Becoming a citizen, country by country

Becoming a Citizen of Antigua and Barbuda

Four doors, and the residence they ask for ranges from seven years to five days. A Commonwealth citizen who is domiciled here and has been lawfully ordinarily resident for seven years is entitled to be registered under section 114 of the Constitution. An alien naturalises under the Citizenship Act on a twelve-month unbroken period preceded by a seven-year window in which five years in aggregate were spent here. A spouse is entitled to registration once the marriage has subsisted for upwards of three years. And an investor is registered under the Citizenship by Investment Act 2013 with no residence requirement for the grant at all - but with one attached to keeping it, because section 4(1) of that Act lets the Minister deprive a citizen by investment who does not spend at least five days here in the five calendar years after registration. That five days is statutory, it sits in the Act and not in the Regulations, and it was thirty-five days until 2016.

Residence for registration as a Commonwealth citizen

7 years, plus domicile

Residence for naturalisation

12 unbroken months, preceded by 5 years in aggregate within 7

Residence for registration on marriage

Upwards of 3 years of marriage

Residence for citizenship by investment

None before the grant

Residence to keep citizenship by investment

5 days in the 5 calendar years after registrationas of 2017-02-16

The same requirement as enacted in 2013

35 days in 5 calendar years

Permanent residence as a path to citizenship

7 unbroken years, 90 days a yearas of 2021-09-07

Dual citizenship

Protected by the Constitution

Argentine Citizenship by Naturalisation

Two years of residence sounds generous until you read what 'continuous' now means. Since May 2025 the law defines it as having remained in the territory for the whole period without making any departure abroad at all - not a short trip, not a family visit. A second route was added at the same time for those who make an investment the economy ministry considers relevant, with no residence period.

Residence required

2 years, continuous and legal

What 'continuous' means

No departures abroad whatsoeveras of 2025-05-29

Minimum age

18

Who decides

Dirección Nacional de Migraciones

Alternative route

A relevant investment, no residence period

Becoming a Citizen of Barbados

Citizenship is in the Constitution, not in an immigration act, and that is the structural fact to start from. Birth in Barbados makes you a citizen outright. Birth abroad makes you one only through a parent, and only one generation. For everyone else Chapter II gives a right to be registered after ordinary residence in Barbados throughout ten years, or after marriage to a citizen for a period left to be prescribed. Both rights are expressed as entitlements rather than discretions, subject only to exceptions prescribed in the interests of national security or public policy, and both require the oath of allegiance taken before an immigration officer sitting as a Justice of the Peace. Parliament may provide for further routes under section 9, and the Barbados Citizenship Act is that Act - but the Government's published copy of it is an unreadable scan, so the registration and naturalisation detail is not stated here.

Residence needed for registration as of right

ten years of ordinary residence, or such longer period as may be prescribed

Marriage period needed

Such period as may be prescribed. Not stated in the Constitution

Birth in Barbados

Citizenship at the date of birth, with two narrow provisos

Birth abroad

Citizenship only where a parent was a citizen born in Barbados, or the father was a citizen otherwise than by descent

Dual citizenship

Permitted. The Constitution gives a citizen aged eighteen or over the right to renounce, which presupposes they may hold another

Fee, as the Department charges

$300.00 on application and $1500.00 on approval

Time as a student

Excluded. Study time must not be taken into consideration on an application for citizenship

Becoming a Citizen of Belize

Belize counts to citizenship from the grant of permanent residence, not from arrival. Five years of continuous residence after permanent residency, eighteen years of age, sound mind, an intention to go on living here, and the application goes first to a Nationality Scrutinizing Committee and then to the Minister, whose refusal is final. "Continuous" is defined, and generously by regional standards: absences of up to thirty consecutive days, or three months in total in any twelve, do not break it, and time away for employment in Belize or for medical reasons is excluded entirely. Add the year needed to get permanent residence in the first place and the realistic minimum is six years. Two things cut across it: a spouse of a citizen needs only one year, and a citizen by registration who later lives abroad for five consecutive years loses the citizenship.

Residence required

a period of five years immediately preceding the date of the application

When the five years start

On the grant of permanent residency

Absence that does not break continuity

Periods not exceeding thirty consecutive days, or three months in any twelve month period

Absences excluded entirely from the count

Travel in the course of employment in Belize, and travel for medical and health reasons

Realistic minimum from arrival

Six years^CALC (calculated by us, not published)

Spouse of a citizen

One year resident in Belize, with no permanent residence step

Loss of citizenship by registration

Residence outside Belize for five consecutive years or more

Minister's refusal

Final

Dual citizenship

Not prohibited by the Act, with one exception

Different by nationality: Guatemala Read them

Becoming a Bolivian Citizen

Bolivia naturalises after three continuous years of residence, or two for the spouse, parent or substitute child of a Bolivian and for anyone who has done Bolivian military service. There is a written examination on elementary Bolivian history, set by the migration directorate and waived only for children up to twelve. The three-year route costs 4050 UFV and is granted by the President by Supreme Resolution; the two-year routes cost 2050 UFV and are granted by the migration directorate itself.

Ordinary residence requirement

More than 3 continuous years

Spouse, parent of a Bolivian child, or substitute parents

2 years

Military service in Bolivia

2 years

Examination

Written, on elementary Bolivian history

Fee, residence route

4050 UFVas of 2026-09-27

Fee, family and military-service routes

2050 UFVas of 2026-09-27

Fee for refugees

100 UFVas of 2026-09-27

Who grants it

The President by Supreme Resolution on the residence route; the migration directorate on the others

Effect of authorised absence

Does not break continuity

Becoming a Brazilian Citizen

Four years of residence, civil capacity, no criminal conviction and the ability to communicate in Portuguese. The four years drop to one for anyone with a Brazilian child or a Brazilian spouse or partner, and a separate extraordinary route grants naturalisation after fifteen uninterrupted years with no language requirement at all. Portuguese is proved by documents rather than by an exam designed for the purpose: a Celpe-Bras certificate, a Brazilian degree, a pass in the bar exam, or a Brazilian school record all count, and nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries are excused from proving it. Naturalisation takes effect on publication in the official gazette, and within a year of that the new citizen has to register with the electoral court, because voting in Brazil is a duty.

Ordinary naturalisation

Four years of residence

With a Brazilian child, spouse or partner

One year of residence

Extraordinary naturalisation

Fifteen uninterrupted years and no criminal conviction

Nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries

One year of uninterrupted residence and good standing

Language

Proved by document, not by a dedicated exam

Effect

On publication of the act in the official gazette

Electoral registration

Within one year of the grant

Different by nationality: Portugal Read them

Chilean Nationality by Carta de Nacionalización

Naturalisation in Chile is governed by a 1960 decree that the 2021 migration law left largely in place, and it asks for two things the neighbours do not: you must already hold permanent residency, and the consolidated text still requires you to renounce your existing nationality. The ordinary wait is five years of residence plus permanent residency; a family tie to a Chilean cuts it to two years of continuous residence. The decision is the President's, by decree countersigned by the Interior Minister - it is a grant, not an entitlement.

Ordinary residence requirement

More than 5 years

Also required

Current permanent residency

Counted from

The electronic stamp of the temporary residency that led to permanent residency

With a family tie to a Chilean

2 years of continuous residence

Spouse route

Married to a Chilean for at least 2 years, marriage registered in Chile, living in a common home

Renunciation of prior nationality

Required by the consolidated text of Decreto 5.142

Minimum age

18, or 14 for children of foreigners with parental authorisation

Who decides

The President of the Republic, by decree countersigned by the Interior Minister

Where you apply

From inside Chile only

Short trips abroad

The Interior Minister decides whether they broke continuity

Permanent Residency (R) by Accumulated Time

Colombia publishes exactly how long each route takes to reach permanent residency, and the spread is wide: two years on a treaty or parent visa, three as the spouse of a Colombian, five for everything else including work, pensions and investment. The table is the most useful single thing in the visa regime, because it lets you compare routes by their real length rather than by their entry requirements.

Mercosur or Andean migrant

2 years

Parent of a Colombian

2 years

Spouse of a Colombian

3 years

Permanent partner of a Colombian

5 years

Worker, pensioner, investor, independent professional

5 years

Continuity

The visas must have stayed valid throughout

Naturalisation: Seven Years, a Language and History Exam, and a Clock That Starts Late

Costa Rican naturalisation is decided by the electoral tribunal rather than by the migration directorate, and it is free. The Constitution asks for seven years of official residence, or five for Central Americans, Spaniards and Ibero-Americans who hold that nationality by birth, and two for the spouse of a Costa Rican who has also lived in the country for those two years. On top of the period, article 15 requires good conduct, a known trade or means of living, the ability to speak, write and read Spanish, a comprehensive examination on the country's history and values, a promise of regular residence and an oath to respect the constitutional order. The detail that catches people out is in the tribunal's own regulation: the clock starts on the day the migration status was granted, not on arrival, and it is interrupted by any absence of more than three months.

Official residence required

7 years

Reduced period

5 years for Central Americans, Spaniards and Ibero-Americans by birth

Spouse of a Costa Rican

2 years of marriage and 2 years of residence in the country

When the clock starts

The date the migration status was granted, not the date of arrival

What interrupts the clock

An absence of more than 3 months - the count restarts on the next entry

Decision time

285 working daysas of 2026-10-04

Cost of the procedure

Free

Can Costa Rican nationality be given up?

No - the Constitution says it is not lost and cannot be renounced

Different by nationality: Spain Read them

Becoming a Cuban Citizen

Five years of permanent residence, or two for the spouse or parent of a Cuban by birth, and then a citizenship examination the law requires and no published instrument describes. The application opens with a notarial declaration of intention to become Cuban and is ratified by a second notarial act a year later, during which the authorities watch how the applicant is settling into the community where they intend to live. Two Cubans by birth who have been effectively resident for more than five years, who are not relatives and who have known the applicant for at least three years, must vouch for them before a notary. Acquiring another nationality does not cost a Cuban their citizenship, but inside Cuba the other one has no effect at all, and acts done there under a foreign nationality are void without any process to annul them.

Permanent residence required

5 years or more

Spouse or parent of a Cuban by birth

2 years or more

Citizenship examination

Required; not described in any instrument read

Declaration of intention

Notarial, ratified after 1 year

Community observation period

1 natural year from the application

Character references

2 Cubans by birth, resident over 5 continuous years, known to the applicant 3 years

Renunciation of your existing nationality

Not required

Effect of another nationality inside Cuba

None; acts done under it are void

Naturalised Cubans abroad must ratify

Within 3 years of leaving, and every 3 years

Recovery of Cuban citizenship

Once only, after up to 5 years

Naturalisation, document tax

CUP 500.00

Becoming a Citizen of Dominica

Four doors, and they are not equally open. A Commonwealth citizen who has been ordinarily resident for seven years is entitled by the Constitution to be registered - an entitlement, not a favour. A spouse may be registered at the Minister's discretion after three years, a Commonwealth citizen after five. Everyone else naturalises under section 8 of the Citizenship Act: good character, adequate English, twelve months' residence immediately before the application and seven years in all. And then there is the fifth door, which is the one the world knows Dominica for: the Minister's power in section 8(2)(c) to waive the residence requirement in special circumstances, which is what the citizenship by investment programme runs on. Every naturalised citizen, however arrived, can be deprived of citizenship by Order of the Minister on grounds the Act lists.

Registration as of right, Commonwealth citizen

7 years' ordinary residence

Registration at the Minister's discretion, spouse

3 years

Registration at the Minister's discretion, Commonwealth citizen

5 years

Naturalisation, aliens

12 months immediately preceding, and 7 years in all

Residence waiver

Available in special circumstances

Deprivation for a prison sentence

12 months or more, within 5 years of naturalisation

Deprivation for changing your name

Within 5 years of a certificate of naturalisationas of 2024-06-28

Dual citizenship

Permitted

Application and registration fees charged by the Ministry

EC$250 and EC$2,000

Passport fee for a citizen by investment

US$300as of 2024-11-07

Dominican Nationality: Two Years for a Resident, and a Contested Birthright

For a foreigner who has got permanent residence, naturalisation is close: two years of continuous permanent residence under the migration regulation, or two years of uninterrupted residence under the 1948 statute, reduced to six months for someone who has founded and sustained an industry here or owns property, and six months for marriage to a Dominican. The executive may still refuse, and the grant is a decree published in the official gazette. Birthright is the harder question. The Constitution proclaimed on 26 January 2010 excludes from birthright nationality the children of foreigners in transit or residing illegally; the migration law of 2004 had already declared every non-resident a person in transit, and the 2011 regulation extended that to anyone residing without a lawful migration status. In 2013 the Constitutional Court applied the exclusion to a woman born here in 1984 and ordered an audit of the civil registry back to 1929. Ley 169-14 followed in 2014. We quote these and leave the characterising to the reader.

Residence before naturalisation

2 years as a permanent resident

Shortened by industry or property

6 months

Shortened by marriage to a Dominican

6 months

Shortest realistic total from arrival

About 7 years^CALC (calculated by us, not published)

Absences that still count as residence

Up to 1 year

Executive discretion

Retained even when all conditions are met

Migration service certificate

RD$4,000.00, 15 working days

Dual nationality

Permitted

Naturalised citizens

Barred from the presidency and vice-presidency

Birthright exclusion

Children of foreigners in transit or residing illegallyas of 2010-01-26

Civil registry audit ordered back to

1929-06-21as of 2013-09-23

Ley 169-14 window

Births from 16 June 1929 to 18 April 2007

Becoming Ecuadorian

Naturalisation by carta needs three years domiciled in Ecuador while holding permanent residence - which in practice means about four years and nine months from arrival, because permanent residence itself takes 21 months to earn. The tests are a general knowledge examination on Ecuadorian history, geography, culture and current affairs, spoken and written Spanish, lawful means of support, being up to date with the State, and an interview about your motives. A degree completed in Ecuador in Spanish excuses both the knowledge test and the language test; being over 65 excuses the knowledge test but not the language. Marriage is a separate and much shorter route: two years, with a statutory ninety-day deadline on the decision. Recognised refugees and stateless people qualify after two years.

Residence needed

3 years domiciled in Ecuador on a permanent residence visa

Realistic total from arrival

About 4 years and 9 months^CALC (calculated by us, not published)

Refugees and stateless people

2 years in the country

Through marriage

2 years from the marriage, or from its registration in Ecuador

Decision deadline, marriage route

90 days from filing

Knowledge and language tests

Both waived for a degree or postgraduate completed in Ecuador in Spanish

Over 65

Knowledge test waived, Spanish still required

Where it is filed

Inside Ecuador only

Discretion

A sovereign and discretionary act of the Executive

Becoming Salvadoran

Five years of residence for anyone, one year for Spaniards and Spanish Americans, two for the spouse of a Salvadoran - and separately, for Central Americans, a route that is not naturalisation at all but a declaration of Salvadoran nationality by birth. The Constitution sets the periods and the migration law repeats them, with one difference that matters: the Constitution says 'residencia' and the law, since the 2023 rewrite, says 'residencia definitiva' for the one-year Spanish and Spanish American route while counting temporary and permanent residence together for the five-year and two-year ones. The 2023 rewrite also added a fifth ground the Constitution does not contain, for foreigners meeting the requirements of government investor or donor programmes. The requirement most likely to stop an application is documentary rather than temporal: the file must include a certificate from the applicant's own country stating that that country permits dual nationality. Naturalised status is the weaker kind - it is lost by two consecutive years back in the country of origin or five years anywhere abroad, and by a final conviction for a serious intentional crime, after which it can never be recovered.

Ordinary qualifying period

5 years of residence

Spaniards and Spanish Americans

1 year of permanent residence

Spouse of a Salvadoran

2 years of residence

Central Americans

Nationality by birth after 1 year of permanent residence

Does temporary residence count

Yes, for the five-year and two-year routes

Renunciation of the previous nationality

Not required, but dual nationality must be permitted by the other country

Naturalisation fee

USD 700

Central American nationality fee

USD 150

Loss by residence in the country of origin

2 consecutive years

Loss by absence from El Salvador

5 consecutive years

Permission to be absent

Up to 7 years, on application

Loss by serious criminal conviction

Permanent, cannot be recoveredas of 2026-03-23

Different by nationality: CA-4 · Spain Read them

Becoming a Citizen of Grenada

Four doors, and they are very different sizes. Birth in Grenada confers citizenship unconditionally. Marriage to a citizen is an entitlement with no waiting period at all. Naturalisation needs a residence permit, twelve months in the country immediately before the application and five years out of the preceding seven - and since 2012 the residence permit has been a precondition rather than an alternative. And investment buys it directly: since 2019 there is no permanent residence step and no days in the country, the National Transformation Fund figure is US$235,000 for a main applicant and up to three dependants, and the approved project minimum is US$350,000. A regional agreement given force of law in 2025 would add a thirty-day residence requirement; the agency administering the programme announced in August 2026 that it is not taking effect yet.

Naturalisation: residence immediately before applying

12 months

Naturalisation: residence in the preceding seven years

5 years

Registration as a Commonwealth or Irish citizen: residence

5 years

Marriage: waiting period

None

Investment: National Transformation Fund

US$235,000

Investment: approved project

US$350,000 minimum

Investment: shared unit in a tourism project

US$270,000 a share

Investment: government contribution on a project

US$50,000

Investment: additional dependants

US$25,000 each

Investment: interview fee

US$1,000 per person

Investment: holding period

5 years

Investment: days of residence required

None, for now

Investment: decision period

60 days

Dual citizenship

Permitted

Voting rights of an investment citizen

Limited by the Representation of the People Act

Becoming a Guatemalan Citizen

Guatemala has two doors, and they are not the same door at different speeds. Naturalisation is the ordinary one, and the Constitution delegates its terms entirely to a statute - the conditions, the residence period and the procedure are not in the Constitution and are not in the Migration Code either. The other door is constitutional and far wider than any naturalisation: a national by birth of a republic of the old Central American Federation who takes up domicile in Guatemala and declares before a competent authority that they wish to be Guatemalan is a Guatemalan of origin, not a naturalised one, and may keep their first nationality. Residence itself carries the right to opt for nationality, and a resident who obtains it has to go back to the migration institute and cancel their residence.

Naturalisation conditions

Set by statute, not by the Constitution

Residence period for naturalisation

Not stated in any source we hold

Central American by birth

Guatemalan of origin on domicile plus a declaration

Dual nationality on that route

The first nationality may be kept

Child of a Guatemalan parent born abroad

Guatemalan of origin already

Deprivation of nationality

Impossible for a Guatemalan of origin

Rights of a naturalised Guatemalan

The same as those of a Guatemalan of origin, subject to constitutional limits

After naturalising

The residence must be cancelled

Different by nationality: Costa Rica · El Salvador · Honduras · Nicaragua Read them

Becoming Guyanese: Five Ways In, and a Discretion No Court May Review

Chapter IV of the Constitution and the Guyana Citizenship Act between them give a closed list: you are a citizen by birth in Guyana, by birth abroad to a Guyanese parent, by entitlement on marriage to a citizen, by registration, or by naturalisation. Registration is for Commonwealth citizens and citizens of Ireland after five years of ordinary residence or government service; naturalisation is for everyone else and asks for twelve months in Guyana immediately before the application plus five years in the preceding seven. Neither asks about money, a language or a test. What they do have is section 7(2), which says the Minister need give no reason for refusing and that no exercise of the power may be appealed or reviewed in any court - an ouster of unusual breadth. The Ministry of Home Affairs adds requirements of its own: four sworn recommendations from Guyanese of good standing, a notice of your intention published in two separate issues of a local newspaper, a tax liability statement and a social-insurance compliance statement.

