# Spanish citizenship



## Ilovepatnevin (Feb 26, 2009)

Apologies if this has been covered before but I haven't been able to find a previous thread on this. 
I'm a UK citizen, meet the application criteria and am thinking of applying for Spanish citizenship.
My question is, has anyone *completed* this process and can tell me:

How long it took from start to finish?
How long were you without a passport (having surrendered your original one)


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## Alcalaina (Aug 6, 2010)

My husband has just completed the process (though he's still waiting for his new birth certificate, DNI and passport - the paperwork is endless). It took around 18 months but he paid a lawyer to speed things up. Another friend who did it on her own took more than three years. Neither of them had to surrender their British passport.


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## alex T. (10 mo ago)

Alcalaina said:


> Neither of them had to surrender their British passport.


Hi, so the requirement that one has to give up other citizenships to become Spanish is not true? This is what I heard. Or is it that the letter of the law is not followed by the authorities?


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

alex T. said:


> Hi, so the requirement that one has to give up other citizenships to become Spanish is not true? This is what I heard. Or is it that the letter of the law is not followed by the authorities?


They ask if you will renounce your existing citizenship (depending on your existing nationality, Spain does recognise dual nationality with quite a few others) and you simply say "yes". And that's it.

My wife now has Spanish citizenship (hers was by option, here I assume we are discussing by residence, but for this purpose there is no difference) and the first time she enquired about doing it about 12 years ago you did have to surrender your passport. She asked the British authorities if that was correct and they told her yes, they will take your British passport, but as it is property of the UK authorities they have to send it to us, then we will post it back to you!
Now they don't bother taking it because they realise how stupid it is. Legally Spain does not recognise dual nationality with the UK, but they can't take it away from you either.

I also know someone who is in their 3rd year of waiting after applying for citizenship by residence, he like Alcalaina'a husband was offered a "speed up service" by his lawyer (basically a letter to the authorities reminding them that they have a set time to reply and that administrative silence is equivalent to acceptance) but he turned it down on grounds of cost / stubbornness. IIRC it was an extra 400€.


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## AnderF (6 mo ago)

alex T. said:


> Hi, so the requirement that one has to give up other citizenships to become Spanish is not true? This is what I heard. Or is it that the letter of the law is not followed by the authorities?


In your case (Germany) I think they will make you give up but not in the case of former spanish colonies and lately even Franch citizenship will be allowed as dual


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

AnderF said:


> In your case (Germany) I think they will make you give up but not in the case of former spanish colonies and lately even Franch citizenship will be allowed as dual


Citizens of Iberoamerica plus Philippines etc can have dual nationality as allowed by law, and Spain and France have recently concluded a dual nationality treaty. All other nationals are expected to renounce original citizenship upon naturalisation but it's just a verbal undertaking, as stated.


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

So to be clear ( UK nats): if you take Spanish citizenship you are effectively promising to renounce your British Citizenship. Surely that means that if Spain caught you using a UK passport or you stated your citizenship as British you would be in breach of something? Else it means nothing to say a country has agreements with some but not with others


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## MataMata (Nov 30, 2008)

If you take up Spanish citizenship all it in effect means is that you cannot use your UK citizenship, or passport, in Spain or anywhere else in the EU. 

If you wanted to travel elsewhere in the world you would use your Spanish passport to leave the EU after which you could use whichever you felt best suited you travels however if you needed consular services in a 3rd country you would need to go to the Spanish one and not UK.

Actually renouncing UK citizenship is a complex issue not simply a case of returning your passport and saying goodbye! 

Google it. 

BTW you haven't said but I presume you know that you need 10 full years of legal residence before you can apply for Spanish citizenship 
?


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## kaipa (Aug 3, 2013)

MataMata said:


> If you take up Spanish citizenship all it in effect means is that you cannot use your UK citizenship, or passport, in Spain or anywhere else in the EU.
> 
> If you wanted to travel elsewhere in the world you would use your Spanish passport to leave the EU after which you could use whichever you felt best suited you travels however if you needed consular services in a 3rd country you would need to go to the Spanish one and not UK.
> 
> ...


I agree that it isn't simply a matter of just waiting 10 years then you can get effectively get 2 passports as some UK nats think. It is slightly similar to the driving licence in that you are not allowed to hold both a UK passport and a Spanish one. It is certainly possible and I imagine when uk was part of EU it wasn't really a big issue but I'm pretty sure things will tighten up. My son is Swedish on mother's side but getting a Swedish passport is difficult for him - first because they said if he has a UK passport why does he need a Swedish one. This seems to be a standard question and it cant legally prevent him applying but they want him to surrender his British one. Then they will only give him 5 years with another proviso that he has to be resident after 5 years or they wont renew it. It's pretty tough. In Spain remember you also need an A2 approved level of Spanish plus pass the citizen test ( 2 things that could effect Brits). It us not like getting Irish citizenship which is considerably easier for relatives.


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## Hepa (Apr 2, 2018)

10 years resident, just over 3 years once the documents were submitted. Additional surname, and the Mrs. had to revert to her maiden name plus an additional surname. No need for a lawyer the paper work was completed by the local court office. Passport was not surrendered. Fingerprints were taken, photograph provided.


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## Ilovepatnevin (Feb 26, 2009)

Can I thank everyone for taking the time to respond. I think I’m going to start the application process.
However, if I could just ask one further question; are there any drawbacks to getting Spanish citizenship?
The only ones I can think of are the possibility of being selected for election or jury service. I understand that this is an essential civic responsibility but I’m not sure if my Spanish, which is reasonable, is up to the level required to discharge these duties (I passed B2 many years ago but didn’t have the desire to take any further exams. I don’t know if the certificate will still be valid for the citizenship application).


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

Your B2 should be valid for the application for 4 years after you obtained it.

The only downside that I can see about having it is remembering that in the eyes of the Spanish, you are no longer British (or insert whatever your original nationality is).

Also the fact that you will have to change your NIE to your new DNI in absolutely ever institution which has your data in Spain... my wife has had her DNI for two years now, but still finds places which are still using her NIE.


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