Requirements to obtain Spanish nationality Do you want to live in Spain and obtain Spanish nationality? These are the main benefits of obtaining Spanish nationality: The ability to live and work in Spain and throughout the European Union legally. More agility in the bureaucracy
Do you want to live in Spain and get the Spanish nationality?. These are the main benefits to obtain Spanish nationality:
Read carefully because in this article we are going to give you very valuable information so that you do not have any doubts about this topic.
Let's start! 😊
The truth is that there are many ways to process the Spanish nationality. We are going to see the four main ones:
Before analyzing them, we are going to start by answering some basic questions about how to obtain Spanish nationality.
Any foreign person you can request it. The main requirements are in the age. In all these cases you can request:
You can apply for Spanish nationality in two ways:
If everything is fine, you will receive a notification and you will have to continue doing more procedures.
Patience! Spanish nationality is not achieved in a day. 😅
Spanish nationality not obtained on an exact date. In general, it takes between 1 or 3 years after you have made the request.
Why so long?
There are many factors that make obtaining a visa take more or less time.
Anyway, you can always see the states spanish nationality (waiting, open-required, pending request...) in which find your request.
This way you will get an idea of what stage you are at, if something has gone wrong and how much you have left to achieve it.
When you finally get a response, you'll have to make a sworn declaration to the King of Spain and the Constitution.
You will then go to your local police station and get your passport and ID.
They will give you a certificate of agreement so that institutions can identify your NIE with the new DNI.
And finally, the entire long process of obtaining Spanish nationality will be over. 😀
But let's not go too fast!
Let's first look at the documentation needed for the application.
Thedocumentation that you must submit to obtain Spanish nationality may vary depending on the way of requesting it. The main data they usually ask for are the following:
In the case of being a refugee, married to a Spaniard, descendant or Sephardic, you will have to provide more documents.
To make the request to the Spanish citizenship you have to pay one rate of 104.05 euros (year 2022).
The price is non-refundable, even if your request is denied.
In the case of spanish passport; Whether it is the first acquisition, renewal or other cases, the cost is 30 euros (year 2022).
Did you know that there is a new law that allows obtain nationality directly?
The law is called: Grandchildren Law or Democratic Memory Law.
When the law goes into effect, it will allow many foreigners of Spanish descent obtain nationality from the consulate without all the typical procedures or waiting for years.
The beneficiaries of this new law are:
Read the requirements carefully, to see if you are among the candidates. 😀
Anyway, This law is not yet in force and it is not yet known when it will be applied.
Next, we talk about what the requirements are to obtain Spanish nationality and the four main ways to obtain it.
If you are a foreign citizen and you do not have Spanish relatives, perhaps you are wondering: "How to obtain Spanish citizenship? Is it possible?"
In this case, the route of nationality by residence It is one of the most common ways to obtain nationality.
The nationality by residence It is given by living in Spain legally for a certain amount of time.
This time is generally 10 years.
However, there are other cases in which the number of years will be less:
The citizens of Portugal, Andorra, Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or any country of latin americaThey will have to reside in Spain only 2 years to acquire nationality by residence.
In the case of the refugees, they will have to be 5 years.
In addition to living in Spain for these amounts of time, there are other requirements that we will see below:
Time only starts counting from when you have this permission.
You must live in Spain uninterruptedly. This means that you cannot travel very frequently or stay abroad for long periods.
Does this mean you can't go on vacation? 😮
Of course you can go on vacation! Just make sure these trips are not too frequent or too long.
Keep in mind that a student visa or as a tourist it doesn't work to compute time. You need a Residence Permit.
These exams are the DELE A2 (if Spanish is not your native language) and the multiple choice cultural exam CCSE.
Just an A2 level and a culture exam?
That's sucked. 😉
Your criminal and police records from your country of origin and in Spain will be reviewed.
If everything is in order, there should be no problems.
So... Be good!
This is one of theFrequently asked questions about Spanish nationality.
If you marry a person from Spain, will you get your Spanish nationality?
From one day to the next? Like magic? 😝
The truth is that it was like that before, but since the 1975 Constitution everything changed.
Marrying a Spanish person helps you get citizenship faster, but it does not give you it the day after the wedding.
What you will get after marriage is the residence permit.
From here, you must prove that you have been one year living with your spouse in Spain being already married.
In addition, from this year there are other requirements and steps to obtain Spanish nationality by marriage:
A question that many ask is whether you can obtain Spanish nationality through a de facto partner.
The answer is NO. The de facto couple It does not give the benefits of marriage.
However, what can be obtained is the residence permit through the community family card.
This allows live and work in Spain for 5 years,but it doesn't give you nationality. To do this, you must wait the years and meet the requirements for Spanish nationality by residence.
What does it mean to get Spanish nationality by option?
It is the ability to give Spanish nationality to your children after you have gotten it.
In this way, parents who obtain nationality can bring their children to Spain and live together legally.
Generally, to apply for nationality by option, the children have to be under 18 years old.
However, it is possible to extend it until 20 because children have the right to claim their nationality for two years.
Where should it be requested?
If the children are in Spain, it will be requested in the Civil registry of the domicile.
If the children live abroad, they must do so in the spanish consulate of that country.
If you are a foreigner but you have or have had Spanish relatives You can also get nationality.
Do you want to know how?
We tell you!
If you have spanish grandparents, today you can request a residence permit to be able to apply for nationality one year after living in Spanish territory legally and continuously.
Until now this would be the way to obtain nationality through the descendants of your grandparents.
Now, perhaps in the future you will be able to obtain a Spanish passport more quickly thanks to the new law of Democratic Memory that we have mentioned previously.
But not all descendants of Spanish grandparents will be able to achieve it. You will have to be within these four cases:
Being a father or mother of a Spanish minor child It does not give you the right to obtain nationality.
You would need to do one of the procedures already mentioned: application for residence, for marriage, for descent, etc.
If you are child of a Spanish father or mother, There are many ways to apply for citizenship depending on your situation.
In this case, the procedures can be carried out at the civil registry if you live in Spain or at consulates and embassies if you live in another country. Also in courts or in social services offices.
You must deliver the documents indicated to you.
In most processes to obtain Spanish nationality, one of the requirements is pass a couple of exams related to the Spanish language.
We can help you on this issue, since we are one of the Spanish schools most recognized throughout the world.
We tell you everything you need to know about these exams. 😉
Next, we review the questions that are included in the two exams to obtain Spanish nationality: DELE A2 and the CCSE exam.
The DELE Spanish nationality exam is composed of 4 parts:
The total duration of the exam it's about 2 hours and 50 minutes, including preparation times.
In these exams a lot of work is done grammar and vocabulary corresponding to a basic level from Spanish.
At this level the student is expected to be able to make simple conversations about his life, habits and even his past.
The acronym CCSE means: Constitutional and Sociocultural Knowledge of Spain.
In this exam, 25 closed-ended questions: 3 options in which one is correct or true and false.
The exam lasts 45 minutes and the contents are the following:
The CCSE exam It seeks, therefore, to guarantee that people who want to obtain Spanish nationality know the social and cultural reality of the country and are prepared to integrate into Spanish society and culture.
But remember that to understand all this well, you first need some basic notions of Spanish. In Hispania, Spanish school, we have specialized DELE A2 courses that will help you successfully pass the exams to obtain nationality.
We hope this article has been helpful to you.
See you soon! 😊
Article written by Charles Martinez for Hispania, Spanish school
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