Citizenship by Marriage: What You Need to Know

Citizenship by Marriage: What You Need to Know
Ted's wife, from South Africa, navigated the path to US citizenship.|©iStock/Michal Krakowiak

My wife is a native born South African. In the late 2000s, when we were contemplating moving to the States for work, we set about getting her a green card. The process was remarkably smooth… especially compared to today.

After we'd been in the US for three years, she decided to apply for citizenship. Again, the process (in 2011 or so) was relatively smooth. Note that she didn’t apply for a passport based on marriage; rather, her marriage to me made her eligible for permanent residency, which in turn made her eligible for citizenship.

This is something that confuses many people. Some people assume you can get citizenship simply by being married to a citizen of the country. In fact, the US approach is more common. You get residency by marriage, then citizenship by spending time in the country with your spouse.

I got thinking about this when someone on our community website asked about the process of becoming a citizen via marriage in two Eastern European countries.

In both cases, the process was somewhat convoluted. The foreign spouse first had to apply for temporary residency, then for permanent residency. After a given number of years, the spouse could apply for a passport. But even then, they had to prove proficiency in the language and several other tests. One country took five years to complete this process, the other seven.

Then one of my colleagues asked the question: what are the fastest countries to get citizenship by marriage? Here’s what my research revealed:

Time Period Countries
3 Years USA, Ireland, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Slovenia, Portugal, Serbia, Uruguay, Dominica, Sweden, Germany
2 Years Chili, Grenada, Bolivia, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Poland, Columbia, Italy
1 Year Spain, Belize, Brazil
Instantly Cabo Verde, Luxembourg (if the citizen spouse works for the government abroad)

Note: These time periods assume you’re living inside the country with the citizen spouse. Some countries add an extra year or two if you’re living outside the country. Also, not all of these countries recognize same sex marriages or civil unions.

Of course the question is why this would matter. After all, I wouldn’t encourage anyone to get married just for citizenship. Governments tend not to like that!

Nevertheless, it is useful to know that if you are married to a spouse from one of these countries, you have a relatively rapid pathway to citizenship there.

Who knows? With the way things are going in the US, you could start seeing people advertising their citizenships on dating sites!

The other aspect, of course, is that if you get a second citizenship, it could make it easier for your spouse to follow you—depending on the country.

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