LEGALTICA GUIDE

How to get Spanish citizenship: every route and its requirements

Most foreigners become Spanish by residence: 10 years of legal, continuous residence in general, 5 for refugees, 2 for nationals by origin of Latin American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal and for Sephardic Jews, and just 1 year in special cases such as being married to a Spaniard or being the child or grandchild of someone born Spanish. You also have to pass the DELE A2 Spanish exam (unless you come from a Spanish-speaking country) and the CCSE civics test, pay a €104.05 fee and, unless you come from one of those privileged countries, declare that you renounce your previous citizenship.

The rest of Legaltica is in Spanish.

Legaltica editorial team Reviewed 24 October 2026 · 11 min read

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Which route fits you

01 Your mother or father is Spanish you are probably Spanish by origin already and only need to register your birth with the Spanish Civil Registry or consulate.

02 Your father or mother was born in Spain and was originally Spanish you can opt for Spanish nationality at any age, without living in Spain.

03 Your grandparent was originally Spanish you can apply after only one year of legal residence in Spain.

04 You are married to a Spaniard and living together one year of legal residence in Spain.

05 You are a national by origin of a Latin American country (including Mexico), the Philippines, Andorra, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal two years of legal residence, and you keep your nationality.

06 Any other nationality, for example American, British, Canadian or Indian ten years of legal residence.

07 You hoped to use the grandchildren’s law it closed on 22 October 2025; only applications filed in time are still being processed.

The routes at a glance

01 By origin (birth)you are Spanish from birth if your mother or father is Spanish, wherever you were born. There is nothing to apply for, but you must register the birth. If you were born and live abroad to a Spanish parent also born abroad, you must declare that you want to keep Spanish nationality within three years of turning 18, or you lose it.

02 By optionfor people who are or were under the parental authority of a Spaniard (usually children of someone who naturalised), to be used before age 20; and for people whose father or mother was originally Spanish and born in Spain, with no age limit.

03 By residencethe main route for foreigners living in Spain, explained below.

04 By naturalisation letter (carta de naturaleza)granted at the government’s discretion, by royal decree, in exceptional circumstances.

05 By possessionten years of continuous, good-faith use of Spanish nationality based on a registered title consolidates it, even if the title is later annulled.

Spanish nationality lawyers who speak English

Tell a firm about your case in English: they receive your message and your phone number, and you see theirs straight away. It’s free and you’re not committing to anything. Languages are taken from each firm’s profile. Firms marked “Registered with Legaltica” manage their own profile.

Registered with Legaltica

CITY
Barcelona
LANGUAGES
ES · CA · EN · IT · RU · OTHER · ARMENIO

Abogada Elmira Parikyan - Boutique legal

5.0 · 12 Google Speaks English

Elmira Parikyan es abogada colegiada en el Ilustre Colegio de la Abogacía de Barcelona y directora de KPLEX Boutique Legal, un despacho ubicado en el distrito de Gràcia concebido para ofrecer una atención jurídica de la más alta exigencia, caracterizada por el rigor técnico, la visión estratégica y un trato estrictamente a medida. Su práctica profesional se centra en el …
Registered with Legaltica

CITY
Alicante
LANGUAGES
CA · EN · ES · FR · PT

Hurtado & Bárez Abogados

5.0 · 125 Google Speaks English

Hurtado & Bárez Abogados es un despacho de Alicante con más de 25 años de experiencia, que ofrece asesoramiento integral y personalizado para cada cliente. Se caracteriza por un seguimiento cercano y una solución a medida para cada procedimiento, defendiendo los intereses de sus clientes. El despacho se presenta como líder en Alicante y cuenta con especialistas en diversas ramas …
Registered with Legaltica

CITY
Sevilla
LANGUAGES
EN · ES

M&C Abogados y Consultores

5.0 · 1 Google Speaks English

M&C Abogados y Consultores es un despacho boutique jurídico ubicado en Sevilla. Se caracteriza por situar al cliente en el centro de su trabajo, con un equipo que asume un número limitado de casos para garantizar la máxima calidad, proximidad y éxito. Se autodefine como una “boutique jurídica”, enfocada en ofrecer un servicio cercano y exclusivo, con premisas de transparencia, …

How many years of residence you need

01 10 yearsthe general rule.

02 5 yearspeople granted refugee status.

03 2 yearsnationals by origin of Latin American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal, and Sephardic Jews. Someone who acquired one of those nationalities later in life does not benefit.

04 1 yearpeople born in Spain; people married to a Spaniard for at least one year and not legally or de facto separated; widows and widowers of Spaniards; people who were under the legal guardianship or foster care of a Spaniard for two consecutive years; people who did not use their right of option in time; and people born outside Spain whose father, mother, grandfather or grandmother was originally Spanish.

In every case the residence must be legal, continuous and immediately before the application. Time spent in Spain irregularly or as a tourist does not count, and long absences can break continuity. Worked example: an American who arrived on a non-lucrative visa in May 2020, renewed every time without gaps and spent most of each year in Spain can apply from May 2030; if she married a Spaniard in 2024 and they live together, she could have applied in 2025, one year after the marriage, once she had one year of legal residence.

