Spain: naturalisation for Germans

For Germans, Spain is one of the easiest countries to move to and one of the slowest in which to become a citizen. As an EU citizen you arrive without a visa, register and live in the country legally from day one. Even so, it usually takes ten years to reach a Spanish passport. Where Spain stands compared with other countries is set out in the guide Naturalisation abroad. For Spain itself, it pays to read the Código Civil closely, because that is where you find the waiting periods, the shortcuts and the one sentence that decides the fate of your German passport.

How long do I have to live in Spain to become Spanish?

Spanish nationality by residence is governed by Article 22 of the Código Civil. The basic rule is simple: ten years. Shorter periods exist only for certain groups, and Germans do not belong to them unless special circumstances apply.

The same condition applies to every period: your residence must be legal, continuous and immediately before the application. Ten years you once spent in Spain at some point are not enough. What counts are the ten years directly before the day you file.

The two-year period deserves a second look at the wording. The law speaks of nacionales de origen, people who hold the nationality of one of these countries from birth rather than having acquired it later through naturalisation. How to document your years of residence, and what travel and long absences do to your clock, is explained in Proving your years of residence.

What are the requirements for Spanish citizenship?

The waiting period is only the start. Spain wants to see that you have truly settled. Alongside residence, the Código Civil requires good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration into Spanish society. What that means in practice is laid down in Law 19/2015 and in the implementing regulation, Real Decreto 1004/2015.

Legally in the country: registering as an EU citizen

As a German, you need no visa and no residence permit in the classic sense. Under Real Decreto 240/2007, you have a right to stay beyond three months if you work in Spain, are self-employed or have sufficient means and comprehensive health insurance. Within three months of arrival, you apply in person to be entered in the Registro Central de Extranjeros (the central register of foreign nationals) and receive your registration certificate. After five years of continuous legal residence, you acquire the right of permanent residence.

This certificate anchors your waiting period. If you live in Spain for years but never register, proving legal residence becomes difficult. All the rules on entry and registration are in Spain: entry, visa and residence (in German).

Language and civics: DELE A2 and CCSE

Spain measures integration with two exams, both designed and run by the Instituto Cervantes:

• DELE, the Diploma of Spanish as a Foreign Language, at level A2 or higher.
• CCSE, the test on Spain's Constitution and its social and cultural reality.

Nationals of the countries listed in the regulation where Spanish is an official language are exempt from DELE, as is anyone who already holds DELE A2 or higher. Minors are exempt from both exams. For adult Germans, that means both exams. How they are structured, and how Spain's testing compares with the USA, Canada or Switzerland, is covered in Language, test, oath.

Good conduct and a complete file

Under the regulation, your application includes among other things the application form, your birth certificate from your country of origin, your passport, proof of integration and the receipt for the fee you paid. Adults also submit a legalised and translated police certificate from their country of origin; as an EU citizen, you can instead file an extract from Spain's Registro Central de Penados (the central criminal records register), provided it notes that Germany's records were checked. Settle any open proceedings or previous convictions before you apply. The Minister of Justice can also refuse naturalisation on well-founded grounds of public order or national interest.

Applying for Spanish citizenship: the process in five steps

Since the 2015 regulation, the procedure has been electronic at every stage. The route from application to passport looks like this:

1. Build up and document your residence

Registration, a lease or property deed, registration with your town hall, Spanish tax returns: every year leaves a trail. Collect it from the very beginning, because in the end you have to prove ten years without a gap.

2. Take DELE and CCSE

You can sit the exams long before you apply. If you take a Spanish course in your first year, A2 comes almost on the side.

3. Apply to the Ministerio de Justicia

You file your application through the Ministry of Justice's online platform, with all documents and the fee paid. The fee was introduced at 100 euros by Law 19/2015; the Instituto Cervantes exam fees come on top.

4. Wait for the decision

The regulation sets a maximum period of one year from receipt by the competent Directorate General. If no decision is issued in that time, the application is deemed rejected. You can challenge the decision before the administrative courts.

5. Oath, renunciation statement and registration

Once approved, you have 180 days to appear before the Registro Civil. If that deadline passes, the approval lapses. There you swear or promise loyalty to the King and obedience to the Constitution and the laws, make the required statements and have the acquisition registered. Only with the entry in the Spanish civil registry is the process complete, and only then do you apply for your Spanish documents.

Dual citizenship in Spain and Germany: what happens to your German passport

This is the point where many Germans hesitate. For acquisition by residence, Article 23 of the Código Civil requires you to declare that you renounce your current nationality. The only exceptions are citizens of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal, and Sephardic Jews. Germany is not on that list.

What German law says

Whether you remain German is decided by German law alone. And since 27 June 2024 it has been unambiguous: acquiring another nationality on application no longer leads to the loss of German citizenship. The former § 25 of the Nationality Act (Staatsangehörigkeitsgesetz, StAG) has been repealed, and you no longer need a retention permit.

Today, § 17(1) StAG names three grounds for loss: renunciation under § 26, joining the armed forces or a comparable armed group of a foreign state (or taking part in combat for a terrorist organisation abroad), and the withdrawal of an unlawful administrative act. Spanish naturalisation is not one of them. A renunciation under § 26 StAG must be declared in writing, requires the approval of the German nationality authority and only takes effect once the certificate of renunciation has been handed over. A statement before the Spanish Registro Civil is none of these things. It is an act under Spanish law, not a renunciation under German law.

The result: Germany continues to regard you as German, and Spain regards you as Spanish. What a renunciation under German law actually involves, and when it makes any sense at all, is explained in Giving up German citizenship.

