If you are Mexican by origin, you may apply for Spanish nationality by residence after two years of legal residence in Spain, rather than the ten years set by the general rule. That treatment is granted by Spanish law, requires the residence to be legal, continuous and immediately preceding the application, and does not oblige you to renounce your Mexican nationality.
The general rule and the Ibero-American exception
Article 22.1 of the Civil Code provides that, in order to grant nationality by residence, that residence must have lasted ten years. The same paragraph cuts the period to five years for those granted refugee status, and to two years for nationals of origin of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal, and for Sephardic Jews. The law does not list the Ibero-American countries one by one, but Mexico falls within that category. This is the text in force as at September 2026.
It is worth stressing who grants the advantage: it is Spanish law, not a prerogative Mexico confers on its nationals, and not the result of a treaty between the two countries.
Article 22.2 also provides for a one-year period in several situations. One of them covers anyone who, when filing the application, has been married to a Spaniard for a year and is not separated legally or in fact. For a Mexican national, marriage reduces the period from two years to one; it does not grant nationality by itself.
Time alone is not enough: which residence counts
Article 22.3 of the Civil Code requires, in every case, that the residence be legal, continuous and immediately preceding the application. Each of those three words has consequences:
- Legal: covered by a residence authorisation in force. Immigration rules distinguish residence from a mere stay, and the Civil Code requires residence.
- Continuous: the Civil Code sets no maximum absences; in practice, what is examined is whether trips away break the continuity of residence.
- Immediately preceding the application: the two years are counted backwards from the day you file it.
One documentary detail: the procedural Regulation (Royal Decree 1004/2015, article 5.1.a) allows the consultation of address data to be replaced by the padrón certificate, and immigration data by the foreigner identity card or equivalent documents for family members and EU citizens. Being on the padrón is not the same as residing legally.
The myth of the three months outside Spain
It is often repeated that leaving Spain for more than three months before applying for nationality interrupts the count. Neither the Civil Code nor Royal Decree 1004/2015 sets a number of days of absence: the word absence does not appear once in that regulation. The periods of six or ten months in circulation belong to immigration rules, which govern obtaining and keeping residence authorisations, not the count under article 22 of the Civil Code.
What is examined in practice is whether the trips away have broken the continuity of residence. So if you have had a long absence, it is worth being able to justify it.
The integration tests: exempt from the language test, not from the CCSE
Article 22.4 of the Civil Code requires proof of good civic conduct and a sufficient degree of integration into Spanish society. Royal Decree 1004/2015 gives integration concrete form through two Instituto Cervantes examinations: the diploma of Spanish as a foreign language (DELE), at level A2 as a minimum, and the test on constitutional and sociocultural knowledge of Spain (CCSE).
If you are Mexican, you are exempt from the DELE: article 6.5 of Royal Decree 1004/2015 names Mexico expressly in the list of countries whose nationals are exempt. That exemption does not extend to the CCSE, which you do have to pass. The CCSE certificate is valid for four years from its date, under article 10.4 of Order JUS/1625/2016.
The documents from Mexico
The application is accompanied, among other documents, by the birth certificate from the country of origin and, if you are of age, the criminal record certificate from the country of origin: the first legalised and, where applicable, translated, and the second legalised and translated (article 5 of Royal Decree 1004/2015). For Mexico, legalisation is replaced by the apostille of the 1961 Hague Convention. All documents must be in force when the application is filed, and a criminal record certificate that states no period of validity is understood to be valid for six months from issue (annex to Order JUS/1625/2016, section 4).
You do not have to renounce your Mexican nationality
Article 23.b) of the Civil Code requires, in order to acquire Spanish nationality, a declaration renouncing the previous nationality, but it spares from that requirement nationals of the countries listed in article 24.1, Ibero-Americans among them. For its part, article 37, section A, of the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States provides that no Mexican by birth may be deprived of their nationality.
This dual nationality does not arise from any bilateral agreement: there is no dual nationality treaty between Spain and Mexico. It is the sum of these two domestic laws.
After filing
The procedure must be decided and notified within a maximum of one year from the entry of the application at the competent body; if that period passes without an express decision, the application is deemed refused (article 11.3 of Royal Decree 1004/2015). And if nationality is granted, the decision opens a period of 180 days in which to swear or promise and request registration, after which the grant expires (article 21.4 of the Civil Code).
Common mistakes
- Believing the two-year period is an advantage granted by Mexico or by a treaty.
- Counting periods of mere stay, or of simply being on the padrón, as legal residence.
- Assuming an absence of more than three months invalidates the count, or being unable to justify a long absence.
- Thinking the DELE exemption also removes the CCSE.
- Filing Mexican certificates that are not apostilled or are no longer in force.
Sources
- Civil Code, articles 21.4, 22, 23 and 24.1 (consolidated text from the BOE, consulted in September 2026)
- Royal Decree 1004/2015, of 6 November, Regulation of the procedure for acquiring Spanish nationality by residence, articles 5, 6 and 11.3 (consolidated text from the BOE, consulted in September 2026)
- Order JUS/1625/2016, of 30 September, article 10.4 and annex, section 4 (consolidated text from the BOE, consulted in September 2026)
- Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, article 37, section A (reform published in the DOF on 20 March 1997)
- Royal Decree 1155/2024, Immigration Regulations, articles 176 and 183 (absences under immigration rules) (consolidated text from the BOE, consulted in September 2026)