Spanish Citizenship by Residence: Periods, Exams, Oath

Nacionalidad española por residencia

~13 min read · Published 22 July 2026 Updated and checked against official sources 19 October 2026 Print / PDF

Spanish citizenship by residence (nacionalidad por residencia) is granted by the Minister of Justice to a foreign national who has lived in Spain legally and continuously for the required period: 10 years as a rule, 5, 2 or 1 year for certain groups (art. 22 Código Civil). Besides the period, the applicant needs good civic conduct and integration, which the DELE A2 and CCSE exams prove. After the approval, the applicant takes the oath within 180 days, and only the entry in the Registro Civil makes the applicant a citizen.

Contents

• What it is and which routes exist
• Pros and cons
• Residence periods
• Requirements
• Documents
• Documents from the US, the UK, Canada and Australia
• How the application is examined
• Refusal and appeal
• Oath and entry in the Registro Civil
• Dual citizenship and loss of citizenship

What it is and which routes exist

Spanish citizenship is governed by art. 17 to 26 of the Código Civil, the Spanish Civil Code. A foreign national who has moved to Spain acquires it by residence (por residencia): the Minister of Justice grants citizenship to a person who has lived in Spain for the required period and may refuse it “por motivos razonados de orden público o interés nacional,” that is, on reasoned grounds of public order or national interest (art. 21.2). The procedure is set by RD 1004/2015 and Orden JUS/1625/2016.

The other routes are not tied to residence in Spain:

• Citizenship by origin (de origen) belongs from birth to the child of a Spanish father or mother (art. 17.1.a). Birth in Spain to foreign parents does not by itself confer citizenship, as covered in the article on residence for children.
• The option (opción) is open to a person who is or was under the parental authority of a Spaniard, and to the child of a father or mother who was Spanish by origin and born in Spain (art. 20.1). The right of option expires at age 20. For the child of a Spaniard by origin born in Spain there is no age limit (art. 20.3).
• Carta de naturaleza is granted by the government by royal decree, at its discretion, in exceptional circumstances (art. 21.1).

Spain has no citizenship “by marriage.” Marriage to a Spanish citizen cuts the residence period to one year, but the route remains citizenship by residence. The window for descendants of Spaniards under the democratic memory law (DA 8ª Ley 20/2022) closed on October 22, 2025.

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Pros and cons

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Residence periods

The period depends on the group the applicant belongs to (art. 22 Código Civil):

One year of residence is enough for:

• a person born in Spain
• a person who did not exercise the right of option in time
• a person who for two consecutive years was under the guardianship, curatorship or foster care of a Spanish citizen or institution, even if still under it on the application date
• a person who on the application date has been married to a Spanish citizen for one year and is not separated, either by court decision or in fact
• the widow or widower of a Spanish citizen, if the spouses were not separated at the time of death
• a person born outside Spain whose father or mother, grandfather or grandmother was Spanish by origin

The one-year period through marriage means two conditions at once. The marriage has lasted at least one year on the application date. And the applicant has lived in Spain legally for at least one year.

In every case the residence must be “legal, continuada e inmediatamente anterior a la petición” (art. 22.3). Legal means under a residence permit (residencia). Study, internships and volunteering are authorized under art. 33.1 LO 4/2000 “en régimen de estancia,” that is, as a stay, and do not count. The period runs from the start of the first residence permit: for work, family reunification, non-lucrative residence, arraigo and others. Continuous means without gaps in legal status. The rule does not set a number of days of absence that breaks the period. The court assesses whether the applicant kept a habitual home and ties in Spain: housing, family, work, municipal registration. Audiencia Nacional judgment 222/2015 of March 20, 2015 (recurso 79/2014) held residence continuous despite one absence of about five months within two years: the applicant had left to care for her ill mother, and her family and children remained in Spain. A 2026 Audiencia Nacional judgment (ROJ SAN 3630/2026) upheld a refusal for an applicant who spent almost eight months of the two years abroad with no explanation and no work in Spain. Immediately prior means that the period runs right up to the filing date. Years accumulated earlier and then interrupted do not count.

Counting study toward the period was proposed by a bill from the Sumar group (proposición de ley 122/000230, published in the BOCG on November 14, 2025). The same bill would have removed the renunciation of previous citizenship. The bill did not move beyond the government’s response, and with the dissolution of the Cortes by royal decree 806/2026 of October 5, 2026 all pending business of the chamber lapsed (art. 207 Reglamento del Congreso). The new Cortes convene on December 23, 2026, after the election of November 29, 2026, and the bill can only be introduced again from the start.

