Shorouk Express
Spain is home to the EU’s largest British population, but very few of them have applied for Spanish citizenship since the Brexit vote, especially when compared to UK nationals in other European countries.
More than 120,000 Britons were naturalised via residency in European countries since the 2016 Brexit referendum and until 2023, according to the latest data on citizenship acquisition published by Eurostat.
However, a very small proportion of these were by Britons living in Spain, despite it being home to the EU’s largest British population.
According to Spain’s Immigration observatory, 403,925 UK nationals were officially registered as living in Spain in 2024.
Yet in the post-Brexit period, just 2,363 Britons have taken Spanish citizenship.
That means that UK nationals who’ve acquired Spanish citizenship through residency only make up roughly 1 in 50 of every Brits who’ve become EU/EEA nationals since the Brexit vote.
READ ALSO: More than 120,000 Brits naturalised in European countries since Brexit vote
Overall, 110,295 Britons living in EU countries took on the nationality of their country of residence in this seven-year period (2016 to 2023). Another 11,000 are added if those who were naturalised in Norway (3,864) and Switzerland (7,165) are included.
The largest number was recorded in Germany (36,888), followed by France (20,966), Sweden (11,384), the Netherlands (9,000), Belgium (7,741), and Ireland (6,376).
Interestingly, it’s not as though Spain doesn’t give out citizenship. As The Local previously reported, a total of 242,342 foreigners obtained Spanish nationality via residency in 2023, double the number granted the previous year (121,891 in 2022).
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Why so few Brits got Spanish citizenship after Brexit
There could be several reasons for this. First of all, Spain only allows dual citizenship only with certain countries: 12 Ibero-American countries (Chile, Peru, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Bolivia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Colombia), as well as Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal and France.
Therefore, Britons would have to give up their UK passport if they acquired Spanish citizenship, something that probably dissuades many UK nationals from applying.
Rules from Spain’s Justice Ministry state that Spanish nationals who are not nationals by origin (for example, those who have acquired Spanish nationality through residence) can be stripped of their Spanish citizenship if they use the nationality they renounced during a period of three years after acquiring Spanish nationality.
READ MORE: Does Spain check if you’ve renounced your original nationality?
Another factor could be the long process to gain Spanish citizenship. While other countries like Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, The Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden grant citizenship after 5 years, in Spain it’s double that.
UK nationals have to officially and continuously reside in Spain for ten years to apply for Spanish citizenship via residency.
As in the case of dual nationality, the condition are considerably more beneficial for people from Ibero-American countries where Spanish or Portuguese is spoken, as they only have to live in Spain for two years before being eligible for citizenship.
And lastly, many UK nationals in Spain who want to acquire EU citizenship as a way of safeguard their status and rights have an alternative option to applying for Spanish citizenship. Apply for Irish citizenship.
READ MORE: What changes for me in Spain if I get an Irish passport?
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An estimated 6 million people in the United Kingdom (around 10 percent of the population) have at least one Irish grandparent and tens of thousands of Britons have gained Irish passports via ancestry since Brexit.
In fact, data from the UK’s Office for National Statistics shows that UK nationals applying for Irish passports have risen by ten in a decade, to 160,000 dual citizens.
With an Irish passport via ancestry (an Irish parent or grandparent) UK nationals in Spain not only avoid the post-Brexit red tape but also bypass the dual citizenship issue and long wait for Spanish citizenship via residency.
These three factors – Spain’s rules on dual nationality, the ten-year wait for Spanish citizenship via residency and the easier alternative of getting Irish citizenship via ancestry – go a long way to explain why only 2,363 UK nationals who live in Spain have become Spanish nationals since Brexit.
READ ALSO: How do rules on getting Spanish citizenship compare to rest of Europe?