The requirements

Legal, continuous residence for the required period, immediately before the application.
Good civic conduct: no criminal record in Spain or in your country of origin, and no relevant police records. Pending criminal cases and certain administrative fines can lead to refusal.
Sufficient integration into Spanish society, proven with the two exams below.
Being 18 or over, or applying through your legal representatives with the required authorisation if you are a minor.

The two exams

Applicants for nationality by residence must pass two tests run by the Instituto Cervantes: the DELE Spanish exam at level A2 or higher, and the CCSE, a test on the Spanish Constitution and Spanish society and culture. Nationals of countries or territories where Spanish is an official language are exempt from the DELE but not from the CCSE; the official list includes Mexico, Puerto Rico and the rest of Spanish-speaking Latin America, but not Brazil, the Philippines or Portugal. Applicants under 18 and people whose legal capacity has been modified by a court are exempt from both. Book early: exam dates and results take several weeks.

Documents checklist

Valid passport and residence card (TIE).
Birth certificate from your country, apostilled or legalised and translated into Spanish by a sworn translator.
Criminal record certificate from your country of origin, apostilled or legalised and translated; it must be recent.
Marriage certificate and the Spanish spouse’s registration, if you apply through marriage.
Certificates of the DELE A2 (or higher) and the CCSE.
Proof of payment of the fee (form 790, code 026).
Padrón certificate and any other evidence of residence the Ministry asks for.

Applying, the fee and the timeline

Pass the exams and gather your documents (two to six months, depending on exam dates and apostilles).
Pay the government fee with form 790, code 026: the Ministry of Justice gives the current amount as €104.05 (the law set it at €100 and it is updated). It is not refunded if you are refused.
Apply online through the Ministry of Justice’s electronic office, yourself or through a representative such as a lawyer.
The Ministry must decide within one year of receiving the application. If it asks you for missing documents, you have three months to provide them or the application is treated as withdrawn. If there is no decision within a year, the application counts as refused, and you can go to court or keep waiting for a late decision.
If granted, you have 180 days from notification to swear allegiance to the King and obedience to the Constitution, declare your renunciation of your previous nationality where required, and register the acquisition with the Civil Registry. If you miss the 180 days, the grant lapses.
Once registered, apply for your Spanish identity card (DNI) and passport.

Dual nationality: who can keep their passport

When you acquire Spanish nationality by residence, option or naturalisation letter, you must declare that you renounce your previous nationality. Nationals of Latin American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal, and Sephardic Jews originally from Spain, are exempt. France and Spain signed a nationality convention in Montauban on 15 March 2021, published in 2022, that lets their nationals hold both.

Americans, Britons, Canadians, Australians, Indians and most other nationalities must make the declaration. Whether your home country treats it as an actual loss of its citizenship is a question for that country’s law, not Spain’s. Bear in mind that people who are not Spanish by origin lose Spanish nationality if, for three years, they use only the nationality they declared they had renounced.

Citizenship by descent: what is still open

The temporary routes for descendants have closed. The Democratic Memory Law’s option for children and grandchildren of Spanish exiles and of Spanish women who lost their nationality by marrying a foreigner before 1978 (the so-called grandchildren’s law) ran for two years from 21 October 2022 and was extended once, by one year, so it ended on 22 October 2025; the law allowed no further extension. Applications filed in time are still being processed. The special route for Sephardic Jews under Law 12/2015 also closed in 2019.

What remains open: if one of your parents is Spanish you are Spanish by origin and only need to register; if your father or mother was originally Spanish and born in Spain you can opt with no age limit; and if a parent or grandparent was originally Spanish, you can apply after just one year of legal residence in Spain.

Great-grandparents: there is no route based directly on a great-grandparent. It can still work if your grandparent was Spanish by origin through that great-grandparent, because then you are the grandchild of someone originally Spanish. That has to be proved with the civil records of each generation, and it is where most descent cases need professional help.

Common reasons for refusal or delay

Residence that was not legal or continuous for the whole period, for example a gap between two permits or a long absence.
Counting years on a student stay as residence without checking how they are treated.
A criminal record, or police records, in Spain or abroad, including pending cases.
Exam certificates missing, or the wrong DELE level.
Foreign documents not apostilled, out of date or without a sworn translation.
Not answering a request for documents within three months.
Missing the 180-day window to take the oath after the grant.

If you are refused, or the year passes without a decision

A refusal, express or by silence after one year, can be challenged with an optional request for reconsideration (recurso de reposición) to the Ministry within one month of an express refusal, or directly before the Audiencia Nacional’s contentious-administrative chamber within two months. Court proceedings take time and need a lawyer, so the decision between appealing, waiting and reapplying depends on why you were refused: a residence gap can sometimes only be fixed by waiting, while a document or exam problem is usually cheaper to fix in a new application.

When a lawyer makes a difference

Applications that meet every requirement are straightforward. These are the situations where a lawyer earns their fee. The firms listed say they speak English.

Your residence history has gaps, absences or several types of permit, including student stays.

You have any criminal or police record, even a minor one or a case that was dismissed.

You are not sure whether you are Spanish by origin, can opt, or qualify through a grandparent or great-grandparent: the records of each generation decide it.

The Ministry has asked for more documents: the three-month deadline is strict.

Your application has been pending for more than a year, or has been refused: court deadlines are one and two months.

You filed under the grandchildren’s law and your file has stalled.

Talk to a lawyer who speaks English

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Spanish nationality lawyers who speak English