How Many Years You Need to Live in an EU Country to Get Citizenship in 2026

The formal minimum in most EU countries is 5 years of residency on a permit, but the real time to a passport is almost always longer, because it also includes the months it takes to get the permit itself and another few months to two years for the citizenship application to be processed.

In short

• The real time to an EU passport is relocation plus getting a residence permit, plus the residency requirement, plus a year or two for the application review — not just the formal 5 or 10 years shown in tables
• Portugal raised the minimum period before applying for citizenship from 5 to 10 years retroactively — even for people who already filed their application
• Spain and the UK allow dual citizenship on a residence permit, but a Spanish passport requires giving up the previous one
• Berlin reviews citizenship applications in 2-3 months — a uniquely short timeline for Europe, unavailable in other German states
• France offers one of the shortest real timelines to a passport in the EU — around 5.5 years including preparation and relocation

Why ‘5 years to an EU passport’ is a myth

The five years you see in comparison tables isn’t the whole path to a passport — it’s only the residency requirement you need to accumulate on a permit before you can even apply for citizenship. Before that clock starts, time goes into preparing the case, relocating, and getting legal status set up — those months are added on top of the five-year requirement, not absorbed into it. After the five years of residency, the application still has to be filed and a decision awaited — a separate, often underestimated stage.

To put it concretely: in France, the five years of residency on a permit come with an added 5–6 months for relocation and paperwork — bringing the total to 5.5 years already. Then the citizenship application itself goes into review. In most EU countries that takes a year to a year and a half, and in some cases up to two years. If the authority sends additional requests, the timeline stretches further still, though such delays are the exception rather than the rule.

So the real time to an EU passport is made up of three parts: time to relocate and obtain a residence permit, the five-year residency requirement itself, and the citizenship application review period. For most applicants, the final number ends up noticeably higher than the formal five years shown in comparison tables.

Portugal: the path to a passport just grew to 10 years

Amendments to Portugal’s immigration law raised the minimum period before applying for a passport from 5 to 10 years. The new rule also applies to people who already filed their citizenship application and are waiting for a decision: their cases will be reviewed under the new timeline, not the one in effect when they applied.

It isn’t just the passport — getting a Portuguese residence permit in the first place has also gotten slower: based on applicants’ experience, it now takes around a year and a half to be issued. By comparison, in Spain, based on applicants’ experience, a residence permit can be obtained several times over in that same span.

The change is presented as part of the broader instability of the country’s immigration policy: rules shift quickly and apply retroactively to applications already filed. That makes Portugal a risky choice for anyone planning a migration path years in advance.

Spain: a residence permit in 2 months, a passport only after 10 years

Based on applicants’ experience, getting a Spanish residence permit takes around 2 months from filing the paperwork to receiving the physical card — though the exact timeline depends heavily on the appointment backlog in a given region (c4). In some cases it went faster: one applicant received the physical residence card just 7 weeks after entering the country (c2). Approval typically arrives by email about 2 weeks after filing, and the paperwork itself is most often submitted on the first or second day after entry (c5).

The Spanish residence card is formally valid for 3 years, but based on applicants’ experience, a gap between the approval date and the date the physical card is issued means the actual usable period ends up shorter — around 2 years 10–12 months (c6, c7): the clock starts from the day the application is approved, not the day the card is physically issued, and about a month and a half typically passes between approval and receiving the card — time that simply falls out of the validity period. If an applicant leaves the country for several months or a year after filing and giving biometrics, the effective residency time shrinks even further — the card sits with the immigration authority the whole time, while its legal 3-year clock keeps running (c8).

Based on applicants’ experience, passport paperwork can only be filed after 10 years of residency (c26) — one of the longest timelines among the countries worth considering for a years-long migration plan. Dual citizenship alongside Spanish citizenship is prohibited by law (c27).

Dual citizenship alongside Spanish citizenship is prohibited by law

Despite the long road to a passport, in 2026 Spain is the most popular destination among clients specifically for obtaining a residence permit, and the reason is the digital nomad program (c22). Approval under it happens in the vast majority of cases: based on one practice’s experience, in 3 years of working with this program, only a single denial was recorded (c23, c24).

The application can be filed while in Spain on a Schengen tourist visa from any country — the entry visa doesn’t have to be a Spanish one (c36). The digital nomad application is filed remotely, and the residence card is issued within 7–8 weeks (c37, c38). The main requirement is a confirmed financial base: money in a bank account, remote income, or investments (c39).

Spain’s permanent residency: what the status gives you without citizenship

Permanent residency in Spain is issued indefinitely and for life — unlike a passport, it doesn’t need to be renewed and there’s nothing to revoke it over (c28, c30). The only condition for keeping the status is entering EU territory at least once every 5 years, even if the person spends most of their time living elsewhere in the world (c29, c31).

It’s exactly this indefinite nature that explains why many people, after decades in Spain, remain on permanent residency status and never apply for a passport. The second reason is that Spanish citizenship prohibits dual nationality, and not everyone is willing to give up their original passport (c32).

Permanent residency differs from full citizenship in exactly two respects. A permanent resident cannot enter visa-free the countries with which Spain has visa-waiver agreements, and cannot vote in elections (c33, c34).

In every other respect, the difference is essentially nonexistent: permanent residents have access to free Spanish healthcare, free education for children, and social benefits on par with citizens (c35).

France: a residence permit for entrepreneurs and 5.5 years to a passport in practice

France’s initial residence permit is issued for 4 years right away, and after 5 years of residency you can apply for a passport (c16, c17). Factoring in 5–6 months for case preparation and relocation, the real time before filing stretches to 5.5 years — one of the shortest overall timelines among EU countries (c60). Dual citizenship is officially allowed here: there’s no need to give up your original passport, even if it was issued by a country under EU sanctions (c18).

