Becoming an EU Citizen by Marriage: How Long Does It Take

Citizenship by marriage is one of the easiest routes to becoming a passport holder of one of the European Union Member States.

However, the procedures and period of acquiring citizenship or residence rights in EU countries through marriage depend on the country’s citizenship and immigration laws which differ among the bloc, .

Yet, there are some general guidelines applied in the majority of the countries in the bloc, including:

• One of the spouses must be a legal citizen of an EU Member County- it allows then the non-EU spouse to apply for citizenship or residency based on the marriage.
• The non-EU spouse should first obtain residency rights in the EU country where their spouse is a legal citizen after the residency permit enables the non-EU spouse to live legally in this country.
• The non-EU spouse will be eligible to apply for citizenship after residing in the EU country for a specific period.

While in most EU countries, the rule for non-EU citizens is to cohabitate with their EU partner for at least three years, in some other countries, this process can be finished for a shorter or longer period of time, depending on which bloc’s country non-EU citizens are moving to.

Spain Offers the Fastest Route to Citizenship Through Marriage

Non-EU nationals married to Spaniards are eligible to acquire citizenship in just one year.

If a person is not married to a Spanish citizen, they may wait for more than ten years before qualifying for Spanish nationality, but gaining citizenship through marriage in Spain is among the fastest and easier ways to do so.

However, Spaniard’s partner should live in the country during those 12 months.

Countries in Which You Should Reside for 3 Years to Acquire Citizenship

In several EU countries, the non-EU individual is required to live for three years in a specific country after marriage.

At present, this rule is applied in the following countries:

• France
• Greece
• Germany
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovenia
• Sweden

The following countries apply for five-year residence in order to acquire citizenship:

• Belgium
• Czech Republic
• Estonia
• Iceland
• Malta
• Norway
• Slovakia

Other states apply different rules. For example, in Latvia, the non-EU partner should live for at least seven years, while in other countries such as Hungary and Latvia, the period of residency required is longer.

However, some countries do not offer non-EU nationals the opportunity to acquire citizenship through marriage, such as Finland.

“If your spouse lives permanently in Finland, you may be eligible to receive a residence permit in Finland based on marriage. However, a marriage does not guarantee a residence permit,” the statement of InfoFinland reads.