What Spain expects of you

Spain takes your statement seriously and attaches a rule to it that you need to know. Under Article 25 of the Código Civil, a naturalised Spaniard loses Spanish nationality by using only the nationality they renounced on naturalisation for three years. If, after naturalising, you present yourself only as a German for three years, you put your Spanish passport at risk. So in Spain, you show your Spanish documents.

There is more. Article 11 of the Constitution protects only Spaniards by origin, the españoles de origen, from being deprived of their nationality. For naturalised citizens, Article 25 sets out separate grounds for loss, including the nullity of the acquisition if a court rules with final effect that false information, deception or concealment was involved. The public prosecutor can bring that action within 15 years. Honest answers throughout the process are therefore the best protection for your new passport.

With two passports, you travel by the rules of both countries. When to show which passport, and why forms like ESTA ask about every nationality, is covered in Travelling with several passports. The big picture for Germans with a second nationality is in Dual citizenship for Germans.

The shortcuts: marriage, birth in Spain and Spanish ancestors

Ten years is the rule, but Article 22(2) provides routes that lead to an application after just one year of legal residence. Three of them matter in practice for Germans.

Marriage: If, on the date of your application, you have been married to a Spanish citizen for one year and are not separated either legally or in fact, you need only one year of residence. If you live abroad with your Spanish spouse because they are accredited there as a diplomat or consular official, that time together counts as legal residence in Spain. Widows and widowers also benefit from the one-year period, provided there was no separation at the time of death. Which countries give spouses a passport even faster is shown in Naturalisation through marriage.

Birth in Spain: Anyone born in Spain can be naturalised after one year of legal residence. For families, that is a strong argument. A child born during your time in Spain can become Spanish long before you reach your own ten years. How to plan your children's passports from the start is covered under Family.

Spanish parents or grandparents: Even if you were born outside Spain, one year of residence is enough if your father, mother, grandfather or grandmother was Spanish by origin. Spain has also created separate routes for Sephardic Jews and for descendants of exiles. Which routes are still open today for people with Spanish roots is explained in Spain: citizenship for descendants.

Is a Spanish passport worth it for Germans?

As a German, you already have almost everything in Spain: free movement, access to the job market, health insurance, schools for your children. So why work ten years towards a second EU passport? Because a passport is something different from a right of residence.

A passport is a right, not a permission. Your residence as an EU citizen depends on conditions such as work, means and insurance. As a Spaniard, you live in Spain because it is your country. Nobody checks any more whether you may stay.

A second passport makes you independent of any single state. Under § 7 of the Passport Act (Passgesetz), a German passport must be refused where, among other things, certain facts justify the assumption that you intend to evade your tax obligations. With only one passport, a single state decides about your travel document. With a second nationality, you hold a second right of your own, and if one passport is lost, stolen or held abroad, the second remains a lawful way forward. Why this protection is the real reason many Germans want a second passport is shown in the eight reasons for a second passport.

Spain opens doors to Latin America. In Article 11, the Spanish Constitution allows the state to conclude dual nationality treaties with the Ibero-American countries and with countries that have particular ties to Spain. Spain deliberately nurtures these bonds, and as a Spaniard you are part of them.

Your family grows with you. A child born in Spain with their own route to Spanish nationality, a spouse with a shorter waiting period: Spain rewards families who genuinely live there.

Beckham Law, Golden Visa and residence: what counts for naturalisation

Many Germans move to Spain not for the passport but for the taxes or the way of life. That is a good start, as long as you keep the concepts apart.

The Beckham Law is a special tax regime for people moving to Spain. It decides how Spain taxes your income, not whether you become Spanish. For naturalisation, all that matters is that your residence was legal and continuous. Years under the Beckham Law are therefore perfectly ordinary years of residence on the way to your passport. How the regime works and where the German trap lies is explained in Beckham Law in Spain (in German).

The Golden Visa is history in Spain. The articles of Law 14/2013 on visas and residence permits for investors have been without content since 3 April 2025. For Germans it never mattered anyway, because as an EU citizen you need no investor status to live in Spain. The difference between a residence permit and a passport is explained in Second passport or Golden Visa.

Residence is what counts in the end. How to plan your move, your pension and your taxes for Spain is shown in Moving to Spain (in German). The tax side of a second nationality is summed up under Taxes.

A note for young men: if you are leaving Germany for a long time, check the current rules on military service beforehand.

Ten years is a long time: why you should not wait for Spain alone

Spanish naturalisation costs you hardly any money. You buy nothing; you settle in. That makes it the strongest route to a second passport, because it rests on a real life in a country. But it has a price that no fee notice shows: ten years in which you hold only one passport.

A lot can happen in ten years. Tax assessments, political developments, a passport lost abroad, an authority that lets an application gather dust. If you rely on a single document during that time, you carry the whole risk alone.

That is why the rule is: naturalisation and citizenship by investment are not an either-or. A passport through an investment programme gives you the protection of a second right in months, not years, and in countries like Dominica, Grenada or São Tomé and Príncipe without moving at all. Spain comes later, as a third passport that rounds off your life in Europe. Why combining both routes is the strongest strategy is explained in CBI and naturalisation. Which countries are open today is listed under Programmes, and how they differ on cost, timing and family in the comparison.

If you are weighing Spain against its neighbour, take a look at Portugal too. Both countries offer sun, sea and an EU passport at the end of the road, but each with its own waiting periods and its own rules.

Frequently asked questions