Question about Spanish citizenship
How long does it usually take for citizens of Ibero-American countries to obtain the Spanish citizenship, and did they seek legal help or do it alone?
Answers
These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
”Sounds like you are talking about the residency process. You may want to look at Ley de Memoria Democrática. It has better conditions if you qualify (you’ll be recognized as español de origen) and there are no residency requirements. If you go through the residency process, my lawyer said under 90 days per trip out of the country and strongly suggested under 90 days in any 365 days rolling period, unless it was work related and I could substantiate that when they ask”
”I just applied for citizenship. You can’t leave for more then 3 consecutive months… not sure if thats the total per year though.”
”Did mine everything online, took me 8 months until the resolution”
”Mine took 7 months from submitting the application to when I received an approved result”
”My friend got it in 5.5 months, she applied herself online. I did it with an attorney 10.5 months and still waiting. After 1 year you can have an attorney do “recurso contencioso,” and then most approvals seems to come back in 1-3 months. But be aware that after you get approved you still need to do a jura, which depending on where you live can take upwards on 5-6 months to get an appointment with registro civil (mostly due to strikes).
Once you do that you get your birth certificate right away and get normally get in for a DNI/passport quickly. The jura is what’s taking the longest. You can do the jura with a notary (faster appointment time), but the registro civil still has to issue your birth certificate and again it depends on where you live in Spain but for some city’s the wait times are 4-6 months. Technically you are meant to keep your visa valid until you get your birth certificate/DNI/passport”
”Once you’ve submitted your documents it seems that it suddenly doesn’t matter if you’ve got an Ibero-American/Filipino passport or not, you’d have to wait the same time as everyone else. What I’ve noticed though is that those who are Filipino and who are married to Spaniards got their applications approved quicker than say, someone who lodged their application via cuenta propia/ajena route. But again, like everything else in Spain, it really highly depends on your specific situation”
”I’m also curious about how long we can be out of the country? I’ve been a resident for longer than the required two years (hello 8 years) and have yet to start the process. But don’t want to be gone too long and then find out the two years has to restart”
Conclusion
In conclusion, according to Spainguru Facebook group members, the Spanish citizenship application process for Ibero-American citizens seeking Spanish nationality can take 5.5 to 10.5 months, done independently online or with legal help. Factors like residency, application type, and individual circumstances affect processing times.
There are travel limitations during the process, and after approval, a “jura” step may lead to additional waits, sometimes up to 5-6 months due to administrative issues in some regions. Specific situations impact processing, requiring attention to various requirements and potential delays.
