Dual Citizenship in Spain for Americans: The Renunciation Question

Dual citizenship in Spain works differently for Americans than for Mexicans or Argentines. When you become Spanish by residence, after the 10 years the Civil Code requires of most U.S. citizens, you must declare at the oath that you renounce your previous nationality, and the United States is not among the countries exempted from that declaration. What the declaration does to your U.S. citizenship is a question for U.S. law, which answers it on its own terms. Whether you keep Spanish nationality afterward depends on how you use the two. This article is for informational purposes only and is not immigration, tax or legal advice; verify current requirements with the relevant Spanish authority or a licensed professional.

Do you lose U.S. citizenship when you become Spanish?

Not by the Spanish grant alone, as the U.S. texts read. 8 U.S.C. 1481 lists the acts that can end U.S. nationality, starting with naturalization in a foreign state on your own application after age 18 and an oath of allegiance to a foreign state after 18. Each counts only when performed voluntarily and with the intention of relinquishing U.S. nationality; the Foreign Affairs Manual, at 7 FAM 1211, repeats both conditions and cites Afroyim v. Rusk (1967) and Vance v. Terrazas (1980).

The regulation consular officers apply, 22 CFR 50.40, presumes you meant to stay a citizen: U.S. citizens who naturalize abroad or take a routine oath of allegiance need not submit evidence of that intent. Its one stated limit: a person who affirmatively tells a consular officer, after the act, that they meant to relinquish U.S. citizenship loses it. Whoever claims a loss must prove it by a preponderance of the evidence, the statute adds.

The State Department’s legal page on dual nationality goes further: U.S. law does not require a citizen to choose, and a U.S. citizen “may naturalize in a foreign state without any risk” to that citizenship. Since the statute still lists foreign naturalization, plan on the presumption as protection for the ordinary case, not as proof that nothing you tell a consular officer matters.

No current State Department page read defines a “routine oath of allegiance” or addresses a foreign oath that includes a renunciation of prior nationality, as Spain’s does; 7 FAM 1250, the manual’s chapter on foreign naturalization, now reads “unassigned”. The sharper risk sits on the Spanish side.

Spanish law and U.S. law, side by side

Spain asks for a declaration; the United States looks for intent.

Why Americans must declare the renunciation

Article 23 of the Civil Code (BOE consolidated text of January 3, 2025) sets three conditions for acquiring Spanish nationality by residence: the oath, the declaration of renunciation, and registration in the Civil Registry. Exempt from the renunciation are natives of the article 24.1 countries (the Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea and Portugal) and Sephardim originating from Spain; nationals of origin of those countries also need 2 years of residence, against the general 10 for Americans, or 1 for an American married to a Spaniard for a year. The full file is in the nationality by residence guide, the tests in the DELE and CCSE exams guide. No official page read lists the United States or mentions a U.S.-Spain dual nationality treaty.

France: two ministries, two lists

A Spain-France nationality convention entered into force on April 1, 2022, letting citizens of each country take the other’s nationality without renouncing their own, the Justice Ministry announced. The Foreign Ministry’s consular page on nationality by option lists France as exempt; the Justice Ministry’s dual nationality page and its notary instruction of December 22, 2021 do not. France’s exemption comes from the treaty, not from article 24. For an American nothing changes: the United States is on neither list.

Born in Puerto Rico

The Justice Ministry’s page says Puerto Rico is considered Ibero-American for dual nationality purposes, unlike Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago or Guyana. No official page read says how a Civil Registry applies this to a U.S. citizen born in Puerto Rico, for instance whether a Puerto Rico birth certificate proves you are a native of an Ibero-American country. If this is your case, ask the registry or notary before the appointment.

When and where the declaration happens

The Justice Ministry’s page on the steps after the grant places the renunciation at the Civil Registry, unless a dual nationality case applies. The 2021 reform of article 68.3 of the Civil Registry Law added two options, which the ministry’s instruction of December 22, 2021 sets out: a notary, in a public deed recording the oath, any renunciation and your surnames, or a diplomatic or consular officer in charge of the Civil Registry. Children under 14 take no oath and make no renunciation, both acts being strictly personal.

Article 21.4 of the Civil Code says a grant by residence lapses 180 days after notification if you have not appeared to meet those requirements. A circular of March 5, 2021 from the Justice Ministry’s registry directorate (DGSJFP) tells registries to question the deadline only after 190 days from the grant (180 plus 10 for notification), and under the notary instruction a request for the oath before a notary suspends the period while it is handled. Plan on 180 days from notification: the 190 days are administrative practice, not the law.

