Hello.  I am a US citizen who lived in Spain for 15 years, from 1980-1995.  Since I was a resident for 10 years does this mean I can obtain citizenship, or is it no longer valid since I have lived in the US for the last 12 years?
Thanks for your advice.

Do you have any documents to prove your residence from 1980-1995 ?

Ferny,

I am in a similar circumstance and from what I have seen by some quick web searching is that; if you have previously satisfied the residency requirements, then you qualify for a shorter term (one year) to acquire citizenship. The Spanish lawyer would probably be a better source of information for this and I have not searched for official policy or regulations on this.

My situation is:
I was born in Spain in 1979 and resided there for three years.
My parents are (and were) both US citizens.
Neither of my parents were consulars or diplomats.
However, my father was serving in the U.S. Navy in Rota at the time of my birth.
I have documentation in the form of a US passport with a visa/exit stamp for Spain.

I am not sure, but, the “did not apply for their Spanish nationality within the legal period” portion may apply for your situation, as I think the “born in Spain, whose parents are foreigners legally residents in Spain” portion applies to myself…

Dave

The Spanish Nationality may be acquired in the following ways

  1. By Birth
  2. By adoption
  3. By Residency
  4. By registration

BY RESIDENCY
  The period of residence may be 1 year those persons:
    * who born in Spain, whose parents are foreigners legally residents in Spain.
    * Whose spouse is a Spaniard.
    * who did not apply for their Spanish nationality within the legal period established to acquire the Spanish nationality by       option.
    * Who are widowed of a Spanish national, provided that the spouses were not separated at the time of the spouse’s death.
    * Who are the foreigner, whose father, mother, grandfather or grandmother were Spanish nationals by birth or residence.

hi there,
i’m Algerian married to a spanish wife in england for 5 years ,we r registred in a spanish consulate in london and we have a familly book called (libro de familia ).i’m resident in UK but we are thinking to move to spain as my wife got a job in madrid ,my question is : i need to apply for the resident visa in the spanish consulate in london first and then i go to spain and i need to register with the police as soon as i arrived to spain to issue me with a resident permit .witch may take up to 3 month ....anyway the question is :after that i have the resident card how long does it take me to apply for the spanish citizenship ? m’i able to apply after a sometime ? do u think i can get a spanish passport if i’m married to a spanish wife ?what are the document nessesary ? how long does it take to get the nationality ?do i need to work all this time what prooves do i need to apply ?is it 0 everybody who are married to a spanish can apply for spanish citizenship ? please i need an answer as soon as possible as we dont have much time to spend in the Uk ,plz plz plz i need your helppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppp