SPANISH NATIONALITY

The complete guide for children

Getting spanish citizenship is a big dream for many parents from other countries because that has many advantages for their children and the good news is that in Spain is easy to be achieved.

In this guide we give you some guidelines to apply for spanish nationality for children.

What is Spanish Citizenship?

Spanish Citizenship is a privilege that lets you live in Spain forever and be equal to another spanish person who was born in Spain. There is not difference from born spanish to achieving it later.

The easiest way to become a Spanish citizen is by being born Spanish. That measn that the parents are already spanish so you are spanish citizen right away.

If that is not the case don't worry. Luckily the spanish law allows you to become spanish even if you were not born in Spain or not born from spanish parents, the Spanish law also says there are other ways for foreigners to become spanish citizens.

Advantages and dissadvantages of becoming spanish

Posibility to work anywhere in the world as spanish

No need todo any more renewals of your residence permit.

Be able to vote in Spain

Be able to work in Spain as a civil worker (funcionario) for example as police.

Depends on your country, you might lose your original nationality if you choose to become spanish.

How to become spanish for children?

There are different ways to become spanish for children.

Nacionalidad by birth. If a child is born in Spain and one of the parents is spanish the child can be registered right away in the Registro Civil as Spanish or in the Consulate if living abroad.
Nacionalidad por opcion. If one of the parents of child below 20 becomes spanish, the child can go to Registro Civil or Consulate and apply for spanish nationality por opcion.
Nacionalidad por simple presunción. If a child is born in Spain and both parents are from a country that does not give directly their own nationality if born abroad, the child can obtain from birth the spanish nationality. The most common countries who apply for this are: Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, Portugal, Uruguay.
Nacionalidad por residencia: If a child born or not born in Spain, from any nationality, can apply for spanish nationality after a certain time even if the parents are not spanish.

In this page we will focus on the last one. Nacionalidad por residencia.

Spanish citizenship by residency

Citizenship by residency is becoming eligible for Spanish citizenship by continuously being a legal resident in Spain for a certain number of years.

How long a child need to live in Spain to get citizenship?

10 years is the general rule
5 years if the child is a refugee
2 years if the child is from a Latin American country, Andorra, Equatorial Guinea, the Philippines or Portugal.
1 year if born in Spain

Th time starts counting from the time that the first NIE is given (not from the time of birth)

How to apply for Spanish citizenship

The process of applying for Spanish has few steps. Here are the steps.

Wait for the time to fullfill the years to present the application. In this case 1-2 years for children.
Prepare the documents.
Present your application.

How about if my children are not in Spain?

Then first you will need to receive your spanish nationality and then you pass it to them. In think link you have information about getting the nationality for adults.

Documents to be prepared

Full passport of the child (all pages)
NIE card of the child
Padron of the child or indicate the address
NIE/Passport of the parents
Birth certificate from Spain (max 3 months old) or from country of origin (max 6 months old)*
Schooling certificate proving that has been attending to school regularly

* The documents from other countries must be in spanish/translated into spanish and legalized (apostilled)

The parents need a work contract?

No. There is not any requirement for the parents in terms of work.

What happends after the aproval?

After you get the aproval the next thing will be:

Doing the jura in the Registro Civil or Notario.
Getting the DNI and Passport
Informing all the institutions of your new identity.

If my children are spanish I am spanish too?

Unfortunatelly no. You will still need to make your own application.

If my children are spanish can I get papers in Spain?

If you are in Spain without papers and your child obtaines the spanish nationality YES you can obtain legal working residence in Spain.

How long does it take to obtain Spanish nationality?

The application process usually takes about less than a year. That time is quick compared to few years ago that used to take 4-5 years. However, the waiting time has recently been significantly reduced to 5-6 months in most cases.

If the process takes longer than a year is possible to make an appeal to askthe Ministry tospeed the process.

The most important tomake the process go faster is to make sure you have all the documents presented correctly.

What service do our office provide?

Informing about the requirements and steps

Preparing the application and taxes for the Ministry

Tracking the application and requerimientos

Informing you of the result

Getting the cita for the jura in the Civil Registry.

Guide on the jura or oath taking

Getting the cita for the DNI/Passport.

Where do we present the application?

Our attorneys are registed nationally so we accept applications from all Spain.

How to give us the documents?

We present applications for applicants in all Spain and abroad) so you can bring your documents to our office in Barcelona and we will be glad to greet you personally or you can send to us your documents via email to info@msmlegalconsulting.es or via whatsapp.