Citizenship by Marriage (Article 22.2.d)

Citizenship by Marriage

To qualify for the accelerated one-year residency period, you must meet strict criteria regarding your legal status and your relationship.

• Legal Marriage: You must be legally married to a Spanish citizen. Pareja de Hecho (civil unions or de facto partnerships) do not qualify for this one-year acceleration; partners in civil unions must usually wait the standard ten years (or two years if they are from Ibero-American countries).
• Spanish Registration: The marriage must be registered with the Registro Civil (Spanish Civil Registry). If you were married abroad, you must transcribe the marriage into the Spanish system before you can apply for citizenship.
• One Year of Residence: You must have lived in Spain legally and continuously for one full year immediately prior to your application. You must hold a valid residency card (such as the Tarjeta de Residencia de Familiar de Ciudadano de la Unión) during this time.
• Cohabitation: You and your spouse must be living together. You cannot be legally or de facto separated at the time of application.
• Integration and Language: You must pass two national exams: the CCSE (constitutional and cultural knowledge) and the DELE A2 (Spanish language proficiency). Nationals of Spanish-speaking countries are exempt from the DELE.
• Good Conduct: You must have a clean criminal record in Spain and in any country where you resided during the five years prior to your application.

Citizenship by Adoption

• Minors (Under 18): If a foreign minor is adopted by a Spanish national, they acquire Spanish nationality by origin automatically from the moment the adoption is finalized.
• Adults (Over 18): If you are adopted after reaching the age of 18, you do not become a citizen automatically. You have a two-year window from the date the adoption is finalized to "opt" for Spanish nationality. If you miss this window, you lose the right to citizenship by option and must pursue it through residency.