Residence for naturalisation

Twelve months immediately before the application, and five years in the preceding seven

Residence for registration (Commonwealth or Irish citizens)

Five years

Residence after marriage to a citizen

None stated

Language or civics test

None in the Act

Investment or contribution route

None

Recommendations required by the Ministry for naturalisation

Four, stampedas of 2026-10-06

Newspaper notice for naturalisation

Two separate issues of a newspaper circulating in the applicant's districtas of 2026-10-06

Review of a refusal

None. The Minister need give no reason and no exercise of the power is subject to appeal or review in any court

Dual citizenship

Not automatically lost, but the President may deprive a citizen who voluntarily acquires another citizenship

Haitian Nationality After 2011: the Constitution Stopped Saying How, and Dual Nationality Is No Longer Forbidden

This is the most widely misreported rule in Haitian law and the amendment that changed it is easy to check. The 1987 Constitution said at article 12-1 that any foreigner could obtain Haitian nationality by naturalisation after five years of continuous residence, and at article 15 that dual Haitian and foreign nationality was not admitted in any case. The constitutional law of 9 May 2011, published 19 June 2012, abrogated articles 12-1, 12-2, 13, 14 and 15. In their place it inserted article 11-1, saying only that the law establishes the conditions in which an individual may acquire Haitian nationality, and rewrote article 12 to say that every Haitian, apart from the privileges reserved to Haitians of origin, is subject to all the rights, duties and obligations attached to his Haitian nationality, and that no Haitian may make his foreign nationality prevail on the territory of the Republic. So the blanket prohibition is gone and what replaced it is a rule of precedence, not of exclusivity. The five-year naturalisation rule is also gone from the Constitution - and the law it was handed to, the decree of 6 November 1984 on Haitian nationality, is one we could not read, so this record does not state the conditions of naturalisation.

Dual nationality

No longer prohibitedas of 2012-06-19

Five years to naturalisation

Removed from the Constitutionas of 2012-06-19

Nationality of origin

By descent from a Haitian-born parent who had not renounced

Loss of nationality on naturalising abroad

Removed from the Constitutionas of 2012-06-19

Where the conditions now live

In legislation, unread

Becoming Honduran

The waiting period depends entirely on where you were born: one year for a Central American by birth, two consecutive years for a Spaniard or an Ibero-American by birth, three consecutive years for everyone else, and no period at all stated for the foreign spouse of a Honduran by birth. The price is the same in every case - the Constitution requires the applicant to renounce their existing nationality first, unless a dual-nationality treaty says otherwise. There is a written examination on Honduran history, geography and the Constitution, sat four times a year, with one retake six months later. Naturalisation is granted by the President and can be cancelled; nationality by birth cannot be taken away and survives acquiring another.

Central American by birth

1 year of residence

Spaniard or Ibero-American by birth

2 consecutive years

Any other nationality

More than 3 consecutive years

Spouse of a Honduran by birth

No period stated

Renouncing your nationality

Required, before applying

Examination

History, geography, the Constitution, and Spanish

Examination sittings

4 a year

Retake

One, 6 months later

Fee for a Central American

USD 200

Fee for an Ibero-American

USD 300

Fee for other nationalities

USD 400

Settled residence before it

5 consecutive years

Different by nationality: Argentina · Bolivia · Brazil · Chile · Colombia · Costa Rica · Ecuador · El Salvador · Guatemala · Mexico · Nicaragua · Panama · Paraguay · Peru · Spain · Uruguay Read them

Becoming a Jamaican citizen

Chapter II of the Constitution does the heavy lifting. Birth in Jamaica makes you a citizen; birth abroad to a qualifying Jamaican parent makes you a citizen; marriage to a Jamaican entitles you to be registered as one. Everyone else is left to Parliament, and Parliament's answer is the Jamaican Nationality Act. A Commonwealth or Irish citizen may be registered at the Minister's discretion after five years of ordinary residence or Crown service. Anyone else applies for naturalisation on the Second Schedule qualifications: twelve months' residence immediately before applying, plus four years' residence in the seven years before that, good character in the Minister's opinion, and an intention to stay. Dual citizenship is not forbidden - the Act provides for renunciation where someone chooses to give Jamaican citizenship up, not where they acquire another. The protection a constitutional citizen has is unusual and worth knowing: a citizen by birth, descent or marriage registration cannot be deprived of citizenship at all.

Residence for registration of a Commonwealth or Irish citizen

Five years

Residence for naturalisation

Twelve months immediately before, plus four years in the preceding seven

Discretion

Registration and naturalisation are both at the Minister's discretion

Protection from deprivation

Absolute for a citizen by birth, descent or registration on marriage

Registration of Commonwealth nationals, fee

JMD 50,000.00as of 2026-10-06

Naturalisation of non-Commonwealth nationals, fee

JMD 50,000.00as of 2026-10-06

Stamp Office endorsement on a naturalisation certificate

$JMD1000.00as of 2026-10-06

Renunciation or restoration of citizenship, fee

JMD 80,000.00as of 2026-10-06

Different by nationality: CARICOM skills certificate Read them

Becoming Mexican

Five years of residence is the general rule, and it falls to two for anyone from a Latin American country or the Iberian Peninsula, for a direct-line descendant of a Mexican by birth, for a parent of a Mexican-born child, and for the spouse of a Mexican who has lived with them in Mexico. The tests are Spanish plus a history and culture examination, both set against content approved by the foreign ministry's own institute, with the history paper waived for minors, refugees and anyone over sixty. The trap is the residence clock: only time held on a temporary or permanent resident card counts, and six months of absences in the last two years breaks it.

