How to become a Spanish citizen

Find out the different ways of getting Spanish citizenship — via naturalization, descent, marriage, or investing.

Jale

5 minute read

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Updated on 27 Aug 2024

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Living

Becoming a Spanish citizen has many benefits, such as obtaining the 5th most powerful passport in the world which allows visa-free access to 175 countries.

Plus, the slow bureaucracy and paperwork will become much faster and easier once you become a Spanish citizen. You’ll also get to vote in Spanish national and regional elections, ultimately shaping how much you earn or how much tax you pay.

Another perk's that you automatically become an EU citizen by becoming a Spanish citizen. This means you can freely move around and work in any EU country and vote in EU elections.

Because Spanish citizenship's desired by many, you’ve to meet some requirements to become eligible for it. Find out the different paths you can take to becoming a Spanish citizen.

There’re 4 different ways to get Spanish citizenship:

By naturalisation: If you’ve lived in Spain for 10 consecutive years on a valid residence permit, for example, on a work visa. Years spent as a student in Spain don't count as that’s a temporary stay.

By descent: If you can prove Spanish ancestry and that your ancestors haven’t renounced their Spanish citizenship, you can apply for citizenship.

By marriage: If you’re marrying a Spanish citizen (including same-sex marriage) you’ll become eligible for Spanish citizenship after residing in Spain for at least a year.

By investment: By making a significant investment in Spain, you can obtain a Golden Visa, which is a pathway to becoming a Spanish citizen after 10 years.

Becoming a Spanish citizen's a straightforward process. But, some of the paths of applying for citizenship are more time-consuming than the others.

The most straightforward way to become a citizen is through naturalisation. But it also requires more time than the other options. To become eligible for citizenship through naturalisation, you must legally reside in Spain for at least 10 years.

Applying for citizenship via marriage or civil union's the fastest way. You just have to live together with your Spanish partner for a year.

Obtaining Spanish citizenship via descent's the fastest way if you can prove your ancestors were Spanish citizens or had the right to Spanish citizenship when you were born.

If you can’t meet the prerequisites required by any of the above options, investment is the only way for you. This way of becoming a Spanish citizen's the most challenging one as it requires you to be a legal resident of Spain for 10 years after you invest a good amount in Spain.

To become a Spanish citizen, you need to meet certain requirements which are based on how you want to become a citizen — via naturalisation, descent, marriage, or investing.

If you’ve been a legal resident of Spain uninterruptedly for certain amount of time, you can get Spanish citizenship by naturalisation. Generally, this time frame's 10 years. The time frame decreases to 5 years if you’re a refugee and 2 years if you’re from any Latin American country, from Andorra, Equatorial Guinea, Philippines, or Portugal.

Keep in mind that if you've studied in Spain before, the time you lived in Spain on a student visa won't be counted towards the 10 years requirement for becoming a Spanish citizen.

Below you can find the documents to apply for Spanish citizenship by naturalisation:

1. Proof that you’ve legally resided in Spain for 10 years. You can get this proof of residency from the civil registry office
2. A valid passport and NIE number
3. Your current Spanish residence permit
4. Certificate of local residence (empadronamiento) from your town hall
5. Birth certificate
6. Criminal record
7. Proof you have sufficient economic means to live in Spain (e.g. work contract or bank statement)
8. Proof that you passed the A2 level Spanish exam and the cultural exam, CCSE
9. Proof you paid the application fee (€104.05)

Documents that aren’t in Spanish have to be translated into Spanish by the official notary.

You’re eligible to apply for Spanish citizenship through descent if you have a Spanish family member:

• Your mother or father's a Spanish citizen.
• Both your parents were born in Spain or hold a Spanish residence permit
• A Spanish citizen adopted you before your 18th birthday.
• At least one of your grandparents's Spanish.
• Your grandmother was born in Spain and married a non-Spanish citizen before the 1978 Constitution.

Below you can find the documents to apply for Spanish citizenship by descent:

1. Proof of your Spanish heritage
2. Proof that you’ve legally resided in Spain for 1 year. You can get this proof of residency from the civil registry office
3. A valid passport
4. Birth certificate
5. Criminal record
6. Proof you paid the application fee (€104.05)

Documents that aren’t in Spanish have to be translated into Spanish by an official notary.

After legally residing in Spain for 1 year together with your Spanish spouse, you can apply for citizenship. This law also applies to LGBTQ+ couples. But you can’t apply for citizenship through civil partnerships in Spain.

Below you can find the documents to apply for Spanish citizenship by marriage:

1. Your registry certificate (padrón) at the same address as your Spanish spouse
2. Your and your partner’s NIE number
3. Valid ID/passport (yours and your partner's)
4. Your resident card
5. Marriage certificate (translated into Spanish by notary)
6. Criminal records
7. Proof that you passed the A2 level Spanish exam and the cultural exam, CCSE
8. Proof you paid the application fee (€104.05)

You can become a Spanish citizen through Golden Visa if you invest in Spain.

There’re 5 types of investments you can make:

1. Buy 1 or multiple real estates in Spain overall worth €500,000.
2. Invest in the Spanish economy to create new job opportunities.
3. Buy shares in a Spanish company for at least €1,000,000.
4. Deposit at least €1,000,000 at a Spanish bank.
5. Invest in Spanish public debt for at least €2,000,000

After receiving your Golden Visa via investment, you can apply for Spanish citizenship after 10 years. So basically application procedure for this's the same as acquiring citizenship by naturalisation.

How long does it take to get a Spanish citizenship?

The table below summarises how many years you need to live in Spain to before you become eligible for Spanish citizenship:

Once you gather all the necessary documents, you can submit them online or in-person at the Civil Registry. After you submit the documents, it takes the authorities 18 to 36 months from the date of application to decide if you can become a Spanish citizen. Usually, the waiting time for online submissions's faster.

Here’s how much it can cost to get Spanish citizenship:

• €104.05 application fee
• €60 – €100 official translations of documents and notary stamps
• €30 for issuing a new Spanish passport

In addition to these, you also have to pay for Spanish language courses and exam registration. Spain has many affordable language schools that will help you with your language and cultural exams.

Spain only allows dual citizenship if you’re from Andorra, Portugal, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines, and any of the Latin American countries. If you’re not from any of these countries and want to become a Spanish citizen, you must renounce your original citizenship.