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For many of the nearly one and a quarter million people who applied to legalise their immigration status in Spain before last Tuesday's deadline, what looked like a one-year residency permit could turn out to be the first step towards something far bigger. Spanish citizenship, and with it a European passport, could be within reach in as little as two years.

 

That possibility hinges on where applicants are from. According to government estimates, around 67% come from Latin American countries, and Spain offers nationals of Ibero-American countries, along with Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal and people of Sephardic origin, a significantly shorter route to naturalisation.

 

While most foreign nationals must wait ten years of legal residency before applying for citizenship, this group needs only two, a distinction rooted in Spain's historical and cultural ties with Latin America that has been in place for decades. Based on that 67% figure, around 800,000 of those who applied are potentially on that faster track.

 

The regularisation scheme opened in April, offering undocumented immigrants who arrived before January 2026 and could prove at least five months of continuous residence the right to apply for a one-year work and residence permit.

 

The application period closed on Tuesday June 30, with Colombia leading the nationality breakdown at 25.9% of all submissions, followed by Morocco, then Venezuela at 11.8%, Peru at 8.8%, Honduras at 4.8%, Paraguay at 3.8% and Argentina at 2.3%. The typical applicant, according to the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration, is a man under 44 from Central or South America.

 

Social organisations working on the process are optimistic about outcomes. The requirements were, in their words, "very simple and very clear," and they expect "the percentage of grants to be very high," meaning the final number of successful regularisations is unlikely to differ much from the number of applications made.

 

The two-year citizenship route isn't a formality. Legal and continuous residency must be proven, counting from the date the first permit is approved. Applicants must also show good civic conduct, including clear criminal records, and demonstrate integration into Spanish society.

 

Since 2015, that can be evidenced through Cervantes Institute exams on Spanish constitutional and sociocultural knowledge. Even then, citizenship can be refused on grounds of public order or national interest.

 

The process now moves into a review phase, with files being assessed and notifications issued. When the deadline closed, social organisations described the response as far exceeding expectations, with nearly 1.2 million applications received against an original government projection of just over 500,000.

 

For those who do reach citizenship, the rights attached to a Spanish passport are considerable: freedom to live and work anywhere in the EU, the right to vote and stand in regional and national elections, and access to public sector employment.