Moroccans Lead in Spanish Citizenship Grants, Eurostat Data Shows

Out of 144,800 naturalizations, there are 42,000 Moroccans who became Spanish citizens in 2021. They are followed by Romanians (10.5% of the total of 28,600 naturalized in Europe), Brazilians (15.7% of the total of 20,400 who obtained nationality) and Russians (7.8% of the total of 17,300 naturalized). Then come Ecuadorians (68.2% of the total of 12,200) and Colombians (77.3% of the 10,800 naturalized).

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Obtaining Spanish citizenship through residence can take the longest time - 12 to 13 years taking into account processing times. In addition, the foreigner wishing to acquire Spanish nationality must have legally resided in Spain for ten years, without long absences. The procedure is however more flexible for nationals of Ibero-American countries where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken, in particular Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Paraguay, the Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela, as well as nationals of the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Andorra or Portugal.

They can apply for Spanish nationality after having legally resided in Spain for two years. Marrying a Spaniard also accelerates the procedure, which goes from ten years to one year, provided that the person has a perfect command of the language.