General residence requirement

5 years immediately before the application

Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula

2 years

Direct-line descendant of a Mexican by birth

2 years

Parent of a Mexican child by birth

2 years

Spouse of a Mexican

2 years of living together in the marital home in Mexico

Adopted children and minor descendants under Mexican parental authority

1 year, uninterrupted

Absences that break the clock

More than 6 months in total during the 2 years before the application

What counts as residence

Only time on a temporary or permanent resident card

Examinations

Spanish, plus Mexican history and culture

History paper waived for

Minors, refugees and applicants over sixty - Spanish is still required

Naturalisation fee

MXN 9,502.01

When the nationality takes effect

The day after the naturalisation certificate is issued

Becoming a Nicaraguan Citizen

Four years as a permanent resident is the ordinary wait, and the price is your own nationality: the law requires renunciation before the grant, and the Constitution says the same. Four groups halve the wait to two years - Spaniards, Central Americans of origin, the spouse of a Nicaraguan, and foreigners who have established an industry or who have Nicaraguan children - and two of those four are also excused the renunciation. The grant is discretionary in terms, described in the regulation as a sovereign act, and takes legal effect only when published in La Gaceta. The constitutional ground shifted under this in February 2025: the new text dropped the enumeration of who is a national by birth and the guarantee that no national may be deprived of nationality, keeping only the clauses on naturalisation, on traitors to the homeland, and on not losing nationality by acquiring another.

Ordinary residence requirement

4 years as a permanent resident

Renunciation of the previous nationality

Required, except for Central Americans of origin and natives of Spain

Spouse of a Nicaraguan

2 years of continuous residence

Foreigner with Nicaraguan children

2 years of permanent residence

Foreigner who has established an industry or contributes to development

2 years of permanent residence

Decision time

30 days

When it takes effect

On publication in La Gaceta

Nature of the decision

A sovereign act, grantable or refusable

Extension to children

Automatic for minor children under parental authority, who must confirm at majority

Loss

Six grounds, including acquiring another nationality and using the two passports interchangeably

Recovery after loss

Possible for three of the six grounds

Different by nationality: Costa Rica · El Salvador · Guatemala · Honduras · Spain Read them

Becoming Panamanian

Five consecutive years of residence, counted not from arrival but from the resolution that granted permanent residence - which means the two provisional years most routes impose do not count. Three years instead of five if you have a Panamanian spouse or Panamanian children. The decision belongs to the President rather than to an agency, the refusal cannot be appealed, and the Constitution requires express renunciation of your existing nationality. A Spanish or Latin American national can do it on whatever terms their own country gives Panamanians, which for nine countries the migration service publishes as a shorter list of years.

General residence requirement

5 consecutive years

With a Panamanian spouse or Panamanian children

3 consecutive years

When the clock starts

The resolution granting permanent residence

Decision-maker

The President of the Republic

Appeal against refusal

None

Dual nationality

Renunciation required

Fee on issue

B/.600

Language and knowledge exam

Tribunal Electoral

Admission or correction of the file

30 working days

Different by nationality: Argentina · Colombia · Ecuador · El Salvador · Honduras · Mexico · Nicaragua · Peru · Spain · Uruguay Read them

Becoming Paraguayan by Naturalisation

The constitution asks for three years of settled residence, majority, the regular exercise of a profession, trade, science, art or industry in the country, and good conduct as defined by law. The Supreme Court, which grants the naturalisation letter, reads the three years as three years of permanent residency counted from the date of the decision granting it - not from arrival. Since permanent residency normally follows two years of temporary residency, the realistic minimum from first arriving is around five years. Naturalised Paraguayans lose the nationality after three years of unjustified absence declared by a court, and exercise citizenship, including the vote, only two years after obtaining it.

Residence required by the constitution

Three years, minimum

How the court counts it

Three years of permanent residency from the date of the permanent-admission decision

Realistic minimum from first arrival

About five years^CALC (calculated by us, not published)

Judicial fee

Gs. 43.051

Full citizenship rights

Two years after naturalisation

Loss of naturalised nationality

Three years of unjustified absence, declared by a court, or voluntarily acquiring another nationality

Dual nationality

Only by international treaty or constitutional reciprocity

Peruvian Nationality by Naturalisation

Two consecutive years of legal residence is the shortest naturalisation clock of the four countries covered here, and Peru pairs it with an examination and a money test: gross annual income of at least ten tax units, currently 55,000 soles. The awkward part is procedural. Peru's competition authority has repeatedly declared some of Migraciones' requirements illegal barriers, and a court has suspended those rulings - so what you must actually file has changed twice in three years and is currently the longer list.