The three-year rule that can cost you Spanish nationality

Article 25.1.a of the Civil Code applies only to Spaniards who are not Spaniards of origin, which includes every American naturalized by residence: they lose Spanish nationality when, for a period of three years, they use exclusively the nationality they declared they renounced. Recovery is also harder than after other kinds of loss. Article 26.1 lets a legal resident of Spain recover lost nationality by a declaration at the Civil Registry, but article 26.2 bars anyone caught by article 25 from doing so without a prior authorization the Government grants at its discretion.

This is where the two systems meet. Subject to exceptions the President may set, 8 U.S.C. 1185(b) makes it unlawful for a U.S. citizen to leave or enter the United States without a valid U.S. passport, and the State Department says you may not enter on a foreign passport, may not use one to apply for an ESTA, and as a citizen are not eligible for a U.S. visa. The same page notes that in a country whose nationality you also hold, you may need that country’s passport.

No official Spanish text read defines “exclusive use” or says whether using a U.S. passport where U.S. law demands it counts toward the three years. The texts leave the question open both ways: nothing read says such use is safe, and nothing says it is exclusive use. If much of your travel runs through the United States, put the question to a Spanish nationality lawyer with your travel record in hand.

Renouncing U.S. citizenship as a separate act

Formal renunciation, the fifth act listed in 8 U.S.C. 1481, is made before a U.S. diplomatic or consular officer in a foreign state. It is separate from the Spanish oath. In Spain, the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and the Consulate General in Barcelona handle requests for a Certificate of Loss of Nationality, according to the embassy’s renunciation page, updated March 13, 2026:

1. Contact the American Citizen Services unit through the online assistant: renunciations cannot be booked as a regular appointment.
2. Send scanned documents and complete Part I of Form DS-4079, leaving Part II blank and unsigned.
3. Attend a first interview, then a final interview in person with the originals.
4. Sign Part II before the officer, then pay the fee if you choose to proceed.
5. Wait for the State Department’s review, which may take several months or more.

The fee has been $450 since April 13, 2026, down from $2,350, under a State Department final rule published in the Federal Register on March 13, 2026. The embassy page gives no amount but says the fee cannot be waived and is not refunded if the request is denied. It calls the loss of U.S. nationality irrevocable.

The tax side: returns now, Form 8854 if you renounce

The State Department’s dual nationality page says U.S. citizens must comply with U.S. tax laws, so your returns continue after the Spanish oath. The state side of a move abroad is in the state income tax guide.

A renunciation adds the rules on the IRS expatriation tax page. You are a covered expatriate if any one of three tests applies:

• average annual net income tax above $211,000 for the 5 taxable years before expatriation, the 2026 figure in Rev. Proc. 2025-32 (the IRS page stops at $206,000 for 2025);
• a net worth of $2 million or more on the expatriation date;
• no certification on Form 8854 of full federal tax compliance for the 5 preceding years.

A covered expatriate’s property is generally treated as sold at fair market value the day before the expatriation date, with the gain reduced, but not below zero, by $910,000 for 2026. For tax purposes you expatriate on the earliest of four dates, the first being the day you renounce before the consular officer if the certificate is later issued. The initial Form 8854 goes with your income tax return for that year, and not filing it when required can bring a $10,000 penalty.

The Form 8854 instructions’ exception for people who became U.S. and foreign citizens at birth does not reach nationality acquired by residence, and even those people must certify 5 years of compliance. If you are behind on filings, see the streamlined procedure guide.

Settle your intent before the oath appointment

Before booking the oath, within 180 days of the notification, read articles 23 to 26 of the Civil Code and the exact wording of the declaration your registry or notary uses, and go ahead only if you can make the renunciation it contains. What that declaration does to your U.S. citizenship is for U.S. law to decide, under 22 CFR 50.40. If you would rather not naturalize, the indefinite status is long-term residence, which involves no change of nationality.

An American who has read the declaration’s wording, lives in Spain most of the year and is current on U.S. filings can take the oath without a lawyer. See a Spanish nationality lawyer first if you were born in Puerto Rico, spend long periods in the United States, or hesitate over the declaration’s wording, and a U.S. tax professional before any step toward renouncing, because the Form 8854 tests look back 5 years.

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