For example, a US citizen studied in Spain on a student stay from September 2018 and switched to a work permit on July 5, 2021. The ten years run from July 5, 2021, and the earliest date to apply for citizenship is July 5, 2031. The example shows that the three years of study did not count, even though the student lived in Spain lawfully throughout.

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Requirements

Art. 22.4 Código Civil requires two things beyond the period: “buena conducta cívica,” good civic conduct, and “suficiente grado de integración en la sociedad española,” a sufficient degree of integration into Spanish society.

The ministry checks good conduct. The file must contain a report from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior on how the applicant complied with the rules on entry and residence (art. 8.2 RD 1004/2015), and the ministry obtains the Spanish criminal record itself. A clean criminal record does not by itself prove good conduct: the ministry may also take into account police records without a conviction. Supreme Court judgment of June 23, 2008 (recurso 6613/2002) held, however, that arrests from ten years earlier without a conviction are not enough on their own for a refusal when nothing has been held against the applicant since. The requirement applies until the entry in the Registro Civil: if before that entry the applicant does something incompatible with good conduct, the approval loses its effect (art. 12.1 RD 1004/2015).

Integration is proven by two Instituto Cervantes exams (art. 6 RD 1004/2015):

• The DELE, the diploma of Spanish as a foreign language, at level A2 or higher. Official A2, B1 and B2 certificates of the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas and regional education authorities are accepted instead (art. 10.3 Orden JUS/1625/2016).
• The CCSE, a test on the Constitution and Spanish society. Its certificate is valid for 4 years from the date of the certificate (art. 10.4 Orden JUS/1625/2016). The DELE does not expire.

Exempt from the exams are:

• Citizens of 20 Spanish-speaking countries, from the DELE (art. 10.2 Orden JUS/1625/2016): Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, Venezuela. They take the CCSE.
• Minors, from both exams. Instead, a school certificate on attendance, command of the language and the parents’ involvement in school life is filed, and it is mandatory for a child of school age (art. 10.6 Orden JUS/1625/2016).
• Graduates of compulsory secondary school (ESO) in Spain, from both exams. They do not need to request the exemption separately: the school certificate is attached to the application (art. 10.5 Orden JUS/1625/2016).

A person who cannot read and write or has learning difficulties asks the Ministry of Justice for an exemption (dispensa) before applying for citizenship. The decision is issued within 6 months, and silence means refusal. The citizenship application cannot be filed before the answer: an application filed together with the exemption request is closed without examination (art. 10.5 Orden JUS/1625/2016).

The SIELE, another Instituto Cervantes exam, is not on the list in art. 10.3 and does not replace the DELE.

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Documents

Documents under art. 5 RD 1004/2015:

• the application on the official form and, if a representative files it, the power of attorney
• the birth certificate from the country of origin, legalized or apostilled, with a sworn translation
• the passport
• the criminal record certificate from the country of origin, legalized or apostilled, with a sworn translation, for applicants over 18 (art. 5.3)
• the DELE and CCSE certificates, or consent for the ministry to check them in the Instituto Cervantes database (art. 6.4)
• the receipt for the fee of €104.05current for 2026 on form 790 code 026 (art. 5.1.e). The law sets €100 (DF 7ª.4 Ley 19/2015), the amount is indexed by the state budget acts, and the fee is not refunded if the application is refused
• proof of the group that shortens the period: a marriage certificate with a Spanish citizen entered in the Spanish Registro Civil, a Spanish birth certificate, documents on descent from a Spaniard, on refugee status (art. 5.1.f)

The municipal registration certificate (empadronamiento), the residence card (TIE) and the Spanish criminal record need not be attached if the application gives the ministry consent to check them itself (art. 5.1.a). For a child under 14, the authorization of the official in charge of the Registro Civil and a school certificate are filed as well (art. 5.2).

A marriage concluded abroad is first entered in the Spanish Registro Civil: without that entry the one-year period through marriage is not proven.

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Documents from the US, the UK, Canada and Australia

The United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia are parties to the 1961 Hague Apostille Convention. Their birth and marriage certificates and criminal record certificates are filed with an apostille and a sworn translation into Spanish. In the US the apostille on a state document is issued by the Secretary of State of the state that issued it, and on a federal document such as the FBI Identity History Summary by the US Department of State. In the UK the apostille is issued by the FCDO Legalisation Office, in Canada by Global Affairs Canada or the provincial authority, in Australia by DFAT. The procedure for the criminal record certificate is covered in the article on the criminal record certificate. Which documents need an apostille and a translation we determine when the service is ordered.

