Could you pass the Spanish Citizenship exam?
Many British residents of Spain are looking into what it takes to gain Spanish Citizenship, including us. For us, Spain is very much home and we don’t see that changing in the future. By attaining Spanish Citizenship we will be able to vote in General elections and will hold a Spanish passport.
Of course you will need to have lived here for a decade (and have been registered as doing so), have embraced Spanish life, be integrated into your community, and speak Spanish to a decent level. Is that you?
Obviously only you can answer most of those questions. But what of the CCSE knowledge test that needs to be taken? We have got a sample set of questions for you to see how well you would do.
[slickquiz id=5]
Are you eligible?
Anyone applying for Spanish citizenship needs to have been registered as residing in Spain continuously for a minimum of ten years, prove a healthy grasp of the language (having achieved level DELE A2) and must have integrated into their community.
But there are exceptions:
- A refugee needs only 5 years residency
- Citizens of Latin American countries need onnly two years residency
- If you marry a Spaniard you need only one year
- If you are the widow or widower of a Spaniard you need only one year
- If you were born outside of Spain but you have Spanish parents or grandparents you need only one year.
- There is also a special arrangement for Sephardic Jews.
If in doubt – speak to a lawyer local to where you live in Spain, or to your Embassy. They will be able to advise you through the entire process.
To register for the CCSE test – visit https://ccse.cervantes.es and follow the steps – in Spanish of course.
The Cervantes website tells you everything you need to know, as well as enabling you to book your exams online and download a sample CCSE test in Spanish.
Elle, along with Alan, is the owner of Spain Buddy and the busy web design business – Spain Web Design by Gandy-Draper.
Born a “Norverner”, she then spent most of her life “Dann Saff” before moving to Spain in 2006. Elle’s loves are Alan, the internet, dogs, good food, and dry white wine – although not necessarily in that order.
July 16, 2016 @ 6:03 pm
Do you know of anything to help study for the exam? And can you keep taking it until you pass?
(I scraped a pass)
July 17, 2016 @ 9:10 am
You can definitely keep taking it until you pass, but you can’t book the next one until you’ve received your results. I believe you get two tried per €85 registration – but I only skimread that yesterday so you’d need to double check on the Cervantes website.
As for tools – click here: https://ccse.cervantes.es/materiales – whether that works only if you’re registered and logged in, I don’t know. I’m logged in so I can see it.
Your Spanish is good enough to sail through the language skills section, I’m sure Sheila. I’ve heard you speak. Whether it’s to DELE A2 level, I wouldn’t know. That’s my next point of research :)
Do register on their site – you can stop wading through the steps once it gets to the “Book an Exam” stage… but still access other areas.
Good luck!
July 17, 2016 @ 2:52 pm
I found it harder in English than the Spanish practice one ???
If you google a2 language standards it will explain the grammatical principles that you must understand and be able to use.