Residence required

2 consecutive years

Examination

Required

Income test

10 UIT, stated as S/ 55,000.00 gross a yearas of 2026-01-27

Fee

S/ 301.50as of 2023-10-23

Decision time

30 working days, suspended during stages set by Decreto Supremo 004-97-IN

Interpol check and health declaration

Required again since 14 June 2024

Final step

A naturalisation ceremony, an oath, then a DNI from Reniec

Becoming a Citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis

Two doors, and they could hardly be further apart. The ordinary door asks for fourteen years: fourteen of ordinary residence for a Commonwealth citizen registering under the Constitution, and fourteen for an alien naturalising under the Citizenship Act, which also wants the final twelve months to be unbroken. That is the longest residence requirement of any country in this comparison. The other door is section 3(5) of the Citizenship Act, which entitles a person who has invested substantially to be registered, with no residence requirement at all - and the whole of what "substantially" means sits in a Statutory Rule and Order that has been replaced three times and amended twice since 2023. The figure in force today is set by the 2024 Regulations as amended in October 2024 and again in January 2026.

Residence for naturalisation

14 years, plus 12 unbroken months

Residence for registration as a Commonwealth citizen

14 years

Residence for citizenship by investment

None

Sustainable Island State Contribution, main applicant

US$250,000as of 2024-07-08

Developer's real estate option

US$325,000as of 2024-10-25

Private real estate: condominium or share

US$325,000as of 2024-10-25

Private real estate: single-family home

US$600,000as of 2024-10-25

Public Benefit Option

US$250,000as of 2024-07-08

Due diligence fee, main applicant

US$10,000as of 2024-07-08

Due diligence fee, each person aged 16 or over

US$7,500as of 2024-07-08

Application processing fee

US$250 per applicantas of 2024-07-08

Post-approval fee, main applicant or family of four

US$25,000as of 2026-01-16

Post-approval fee, each additional dependant aged 18 or over

US$50,000as of 2026-01-16

Decision window, approval-in-principle

120 to 180 daysas of 2024-07-08

Resale restriction on real estate

7 yearsas of 2024-07-08

Loss of citizenship for divesting

Within 5 years of registration

Voting rights on registration under section 3(5)

None, except as voter-qualification law allows

Becoming a citizen of Saint Lucia

Four doors, and the two that changed recently are the interesting ones. Descent was widened to grandparents on 27 June 2024 and given its own application procedure. Investment was repriced on 1 July 2024, capped at one thousand five hundred approvals a year in March 2026, and made conditional on prescribed residency and genuine link requirements from 1 January 2026. The two older doors are unchanged since 1984: registration, which a spouse of a citizen and a Commonwealth citizen with seven years' ordinary residence may claim as an entitlement, and naturalisation, which only an alien may apply for - the Act's "alien" excludes Commonwealth citizens - after twelve months here immediately before applying and seven years of residence in the seven years before that, which is eight years in all, and which requires renouncing every other citizenship. That last requirement is the sharpest fact here: Saint Lucia asks an ordinary naturalising immigrant to give up their other nationality and asks nothing of the kind from someone who pays.

Descent

Two generationsas of 2024-06-27

Naturalisation residence

7 years in aggregate plus 12 continuous months

Dual citizenship on naturalisation

Not permitted

Registration for a Commonwealth citizen

7 years' ordinary residence

Cheapest investment route

US$240,000as of 2024-07-01

Annual cap on investment approvals

1,500

Change of name after investment citizenship

Barred for 5 yearsas of 2025-11-10

Mandatory refusal where another country refused a visa

Yes

Who naturalisation is open to

Aliens only

Fee for a certificate of naturalisation

EC$5,000

Becoming a Citizen of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

The Constitution does most of the work. Birth in the country makes a citizen; birth abroad to a Vincentian parent makes a citizen, but only for one generation. Marriage to a citizen is an entitlement to be registered rather than a discretion, and so is seven years of ordinary residence - but only for a Commonwealth citizen. For everyone else the Constitution says simply that Parliament shall provide, and what Parliament provided is the Citizenship Act, Chapter 117, which is not published. There is no citizenship by investment. The House of Assembly's own record of every Act passed since 1993 contains no such Act, and the Constitution's citizenship chapter has no economic or honourary limb anywhere in it. What there is, since December 2025, is a portfolio: the Governor-General's assignment of subjects to the new Prime Minister ends with the words "Citizenship by Investment Programmes".

Citizenship by investment

No programme and no Act

Citizenship by investment as a portfolio

Assigned to the Prime Minister on 2 December 2025

Residence for registration

7 years, for a Commonwealth citizen

Marriage

Entitlement to registration, with no residence period

Descent

One generation

Statute

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Citizenship Act, Chapter 117

Dual citizenship

Not established

Naturalisation Is an Act of Parliament, Taken Fifty Applicants at a Time

Suriname does not naturalise by decision. Article 8(1) of the nationality law provides that Surinamese nationality by naturalisation is acquired by the entry into force of an Act granting it, and the aliens department describes how that is done in practice: applications are compiled into a collective schedule of fifty persons, laid before the National Assembly, debated in public session, confirmed by the President and published. The qualifying condition is five years of domicile or main residence, or loss of Surinamese nationality, or birth in Suriname to parents of no or unknown nationality. Two routes avoid Parliament. A person born in Suriname, a former Surinamese national, or a person born abroad to a parent born in Suriname may be granted nationality by the President under article 16a, provided they have domicile or main residence in Suriname on the day of the request; the aliens department calls this naturalisation by resolution. And a child born in Suriname to a parent living there becomes Surinamese automatically at eighteen after three years of residence, unless the child opts out in the preceding year.