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How the application is examined

The procedure is electronic (DF 7ª Ley 19/2015, art. 3 RD 1004/2015): the file is kept electronically, and all notifications arrive electronically. Documents that require a signature are signed by the applicant with a digital signature or by the representative (art. 5.4). The progress of the file is shown in the Ministry of Justice service “¿Cómo va lo mío?”.

If documents are missing, the ministry issues a request to complete the application. The applicant has three months to answer, and without an answer the application is treated as withdrawn (art. 10.2 RD 1004/2015).

The Minister of Justice decides within a year of receipt of the application, and silence means refusal (art. 11.3 RD 1004/2015). This means that after a year without an answer the application is deemed rejected and can be appealed, and the procedure is covered in the article on administrative silence.

Applications are refused or closed on these grounds:

• filed before the period was complete (art. 22.3 Código Civil)
• years on a student stay counted toward the period (art. 33.1 LO 4/2000)
• long absences with no explanation (art. 22.3 Código Civil)
• a marriage concluded abroad not entered in the Spanish Registro Civil (art. 5.1.f RD 1004/2015)
• a CCSE certificate older than four years (art. 10.4 Orden JUS/1625/2016)
• no answer to a request within three months, in which case the file is closed (art. 10.2 RD 1004/2015)

The approval does not yet make the applicant a citizen. This does not mean that the approval is final: it takes effect on two conditions, the oath within 180 days and nothing incompatible with good conduct before the entry in the Registro Civil (art. 11.4 and 12.1 RD 1004/2015).

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Refusal and appeal

A refusal by the Minister is challenged by a recurso de reposición, an appeal to the same body, within a month of notification (art. 14 RD 1004/2015, art. 124 Ley 39/2015), or directly by a recurso contencioso-administrativo, a claim before the Audiencia Nacional, the court that hears claims against acts of ministers, within two months (art. 11.1.a and 46.1 LJCA, the administrative court procedure act, Ley 29/1998). Art. 22.5 Código Civil expressly preserves the court route against a refusal. Against a refusal by silence, the reposición may be filed at any time.

Instead of an appeal, a new application can be filed once the reason for the refusal is removed, for example once the period is complete or an exam is passed.

The appeal to the ministry we prepare and file ourselves. The court claim requires an abogado and a procurador: we prepare the case, and a partner Spanish lawyer represents the client in court.

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Oath and entry in the Registro Civil

The approval lapses if within 180 days of notification the applicant does not appear to meet the requirements of art. 23 (art. 21.4 Código Civil). The period runs from the day after notification (art. 12.1 RD 1004/2015). The applicant then has to apply again.

Art. 23 Código Civil sets three conditions:

• an applicant over 14 swears or promises loyalty to the King and obedience to the Constitution and the laws
• the applicant declares the renunciation of previous citizenship, unless covered by the exceptions of art. 24.1
• the acquisition of citizenship is entered in the Registro Civil

The oath can be taken before the official in charge of the Registro Civil or before a notary, and the notary sends the deed to the Registro Civil for entry (art. 68.3 Ley 20/2011 on the Registro Civil). The entry is made within five days of the oath, and with it the procedure ends (art. 13.1 RD 1004/2015). Before the entry the Registro Civil checks the copies in the file against the originals if their authenticity has not been verified earlier (art. 12.2 RD 1004/2015).

The entry in the Registro Civil creates citizenship rather than confirming it (art. 68.1 Ley 20/2011), and it can only be made after the birth has been registered. A new citizen keeps surnames in their previous, foreign form by declaring so on acquiring citizenship or within two months after it or after reaching adulthood (art. 56 Ley 20/2011). Without that declaration, the surnames are recorded under Spanish rules.

After the entry the new citizen obtains a DNI and a Spanish passport from the police. So that the tax agency, Social Security and banks link the previous NIE to the new DNI, the police issue on request a certificado de concordancia, a certificate that both numbers belong to the same person (fee on form 790 code 012, “Certificados o informes emitidos a instancia del interesado”).

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Dual citizenship and loss of citizenship

Citizens of Latin American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal and Sephardic Jews do not renounce their previous citizenship (art. 23.b and 24.1 Código Civil), nor do French citizens under the 2021 dual nationality treaty. Everyone else, including citizens of the US, the UK, Canada and Australia, declares the renunciation at the oath.

The renunciation is declared before Spanish authorities, and whether it ends the previous citizenship depends on the law of that country. Spanish law, for its part, withdraws citizenship from a person who acquired it other than by origin and for three years uses exclusively the citizenship they declared they renounced (art. 25.1.a Código Civil).

Citizenship obtained through falsehood, concealment or fraud is declared void by a court. The public prosecutor brings the claim within 15 years (art. 25.2 Código Civil).

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Author Aleksandr Nazarov