Retaining Spanish citizenship after US naturalization

[RebeccaP 4]

Hello,

My husband recently became a US citizen (yay!!). We are wondering if anyone else in here is from Spain and understands the process for retaining their Spanish citizenship after becoming a US citizen (essentially to gain dual citizenship). Some sites mention having to visit the Spanish embassy in the US to do this (which in our case, would be San Francisco - not exactly convenient). Would love to hear about your experience.

Thank you!

[millefleur 5,046]

**Moved from US Citizenship General Discussion to Europe & Eurasia form; question is country specific**

[fezlopez 38]

You'll be able to keep both citizenships. To keep your citizenships, simply renew your passports and that's it.

The U.S. tolerates/finds it acceptable to hold several citizenships.

Spain allows it too. Even if I were to naturalize in Spain, I'd keep my two other citizenships. All Spain asks is hold allegiance to the patriarchy, but physical renounciation is no longer a thing. It's mostly "spiritual/ideological."

How do I know? I'm Honduran and considered moving to Spain a few years ago for citizenship as Iberoamericans have an accelerated path, so I intensely researched this topic. I ended up being with an Italian, so I decided to pursue Italian citizenship instead. But regardless, dual EU/USA citizenship is more common than you think and in fact, super easy to balance. What's the catch?

Well the REAL catch is as an American you must file/report taxes and foreign accounts every year. Spain also, if you decide to move there someday, has a wealth tax. So, in the long-run citizenship isn't the headache, it's holding your integrity to both countries fiscally.

Hope this helps.

[Catseal 268]

What fezlopez says is not wrong, however how I understood this your husband might be required to let the Spanish embassy know within 3 years that he wishes to preserve his Spanish citizenship (see here: 

http://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/SANFRANCISCO/es/ServiciosConsulares/ServiciosenSanFrancisco/Paginas/Nacionalidad.aspx , in the PDF titled "CONSERVACIÓN DE LA NACIONALIDAD ESPAÑOLA":

"Deberá iniciar el procedimiento de conservación de nacionalidad si Vd. se encuentra en alguna de las situaciones siguientes y no desea perder la nacionalidad española:

1. Cuando, residiendo habitualmente en el extranjero, Vd. haya adquirido la nacionalidad de algún país distinto de los siguientes: Países Iberoamericanos, Andorra, Filipinas, Guinea Ecuatorial y Portugal.

(...)

La conservación deberá solicitarla antes de que transcurran tres años desde la adquisición de la nacionalidad extranjera – en el primer caso – o desde que alcance la emancipación o mayoría de edad – en los dos últimos."

And this is what the form says in regards to visit at the embassy: 
"Si Vd. desea solicitar la conservación de la nacionalidad española y si su residencia habitual está situada dentro de la demarcación consular de este Consulado General (consulte delimitación en nuestra Web), pida una cita según se indica en nuestra Web / Servicios Consulares / Cita previa, y acuda el día y hora asignados con los documentos que se indican a continuación."

 

I have no actual experience with the process, but hope this helps since it is directly taken from the embassy website. In any case, dual citizenship is possible.