How to Get Spanish Citizenship as an Expat

Spain remains one of the most popular destinations for expats. Whether you’re looking to settle down, or retire abroad, how to get a Spanish citizenship will be an important question to consider. It’s a bigger commitment than a residency permit, including full nationality, an EU passport and the right to live, work and vote in Spain permanently.

The process isn’t quick, and it isn’t the same for everyone. Your route, your required years of residency and even whether you can keep your original passport all depend on your nationality and circumstances.

Read here to learn more about the requirements, the main routes available, and exactly how to obtain Spanish citizenship as an expat, whatever your starting point.

Spanish citizenship (nacionalidad española) is full legal membership of the Spanish state. Unlike a residency permit, which needs renewing and can be lost, citizenship is permanent once granted. It gives you a Spanish passport, the right to vote in Spanish elections, and unrestricted rights to live, work and study anywhere in the EU or EEA.

For expats, the appeal usually comes down to a few practical benefits:

It’s easy to confuse the two, but they do have significant differences.

For many expats, long-term or permanent residency covers most day-to-day needs without the commitment of renouncing an existing nationality. Citizenship becomes more attractive once EU-wide mobility, voting rights, or passing nationality to children start to matter.

If you’re considering moving to Spain, most people become Spanish citizens through residence, and the residency period you need depends entirely on your nationality and personal circumstances.

How long to need to live in Spain for citizenship depends on factors such as, if you’re married to a Spanish citizen, or if you’re a refugee.

Residency must be legal, continuous, and immediately before your application. Time spent in Spain as a tourist doesn’t count, and gaps in your residence permit can reset your residency, so it’s worth keeping copies of every renewal and any travel records.

If you’re applying for Spanish citizenship through residence, you’ll usually need to pass two exams set by the Instituto Cervantes:

This includes a DELE A2, which is a basic Spanish language test confirming you can communicate at an A2 level. As well as a CCSE – a 25-question, 45-minute test on Spain’s constitution, government and society (you need at least 15 correct answers to pass)

You’re exempt from the DELE exam if Spanish is an official language in your home country, which covers most Ibero-American nationals, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines and Andorra. Both exams are waived if you completed compulsory secondary education (ESO) in Spain, and partial waivers exist for documented disabilities or learning difficulties. Both exams must be passed before you submit your application, so it pays to book early.

Alongside residency and the exams, you’ll need to show:

This is the route most expats use, based on the residency periods above. It’s formally known as nationality by residence under Article 22 of the Spanish Civil Code.

If you’re married to a Spanish citizen, you can apply for Spanish citizenship after just one year of legal residence, provided you’ve lived together throughout that year and remain married (or widowed without legal separation) at the time of application. You’ll still need to pass the DELE A2 and CCSE exams unless you qualify for an exemption, and you’ll need your marriage certificate alongside the standard documents. This route is often the fastest available to non-Ibero-American nationals, including British expats who’ve married a Spanish partner.

​If a parent was a Spanish citizen at the time of your birth, you may already hold Spanish nationality by origin rather than needing to apply for it. This is a legal status you’re born with, not a naturalisation process. A related route, known as “option”, allows certain people to formally claim nationality later in life. For example, those adopted by a Spanish national, or those whose parent or grandparent was originally Spanish, subject to strict eligibility windows.

However, Spain’s Democratic Memory Law, often called the “Grandchildren’s Law”, allowed descendants of Spaniards exiled during the Civil War and Franco era to reclaim nationality without a residency requirement. That application window closed on 22 October 2025, and no new applications are being accepted. If you’re researching this route, check the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs directly.

Once you meet the residency requirement, applying for Spanish citizenship by residence follows a fairly consistent process:

Once approved, you’ll be sworn in at the Civil Registry, formally taking an oath of loyalty to the Spanish Constitution. From that point, Spanish citizenship takes legal effect, and you can apply for your DNI (Spain’s national ID card) and Spanish passport straight away. Unlike a residency permit, this status doesn’t expire and is generally not affected by periods spent living outside Spain, although certain circumstances may apply.

Common reasons include a handful of avoidable issues, such as gaps in your residency record, missing or incorrectly apostilled documents, an unresolved criminal record, or failing to demonstrate sufficient integration.

If your application is refused, you can lodge an administrative appeal, and ultimately take the matter to the Spanish courts, though this adds further time and cost to the process.

Beyond the application fee, most applicants face several additional costs. Prices current as of 2026 are:

None of these costs are compulsory to pay all at once, but it’s worth budgeting for the full picture rather than just the application fee itself.

This is one of the most-asked questions, and the answer depends heavily on where you’re from.

Spain permits dual nationality with Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal, along with recognised Sephardic Jewish heritage cases. If you hold one of these nationalities, you can naturalise as Spanish without giving up your original passport.

For everyone else, including British nationals, the rule is different. UK citizenship isn’t on Spain’s exemption list, which means naturalising by residence involves formally renouncing your British nationality before the Spanish Civil Registry. This renunciation is a declaration made to Spanish authorities rather than an automatic change to your UK status, since the UK has its own separate process for renouncing citizenship.

Whether you’re weighing up a move or already years into your residency, it’s worth considering your healthcare in Spain alongside your visa and residency planning.

Many long-stay Spanish visa categories require applicants to demonstrate appropriate healthcare cover. Depending on the visa route and individual circumstances, this may include comprehensive international private health insurance.

Get a quote for international health insurance today to see how we can support your move to Spain, whatever stage of the journey you’re at.

No. UK nationals must renounce British citizenship as part of the naturalisation process, as the UK isn’t among Spain’s exempted countries.

The statutory limit is one year, but current processing commonly takes between one and three years due to demand at the Central Civil Registry.

It depends on your nationality. Spain only permits dual citizenship for nationals of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal, along with recognised Sephardic Jewish heritage cases. If you hold one of these nationalities, you can naturalise as Spanish without giving up your original passport. Everyone else, including British nationals, must formally renounce their original nationality as part of the process.[BW2] 

Yes, it’s possible to get Spanish citizenship through marriage. However, this only applies if you’ve been married for at least one year and are living together.

No. Property purchase alone has never granted citizenship. At most, it granted a residency permit under Spain’s “Golden Visa” scheme, which itself was abolished on 3 April 2025 and no longer accepts new applications. Existing holders can still renew under transitional rules, but buying property today doesn’t lead to either residency or citizenship on its own.

Yes, though it usually requires an action on your part rather than being taken away. The main trigger is living abroad for three years and exclusively using a different nationality without declaring your wish to retain Spanish citizenship to the Civil Registry. Naturalised citizens (as opposed to those born Spanish) can also lose it through serving in a foreign military or holding foreign public office against Spain’s objection, or if the original grant is found to have involved fraud. It can usually be recovered by returning to legal residence in Spain and formally declaring your wish to reclaim it.

Immigration rules, fees and processing times can change. Always check the latest guidance from the relevant Spanish authorities before making an application.

This guide is intended as general information only and does not constitute legal or immigration advice. Immigration requirements may change and individual circumstances differ.