Spanish Citizenship by Marriage

Spanish citizenship by marriage requires one year of legal residency as the spouse of a Spanish national, plus the DELE A2 and CCSE exams Ley 19/2015 sets for every application for nationality by residence. This guide covers who qualifies under Codigo Civil Article 22.2(d), what documents and steps the application takes, what disqualifies an applicant, and what the filing requires in practice.

What are the requirements for Spanish citizenship by marriage?

You qualify for Spanish citizenship by marriage after one year of continuous legal residency in Spain as the spouse of a Spanish national, not legally or de facto separated, then pass the DELE A2 and CCSE exams.

Four things have to be true together, under Codigo Civil Article 22.2(d) and 22.3:

• One year of marriage to a Spanish national, at the time of filing. The marriage itself has to have run at least a year.
• One year of continuous, legal residency in Spain, immediately prior to the application. The residence cannot be interrupted or irregular.
• Neither legally nor de facto separated at the time of filing. The couple must still be together in the eyes of the law.
• A pass on the DELE A2 and CCSE exams, unless you are exempt. This is an application for nationality by residence, so Ley 19/2015 sets both tests for it, the same way it does for the ordinary residency route.

The marriage route is one of three ways into Spanish citizenship. Our guide on how to become a Spanish citizen covers the other two: citizenship by descent and ordinary naturalization after ten years of residence.

Do you need to live in Spain to qualify?

Yes. Codigo Civil Article 22.2(d) requires one year of continuous legal residency in Spain before you can file, and that residency has to be legal, uninterrupted and immediately before the application.

Most applicants establish that residency through the family member of a Spanish national residence authorization, part of the general immigration regime. Under Real Decreto 1155/2024, Articles 94 to 99, a non-EU spouse who lives with their Spanish husband or wife can apply for it, and it grants the right to live and work anywhere in Spain with no further administrative step. Article 96 requires no income or financial-means document for it. The authorization runs for up to five years and renews; that card length is separate from the one-year citizenship clock above, and the two figures answer different questions. A couple applying from outside Spain follows the equivalent consular visa procedure under Article 41 of the same regulation. Our family visa guide covers the wider family-based entry routes.

Get your marriage-based citizenship eligibility assessed

This section is for a reader who has read the requirements above and wants to know whether their own case actually clears them. Case-specific factors change the answer: a prior residency permit that lapsed, a criminal record in more than one country, or a period where the marriage or the residency was interrupted. None of that is answerable from the general rule alone.

The form at the top of this page sends your dates to the citizenship team, which can assess whether the marriage route applies before you gather the documents.

What documents do you need to apply?

You need proof of the marriage, proof of continuous legal residency, identity documents and proof of exam completion. Foreign documents need translation, an apostille or another form of legalization only where the applicable rules require it.

• Marriage certificate. Issued by the Spanish civil registry, or a foreign certificate completed with the translation and legalization formalities that apply to it.
• Proof of continuous legal residency. The residence card history from the family-member authorization above, together with continuous empadronamiento registration. Our empadronamiento guide covers that registration in full.
• Passport.
• Proof of exam completion. DELE A2 and CCSE certificates, unless you are exempt.

A document issued abroad in a language other than Spanish may need a sworn translation. Legalization depends on the document, issuing country and applicable exemption. Certain EU public documents are exempt from apostille requirements, while documents from other countries may require an apostille or another legalization route. The Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores states that a translation certified with the signature and seal of a traductor jurado carries official character. Confirm the exact checklist for your file.

How do you apply for Spanish citizenship by marriage?

You apply for Spanish citizenship by marriage by completing the residency term, gathering and legalizing your documents, passing the required exams, filing electronically and then attending the oath and registration steps.

