Application filed
Your next route is case follow-up
Check the status, keep every notice and respond within the deadline stated if the authorities ask for more information.
An online status check does not replace an official notification.
Favourable decision
Act within 180 days
Grants by residence or discretionary naturalisation lapse if you do not appear before a competent official within 180 days after notification to satisfy the legal requirements.
Arrange the oath or promise, any applicable declarations and Civil Registry registration; the DNI follows afterwards.
After acquiring nationality
Complete the document change
First confirm the registration and your recorded name and surnames; then obtain the first DNI and passport and update the NIE where needed.
If you live abroad, a first DNI is issued only in Spain; a Spanish passport can be obtained from the competent consulate.
Another procedure filed
Follow the channel for your specific case
Keep the receipt, monitor notices and use the Civil Registry, consulate or online service named in your procedure.
The residence-case tracking links do not necessarily work for option, origin, recovery or democratic-memory procedures.
Favourable decision through another route
Read the decision before applying a deadline
Complete the appearance, declaration or registration required by the decision and the competent Civil Registry.
The general 180-day rule in article 21.4 applies to grants by residence and discretionary naturalisation; do not automatically apply it to another route.
Nationality by origin
You may be Spanish by origin
A person born to a Spanish father or mother is Spanish by origin. The evidence and registration depend on where and when the birth occurred.
Check the competent Spanish Civil Registry before filing through residence.
Nationality by origin
Birth in Spain may give nationality by origin
This applies to a person born in Spain to foreign parents when at least one parent was also born in Spain.
It does not apply to a child of an accredited diplomatic or consular official.
Nationality by origin
Nationality by origin may prevent statelessness
It may cover a person born in Spain to stateless parents or when neither parent’s law grants nationality, as well as undetermined parentage.
The parents’ laws and Civil Registry position must be checked; birth in Spain alone is not enough.
Right of option
Check the two-year deadline immediately
If birth in Spain or parentage was established after age 18, an option for nationality by origin may be exercised for two years from that determination.
The exact date of determination is essential.
Adoption by a Spanish citizen
Adoption as a minor produces nationality by origin
A person under 18 adopted by a Spanish citizen acquires Spanish nationality by origin from the adoption.
Confirm that the adoption and registration are correctly recorded.
Option after adoption
The option period is two years
A person adopted by a Spanish citizen at age 18 or later may opt for nationality by origin for two years from the adoption.
Check the date and competent Civil Registry without delay.
Right of option
Spanish parental authority may open an option
A person who is or was subject to a Spanish citizen’s parental authority may have the right to opt.
As a rule, the option expires at age 20. Emancipation under the person’s own law and support measures that prevent independent exercise can change the calculation.
Right of option
This option has no age limit
A person whose father or mother was originally Spanish and born in Spain may opt for Spanish nationality.
Confirm births, original nationality and the registry chain first.
Residence and marriage
The period may be reduced to one year
At filing, you must have been married to a Spanish citizen for at least one year, with no legal or de facto separation. A registered partnership is not equivalent to this statutory case.
You also need one year of legal, continuous residence immediately before filing. A special rule covers spouses living abroad with Spanish diplomatic or consular officials.
In addition to the period and qualifying residence described above, good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration must be proved.
Nationality by residence
Birth in Spain may reduce the period to one year
Birth in Spanish territory is one of the one-year residence cases.
Residence must be legal, continuous and immediately before filing.
In addition to the period and qualifying residence described above, good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration must be proved.
Nationality by residence
A missed option may give a one-year period
The Civil Code includes a person who did not exercise a right of option in time.
First confirm that the option existed and when it expired.
In addition to the period and qualifying residence described above, good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration must be proved.
Nationality by residence
Guardianship, care or foster care may give a one-year period
Two consecutive years are required under guardianship, curatorship with full representation, custody or foster care by a Spanish person or institution.
The legal arrangement and dates must be proved.
In addition to the period and qualifying residence described above, good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration must be proved.
Nationality by residence
Widowhood may give a one-year period
It applies to the widow or widower of a Spanish citizen if there was no legal or de facto separation at death.
Legal, continuous residence immediately before filing is still required.
In addition to the period and qualifying residence described above, good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration must be proved.
Nationality by residence
Your ancestry may reduce the period to one year
It applies when you were born outside Spain to a parent or grandparent who was originally Spanish.
Both parentage and the ancestor’s original Spanish nationality must be proved.
In addition to the period and qualifying residence described above, good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration must be proved.
Nationality by residence
The period may be two years
It applies to nationals by origin of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal, and to people of Sephardic origin.
A nationality acquired later may not have the same effect. Residence must be legal, continuous and immediately prior.
In addition to the period and qualifying residence described above, good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration must be proved.
Nationality by residence
The period may be five years
This period applies to people who have officially obtained refugee status.
Confirm the recognition decision and the start of qualifying legal residence.
In addition to the period and qualifying residence described above, good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration must be proved.
Nationality by residence
The general reference is ten years
It applies when none of the shorter periods in the Civil Code fits.
Stateless status alone does not give the five-year period reserved for people who have obtained refugee status.
In addition to the period and qualifying residence described above, good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration must be proved.
Before calculating
Confirm the category and start date
Compare the facts allowing one, two or five years with the general ten-year rule before collecting documents or booking exams.
Absences, status changes and whether a nationality is by origin can change the calculation.
Possession of status
Consolidation may exist after ten years
It requires continuous use and possession of Spanish nationality for ten years, in good faith and under a title registered with the Civil Registry.
This is distinct from residence and depends on the specific registry history.
Recovery of nationality
Recovery has its own procedure
It generally requires legal residence in Spain, a declaration before the Civil Registry and registration of the recovery.
There are residence exceptions and cases requiring prior government authorisation.
Discretionary naturalisation
This is exceptional and discretionary
It is granted by Royal Decree when exceptional circumstances exist and does not follow the ordinary residence rules.
Exceptional circumstances do not create an automatic right to a grant.
LMD eighth additional provision
The deadline for new applications has ended
The deadline ended on 22 October 2025. Continue only if you filed in time or requested an appointment in time and hold valid proof with a CSV, following the instructions of your consulate or Civil Registry.
An informal registration or an appointment requested after the deadline does not open a new application under this provision.
International Brigades
This specific route remains active
Article 33 of Law 20/2022 recognises exceptional circumstances for discretionary naturalisation of International Brigades volunteers and descendants who prove sustained work disseminating their ancestor’s memory and defending democracy in Spain.
This is not the time-limited eighth additional provision: use the current dedicated procedure and prove its specific requirements.
Official check
Do not assume a route without checking the facts
Dates, birthplaces, parentage, adoption and registry status can completely change the acquisition route.
Use the official map and confirm the case with the Civil Registry or Ministry of Justice.
Nacionalidad.euSpanish nationality