Getting a residence permit in France is harder than, for example, in neighboring Spain (c19). The country is geared toward entrepreneurs and specialists with in-demand skills — IT, science, and creative professions like architects and artists (c20). The broadest applicant category is owners of an existing business or those planning to open a company on French territory (c21).

Denials in France happen noticeably more often than under Spain’s digital nomad program: about one case out of twenty or ten, versus a near-100% approval rate for the Spanish program (c25). In practice, there was a case where the entire process — from filing to receiving the passport — took 13 months (c65).

United Kingdom: a talent visa with no formal requirements

The United Kingdom left the European Union as a result of Brexit, but it remains on the list of countries with a realistic path to a passport through the talent visa (c14). The permit under this visa is issued for 3 years right away, and only 5 years of residency are needed before applying for citizenship — no seven-figure investment and no local family ties required (c40, c41, c43, c44). A second passport is retained throughout: there’s no requirement to give up your original citizenship (c42).

no seven-figure investment and no local family ties required

There are few formal requirements for the talent visa, but the selection criteria are tougher than in France: not everyone who applies gets the status (c41). The core of the application is the applicant’s public profile: citations in international sources, coverage of their work. Professional athletes and scientists with published research have separate criteria, but for every other applicant category, a public profile is mandatory.

If existing publications aren’t enough, a case can be strengthened — citation counts and public mentions can be built up over a few weeks or months (c47). The move itself, once approved, takes 3–5 months (c45).

The permissions attached to the talent visa are broad: a holder of the status can study, work as an employee, run a business, invest, and set up nonprofit foundations and financial institutions (c46, c49, c54). In effect, the UK permit grants near-unlimited rights with minimal formal requirements for further activity in the country (c48).

The Netherlands and Italy: the fastest and the longest formal path

The Netherlands offers one of the shortest formal timelines to a passport in Europe — 5 years (c51). The residence permit here is issued for just 1 year and has to be renewed annually (c50). Dual citizenship cannot be kept in this case: the country requires giving up the previous passport.

The price of that speed is the cost of the permit itself: obtaining a residence permit in the Netherlands is noticeably more expensive than in most other European countries (c52). The country has many immigration programs, and almost every applicant can find one that fits, but the high entry cost remains regardless of the path chosen.

Italy is the reverse case: the same one-year residence permit as in the Netherlands, but the wait before applying for a passport is 10 years, not 5 (c53). A formally short permit term here doesn’t mean fast citizenship — it only means having to renew status every year throughout the entire decade-long path.

Germany: why Berlin reviews applications faster than other states

Germany is effectively open to two categories: students and jobseekers — the latter need at least a basic level of German (c55, c56). For every other category, getting a residence permit here is nearly impossible.

But it’s specifically in Berlin that a citizenship application can be reviewed in a matter of weeks or a few months — the real timeline is 2–3 months, and for continental Europe that’s a unique case (c57, c58). No other region in Germany can match that speed.

If the paperwork is filed in any state other than Berlin, review times turn out to be just as long or noticeably longer (c68, c71). A case from practice: an applicant in Baden-Württemberg filed her citizenship paperwork more than 1.5 years ago — and is still waiting for review to even begin (c69, c72).

an applicant in Baden-Württemberg filed her citizenship paperwork more than 1.5 years ago — and is still waiting for review to even begin

That’s how Germany’s overall timeline adds up: it isn’t 5 years of minimum residency, but 5 years plus roughly a month waiting for the residence permit plus the citizenship application review period (c70). In Berlin, that last stage might take a couple of months; outside Berlin, it can stretch into years with no guaranteed end point.

How long the citizenship application review takes across EU countries

In most EU countries, a citizenship application is reviewed in a year to a year and a half — this period is added on top of the years already spent on a residence permit once the paperwork is filed (c62). In some cases the review stretches to two years (c63). Additional requests from the competent authorities lengthen the timeline further still, and there’s no way to estimate in advance exactly how much time that will add (c64).

The same pattern applies to Spain, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Italy: a year to a year and a half, sometimes two years (c66). Berlin, with its two-to-three-month review, is a rare exception here — not the general rule across Europe (see above). To calculate the real time to a passport, this review period needs to be added to the years of residency on a permit, not treated as if the passport is issued the moment the formal residency requirement is met.

Real time to a passport by country

Table scrolls sideways

Country	Spain	France	United Kingdom	Netherlands	Italy	Germany
Permit issued for	3 years	4 years	3 years	1 year (renewed annually)	1 year (renewed annually)	not specified in the text
Residency requirement before applying for citizenship	10 years	5 years	5 years	5 years	10 years	5 years
Dual citizenship	Prohibited	Allowed	Allowed	Prohibited	Not specified in the text	Not specified in the text
Citizenship application review	1-1.5 years, sometimes 2	1-1.5 years, sometimes 2 (one case took 13 months start to finish)	1-1.5 years, sometimes 2	1-1.5 years, sometimes 2	1-1.5 years, sometimes 2	2-3 months in Berlin, longer in other states

Data reflects applicants’ experience and the practice described in the text, not official regulations for every region.

Frequently asked questions

What should you do if additional documents are requested after filing a citizenship application

Additional requests from the competent authorities lengthen the review period beyond the usual year to a year and a half. There’s no way to estimate in advance exactly how much longer it will take — such delays are case-specific and depend on the particular authority.