1. Confirm the one-year term is complete. One year of marriage and one year of continuous, legal residency in Spain, with neither spouse legally nor de facto separated, under Codigo Civil Article 22.2(d).
2. Gather and legalize your documents. Civil registry, criminal record and residency documents need the translation and legalization formalities that apply to each document.
3. Pass the DELE A2 and CCSE exams, unless an exemption applies. Ley 19/2015 sets both, and Instituto Cervantes designs and administers them.
4. File at the sede electronica and pay the fee. The Ministerio de Justicia’s nacionalidad espanola por residencia page carries the online form and the 100 euro tasa Ley 19/2015 sets.
5. The file is reviewed and resolved. The Direccion General de los Registros y del Notariado drafts a proposal under Real Decreto 1004/2015, and the Minister of Justice decides on it under Codigo Civil Article 21.2.
6. Swear the oath and register. You appear before the Encargado del Registro Civil for your domicile, make the Article 23 declarations and ask for inscription.

Do you need to pass a Spanish language and culture exam?

Yes. The marriage route is an application for nationality by residence, so it carries the DELE A2 Spanish-language exam and the CCSE test of Spanish constitutional and social knowledge, both designed and administered by Instituto Cervantes under Ley 19/2015.

Applicants from a country where Spanish is the official language are exempt from the DELE A2 language test; the CCSE test still applies to that applicant. Minors and people with judicially modified capacity are exempt from both tests.

Both exams have to be scheduled and passed before the file can be resolved where no exemption applies.

What disqualifies you from citizenship by marriage?

Four gaps close the marriage route off, and each one traces back to the requirements above.

• The marriage has not yet run one year at the time of filing. Article 22.2(d) counts from the date of the marriage, not the date residency began.
• The couple is legally or de facto separated at the time of filing. The article requires the marriage to still be intact at that point.
• The residency was not legal, continuous or immediately prior to filing. Article 22.3 attaches all three conditions to the year that counts.
• The DELE A2 or CCSE exam has not been passed, where no exemption applies. Ley 19/2015 sets both as a condition of the grant.

Ask your attorney about the evidence relevant to the marriage if scrutiny of the relationship is a live concern. Codigo Civil Article 25 separately governs grounds for challenging or revoking a nationality already granted.

How long does it take to get Spanish citizenship by marriage?

It takes at least one year of continuous legal residency in Spain while married, before you can file at all. That is a separate clock from the wait after you file.

Real Decreto 1004/2015, Article 11.3, gives the Ministerio de Justicia up to one year to resolve and notify a decision, counted from the day the file reaches the Direccion General de los Registros y del Notariado, and silence past that year counts as a denial. Actual timing varies by file; the ministry’s case-status service shows the current phase of a submitted application.

Do you keep your original nationality?

Spanish law may require a declaration renouncing your prior nationality as part of an acquisition by residence. The declaration does not itself extinguish the other nationality; that effect depends on the law of the other country. Article 23(b) exempts nationals of the countries Article 24.1 names, Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal, together with Sephardic Jews of Spanish origin, from the declaration.

French citizens joined that exemption on April 1, 2022, when the Spain-France nationality convention entered into force, as the Direccion General de Seguridad Juridica y Fe Publica set out in its instruction of March 31, 2022. Applicants outside those groups make the Spanish declaration when they naturalize through marriage.

What’s the difference between citizenship by marriage and citizenship by descent?

The marriage route runs on one year of legal residency in Spain after marrying a Spanish national, under Codigo Civil Article 22.2(d). The descent route runs on documented Spanish ancestry, and it carries no residency requirement in most cases.

A child of a Spanish parent is Spanish from birth under Article 17.1(a), with no residency term. A grandparent claim filed today runs under Article 22.2(f) and does carry its own one-year residency term, closer in shape to the marriage route than to the parent route. Our citizenship by descent guide sets out all three descent provisions in full.

What does it cost to get legal help with your application?

The government fee is fixed: Ley 19/2015 sets a 100 euro tasa on the application, paid on the Modelo 790-026 form. Professional service terms are separate.

Talk to a Spanish citizenship lawyer about your marriage-based application

The Advisors in Spain team assists with Spanish nationality work. A lawyer can review the marriage and residence history against Article 22.2(d).

Tell us when you married, where you live now and how long you have held legal residency in Spain. That is what a Spain-qualified citizenship lawyer needs to confirm whether Article 22.2(d) applies to your case.