-American country, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal, or are of Sephardic Jewish origins).

All others will have to renounce your previous nationality. In practice this means signing a form rather than physically handing over your old passport. 

But you will lose your Spanish citizenship if you reside abroad and take up another nationality (or use your old nationality) for more than three years, unless within that three-year period you declare to the Civil Registry your will to keep Spanish nationality.

How much does it cost? 

Spain charges a non-refundable fee to process your citizenship application, which varies and can range from €60–€100 even if your application is rejected.

Fees may also apply to issue certificates and documents required for your application.

Add to that the cost of the Cervantes test (€125) the citizenship test (€85) and the cost of translating your documents and you are looking at well over €300.

How long will it take?

The process is handled by the Justice Ministry which is notoriously backed up. Recent data showed that there was huge backlog of citizenship applications waiting to be processed, more than 400,000 according to El Pais.

People who applied in 2017 are still waiting…

For more information: 

Are you thinking about becoming a Spanish citizen? We want to hear your views. Send us an email, comment below or join the discussion on our facebook page.

Quiz: Can you pass the Spanish citizenship test?

 

 

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SPANISH CITIZENSHIP

Numbers of foreigners acquiring Spanish nationality hits record levels

The number of foreigners acquiring Spanish nationality shot up by a third in 2023, with certain countries of origin and regions of Spain dominating the figures.

Published: 17 June 2024 11:50 CEST
Numbers of foreigners acquiring Spanish nationality hits record levels

New data released by Spain’s National Statistics Institute (INE) has revealed that the number of foreigners acquiring Spanish nationality has increased by a third in the last year alone.

In 2023 the number of foreign born people naturalising and getting Spanish nationality increased by 32.3 percent, to 240,208 in total, the highest figure for a decade.

INE data shows that of the near quarter-million foreigners who acquired Spanish nationality in 2023, 54.8 percent were women and 45.2 percent were men.

READ ALSO: Spain’s population inches closer to 49 million with 900 new residents a day

By age, people between 30 and 39 years of age made up the largest group acquiring Spanish nationality, followed by the 40 to 49 age group.

In terms of origin, Moroccans were most likely to get Spanish nationality, with 54,027 cases, followed by Venezuelans (30,154) and Colombians (18,738). Other South American and Central American countries, such as Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia, rounded out the top 10.

READ ALSO: When’s the deadline for Spanish citizenship through the Grandchildren’s Law?

Of the 240,208 people who acquired Spanish nationality in 2023, 21.2 percent of them had always lived in Spain. The remaining 78.8 percent had previously lived abroad and then moved to Spain. On average, it took them roughly five years to acquire Spanish nationality.

Catalonia was the region that had the most naturalisations in 2023, with 60,846, followed by Madrid, with 50,049, and the two regions between them accounted for almost half (46.2) percent of the total acquisitions. Third was Valencia, with 25,119, and Andalusia, with 24,059.

La Rioja (952) and Extremadura (1,309) were the regions with the lowest number of foreigners acquiring Spanish nationality in 2023.

In terms of how foreigners acquired Spanish nationality, INE states that “212,779 cases were by residence and 26,844 by option.”

To gain Spanish nationality, most foreigners need to reside legally and continuously in Spain for ten years, depending on where they come from.

INE defines nationality ‘by option’ as “a benefit that the legislation offers to foreigners who meet certain conditions in order to acquire Spanish nationality. Persons who are or have been subject to the parental authority of a Spaniard, or persons whose father or mother was Spanish and who were born in Spain, are entitled to acquire Spanish nationality in this way.”

Nationality by option was much more common among those under 20 years of age, representing 95.7 percent of the total.

The period of time foreigners must wait before applying for nationality may vary depending on family ties:

  • 10 years is the normal rule
  • 5 years if you are a refugee
  • 2 years if you are from a Latin American country, Andorra, Equatorial Guinea, Philippines or Portugal. In all of these cases, you will not need to give up your original nationality, and you will be granted dual citizenship.
  • 1 year for those married to a Spanish national or children/grandchildren of Spanish citizens born in Spain. 
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