Residence for naturalisation

Five years of domicile or main residence

How naturalisation is granted

By an Act of the National Assembly

Applicants per Act

Fifty, on a collective schedule

Charge

At least Sf. 200,000 as the Act prints it

Refund on refusal

Half the sum paid

Presidential route

Birth in Suriname, former Surinamese nationality, or a parent born in Suriname, plus residence in Suriname at the date of the request

Decision time on the Presidential route

One year

Option at eighteen

For a child born in Suriname to a parent living there, after three years of residence immediately before

Dual nationality

Lost by voluntary acquisition of another nationality

Becoming a Citizen of The Bahamas: Seven Years, a Renunciation, and a Rule About Sex

Naturalisation and registration both run through the Second Schedule to the Bahamas Nationality Act: twelve months of actual residence immediately before the application, plus six years in the preceding nine, good character, sufficient knowledge of English and of the responsibilities of a citizen, and an intention to make The Bahamas a permanent home. Seven years in ten, in substance. Two things are then worth setting out. The first is renunciation: section 5(2) bars registration of a Commonwealth citizen unless he first renounces any other citizenship, and the proviso to section 9 bars naturalisation on the same terms, so Bahamian citizenship is acquired by giving up what you have. Chile, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama ask it too; what this Act does is apply it to both routes at once. The second is sex. Article 10 of the Constitution entitles a woman who marries a Bahamian to register; there is no equivalent for a man. Article 8 passes citizenship at birth through the father and Article 9 gives the child of a Bahamian mother only a registration window between eighteen and twenty-one. Referendums in 2002 and 2016 proposed to change this and neither passed. Separately, the Department publishes a ten-year permanent residence requirement that the Act does not contain.

Residence immediately before applying

Twelve months, continuous

Residence before that

Six years in the aggregate within the preceding nine years

Dual citizenship on naturalisation

Not permitted; renunciation comes first

Dual citizenship afterwards

Grounds for deprivation

Citizenship by marriage

A wife of a Bahamian may register; a husband may not

Permanent residence first

Ten years of it, says the Department; the Act does not say so

Investment route to citizenship

None

Becoming a Citizen of Trinidad and Tobago

Birth in Trinidad and Tobago gives citizenship with only two exceptions, and they are the old diplomatic and enemy-alien ones; nothing turns on the parents' status. For everyone else the path forks on whether you are a Commonwealth citizen. A Commonwealth citizen, a citizen of Ireland or a British protected person is registered under section 7 after five years of residence or service, or a shorter period of not less than twelve months in special circumstances. An alien is naturalised under section 12 after twelve months immediately preceding the application plus five years out of the preceding seven. Both need good character, adequate knowledge of English and of the duties of a citizen, and the oath of allegiance; both are discretionary, the Minister may in each case. Section 13A bars either unless the applicant entered legally and is not in a prohibited class. The fork matters more than it looks, because the Constitution's own list of Commonwealth countries was last set in 1976 and the edition carries a footnote saying an Order to update it had not been made.

Birth in the country

Citizenship at the date of birth

Registration for a Commonwealth citizen

5 years

Shortest period the Minister may accept

12 months

Naturalisation for everyone else

12 months immediately before the application, plus 5 of the preceding 7 years

Language

Adequate knowledge of English and of the duties of a citizen

Dual citizenship

Kept by citizens by birth and by descent; lost by citizens by registration or naturalisation

Citizenship by investment

None

Citizenship by marriage

None

Uruguayan Legal Citizenship

Uruguay grants legal citizenship after three years of habitual residence if you have family here, five if you do not. Two things about it are routinely reported wrongly. The rights it confers cannot be exercised until three years after the certificate is granted, so the real clock is longer than the headline. And Uruguay's constitution treats citizenship and nationality as different things: a legal citizen holds a Uruguayan passport while their recorded nationality remains that of their birth country.

Residence, with family in Uruguay

3 years habitual residence

Residence, without family here

5 years habitual residence

Additional condition

Capital, property, or a science, art or industry

Wait after the certificate

3 further years before the rights can be exercised

Nationality

Unchanged

Proof of residence

A public or private instrument of established date

Becoming a Venezuelan Citizen

Naturalisation takes ten years of uninterrupted residence, cut to five if your original nationality is Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, or that of a Latin American or Caribbean country. Marriage to a Venezuelan is its own route at five years from the wedding. Venezuela does not ask you to give up the nationality you have - the Constitution says in terms that Venezuelan nationality is not lost by taking another, and the nationality law says a naturalised Venezuelan is not obliged to renounce theirs. Once granted, naturalisation can only be taken away by a court judgment. The decision on an application is due within six months.

Residence required

Ten years, uninterrupted

Reduced residence

Five years

By marriage

Five years from the date of the marriage

Renouncing your existing nationality

Not required

Decision due within

Six months

Revocation of naturalisation

Only by court judgment

Recovering Venezuelan nationality after renouncing it

Two years of domicile in Venezuela

Different by nationality: Italy · Portugal · Spain Read them