A child born in Spain can obtain citizenship on preferential grounds – after one year of legal residence in the country. Of course, we are talking about children born on Spanish territory to foreign parents, not to Spanish citizens.
Legal residence, i.e., residence based on a residence status (residence permit), is possible if at least one of the child’s parents is in Spain as a legal resident.
After the child is born, one of the parents who holds a valid residence permit first arranges residency for the child, and only then – on that basis – applies for citizenship. At the same time, the parents themselves are not required to obtain Spanish citizenship and can continue living in the country with a residence permit – the child’s citizenship is not connected to the parents’ citizenship status in any way.
Thus, the procedure follows this scheme: birth of the child – obtaining residency for the child – submitting an application for Spanish citizenship after 1 year.
A child born in Spain does not receive citizenship automatically, but only on the basis of residency. In other words, it will not be possible to avoid contact with the immigration authorities. We emphasize again that we are talking about children of foreign resident parents.
You can submit the application for Spanish citizenship later – not after 1 year, but after 2, 3, etc. – but it is important that at the time of submitting the application the following conditions are met:
- the child had legal status;
- the period of the child’s legal and uninterrupted stay in Spain immediately before submitting the application to the Ministry of Justice was at least one year.
Issues related to obtaining different types of residency (residence permits) are regulated by the Foreigners Law and the Regulation to the Foreigners Law.
In particular, the Regulation states that a child born in Spain to a foreign parent who is a resident receives exactly the same residency status as the parent, and for the same period (for example, if the parent has a temporary two-year residence permit, the child will receive the same; if the parent has permanent residence, the child will also be issued permanent residence).
Residency for the child is оформляется at the place of residence of one of the parents on the basis of the following documents:
- An application in the prescribed form and the paid state fee form.
- A birth certificate confirming that the child’s country of birth is Spain;
- A registration extract confirming the child’s registration at the place of residence;
- A valid resident card (TIE) of one of the parents;
- !The child’s international passport (the child must not be entered in the parent’s passport, but must have their own separate international passport).
After the procedure is completed, the child receives a plastic resident card (TIE).
Thus, if a child is born in Spain, resident parents can arrange citizenship for the child after the first year of residency, or at any time up to the age of majority.
More precisely, it is possible even after reaching adulthood, but in that case the application will be submitted by the child personally, and it will be necessary to collect a rather large set of documents. Until the age of majority, the child is represented by the parents, i.e., they submit the application to the Ministry of Justice, and the citizenship procedure looks much simpler: there is no need to provide a criminal record certificate, and there is no need to take exams on language proficiency and civic knowledge.
