How I Acquired Spanish Nationality in 2.5 years as a Filipino Citizen

Today marks a truly unforgettable milestone—I officially took my oath and became a Spanish citizen! This momentous occasion deserves more than just a fleeting thought, so here I am, penning a post to capture the significance of the day.

if you’re more of a visual learner, check out my YouTube video where I talked about my Spanish citizenship application. In this video, I’m breaking down my ENTIRE journey – all the documents, exams, costs, and insider tips that helped me go from Filipino to Spanish citizen in record time.

Becoming a citizen is more than just paperwork or ceremonies; it’s about embracing a new chapter, a new identity, and the culmination of years of effort, patience, and growth. Today, I feel a profound sense of pride and gratitude, and I wanted to share this moment with you all.

To give you a brief background, I became a Spanish resident in May 2022 and since I’m from the Phillipines, I only need 2 years of legal residency to be eligible for Spanish citizenship. How I became a resident is something that I will discuss in another post.

Anyway, I already know that I’m eligible to apply for citizenship in May 2024 so I got in touch with a lawyer who gave me a list of requirements that I need to prepare. One mistake I did was not taking the DELE A2 exam within the 2 years.

When I tried booking for an exam back in January 2024, the earliest available date was in May and it wasn’t even in Barcelona. I had to take the exam in Tarragona because there was nothing available in Barcelona. Taking the exam in May looked like I’m still on schedule, however, exam results were only made available 3 months after I took the exam—August 2024. As for the other exam, the CCSE exam, I was able to take it in Barcelona, also in May, and I got the results after 3 weeks. Thankfully I passed both exams. Imagine if I had to retake the DELE exam? ¡Que horror!

As soon as I got the DELE exam results via email, I contacted my lawyer the same day, sent all the documents, and told him to proceed with the submission of my application. The lawyer submitted my application and informed me that the average waiting time for a resolution is around 9 months. Keep in mind that all documents must be issued within the last 6 months to be considered valid. Anything older than that may result in delays or rejection.

4 months later (December 24th), I got an email from my lawyer informing me that they already have the resolution for my application and it’s a favorable one. Merry Christmas, indeed!

It took only 4 months and not 9 but it can vary. The lawyer informed me that the next thing to do is the oath taking. For this, I have 2 options—

1. via Civil Registry but the earliest appointment available is in August 2025
2. via a notary which I can do immediately but I will have to pay extra 285€.

With a notary, I can do the oath taking but it could still take 5 months to actually get my DNI and passport. It’s all out of the notary’s or the lawyer’s hands, everything is in the hands of the Civil Registry. It’s also important to note that you only have 180 days from getting the resolution to doing your oath taking.

Anyway, I took the 2nd option and went to a notary. The oath taking only took 30 minutes and all I have to do now is wait for my ‘Spanish birth certificate’ to be emailed to me then the lawyer will schedule an appointment with the police for my DNI and Spanish passport. During my oath taking, I was asked to read out loud this paragraph:

Yo, [my full name], JURO fidelidad a Su Majestad el Rey de España y obidencia a la Constitución Española y las demás Leyes. Y, a tal efecto, MANIFIESTO:

1°. – Que no renuncio a mi nacionalidad de origen.

2°. – Que opto por la vecindad civil catalana.

3°. – Que, en lo sucesivo, mi nombre propio sea “[first name]”, y mis apellidos, el primero “[father’s surname]” y el segundo “[mother’s surname]”.

If you are also in the process of getting your Spanish nationality, here’s a breakdown of the requirements, fees, and timeline.

Requirements:

• Passport and scanned copy of all pages
• NIE (residence ID card)
• Criminal background check (NBI clearance) – appostilled & translated
• Birth certificate – appostilled & translated
• DELE A2 exam certificate
• CCSE exam certificate
• Padrón – Certificate registration at your current address (issued within the last three months)

For the fees, I’ve paid a total of 1,158.93€. Here’s the breakdown:

• 400€ – lawyer fee
• 104.05€ – application fee
• 285.88€ – notary fee
• 134€ – DELE exam fee
• 85€ – CCSE exam fee
• 50€ – course preparation from Instituto Cervantes
• 100€ – translation fee for apostilled criminal background check (NBI clearance) and birth certificate

Timeline:

• January 5, 2024 — booked my exam schedule on Instituto Cervantes website
• March 11 – May 17, 2024 — did an intensive Spanish lessons course (4 hours a day, 5x a week, for 10 weeks) – this was to prepare for the DELE A2 exam
• May 18, 2024 — took my DELE A2 exam in Tarragona
• May 30, 2024 — took my CCSE exam in Barcelona
• June 19, 2024 — got the CCSE exam results via email
• August 12, 2024 — got the DELE A2 exam results via email
• August 12, 2024 — I advised my lawyer and sent all the documents via email
• August 21, 2024 — the lawyer submitted my application
• December 24, 2024 — I got an email from the lawyer informing me that they received a favorable resolution for my Spanish citizenship application
• January 10, 2025 — the lawyer informed me about my oath taking schedule with a notary
• January 13, 2025 — did my oath taking with notary here in Barcelona

I will update this post once I receive my DNI and passport.

Got questions? Drop a comment or send me an email.