EU citizenship

Naturalisation after years of residence

Poland has the shortest published period: 3 years of uninterrupted residence, counted from the date you hold a permanent residence or EU long-term resident permit, with Polish at certified B1. The clock therefore starts years after your first work permit, not on arrival.

A 5-year figure is published for Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands. Austria, Italy, Spain and Slovenia sit at 10 years, and Latvia counts 5 years from the permanent permit, which in practice lands near 10 years after arrival.

Sweden moved from 5 to 8 years on 6 June 2026 with no transitional rules, and Finland to 8 years for applications from 1 October 2024.

The employee route: Cyprus and Germany

If you moved on an employer’s offer, Cyprus is the one country in our reference with a shorter path written for employees. Highly qualified staff of companies under its 2021 strategy (directors, specialists, key personnel, or earning €2,500 a month or more with a degree or 2 years’ experience, employed for 2 years or longer) need 12 months plus 4 years with Greek at A2, or 3 years with Greek at B1.

The accelerated examination costs €5,000 and the published decision time for it is 8 months; the standard application fee is €500. The standard route asks for 8 years in total.

Germany went the other way: its 3-year fast track for special integration ended on 30 October 2025, and undecided cases are assessed under the 5-year rule.

EU citizenship by descent

Italy restricted citizenship by descent with D.L. 36/2025, converted by L. 74/2025. A person born abroad who holds another citizenship now keeps a claim only if the application or court claim was filed by 27 March 2025, a parent or grandparent held Italian citizenship alone, or a parent lived in Italy for 2 continuous years after becoming Italian and before the birth.

Descendants of Italian citizens by birth up to the second degree can still naturalise after 2 years of legal residence in Italy, against 10 years for other non-EU nationals.

Hungary runs a simplified route for descendants of former Hungarian citizens that requires Hungarian language skills and no residence; our reference holds this from a secondary source only.

Citizenship by investment in Europe is closed

Malta discontinued its programme on 24 July 2025 (Act XXI of 2025), after the Court of Justice ruled on 29 April 2025 in case C-181/23 that the framework breached EU law. On 5 February 2026 the Community Malta Agency stated that “citizenship by merit” is not a successor programme and may not be marketed.

Cyprus terminated its investment programme from 1 November 2020, and Bulgaria abolished its scheme on 24 March 2022, ending pending applications. We do not accept files for any of the three.

Malta still naturalises by residence: 12 months immediately before applying plus 4 years in the preceding 6, with ministerial discretion. Romania shortens its 8-year period for investors above €1,000,000, but the residence condition stays.

Dual citizenship in the EU

For an American or Canadian citizen the question is often whether the first passport can be kept. Germany has generally allowed dual citizenship since 27 June 2024, and the Czech Republic and Malta allow it.

Estonia does not let naturalised citizens keep another citizenship, the Netherlands and Slovenia generally require renunciation, Latvia requires it where the law says so, and Slovakia restricts it for naturalised foreigners.

A family of three in Ireland: what the fees look like

Take an engineer who arrived in Ireland on a work permit with a spouse and a child. Each adult needs 1 year of continuous reckonable residence before applying plus 4 years in the preceding 8, with up to 70 days abroad allowed in the final year; student permissions do not count.

The Irish fee is published per application: €175 to apply and up to €950 on certification, so two adult applications mean two sets of these fees. A spouse of an Irish citizen qualifies after 3 years of marriage and 3 of the last 5 years’ residence.

For comparison, the published application fee is €1,000 in Belgium, €550 in Finland and €255 in France, while Luxembourg charges nothing for the procedure. Government fees are paid at cost and are not part of our quote.