We advise you in English from start to finish. The deed itself is signed in Spanish before a Spanish notary — that is a legal requirement we cannot change. If you do not have a sufficient command of Spanish, Spanish law requires an interpreter or a sworn translator to be present at the signing, and NotaríaExpress arranges one for you. We will tell you in advance whether your case needs one.
The 180-day deadline lapses — it cannot be paused or extended
From the day after you are notified of the decision granting citizenship you have 180 calendar days to swear or pledge allegiance. It is a lapse period, not a limitation period: it runs continuously, filing documents does not interrupt it, and there is no administrative extension you can apply for.
If it expires without the oath, the grant falls away and the entire file has to be started again — after months or years of waiting. That is why, when only a few weeks remain, joining the Civil Registry queue is not an answer: in the large cities those appointments can run months behind.
How long it actually takes
- Consultation and document review — within 24 hoursSend us the decision and your certificates. Same day, we tell you what is missing, what has expired and what needs a sworn translation.
- Finding a notary with availability — 24 to 72 hoursWe work with notaries across Spain. We look for the first slot that fits you, not the next one in the queue.
- Signing — usually within the following weekYou attend with your originals. The signing takes minutes; the work is done beforehand.
- Filed with the Civil Registry — the same dayThe notary transmits the deed electronically. From there, the entry depends on the registry's workload.
In practice this means the signing is usually done one to two weeks after you first write to us. If your deadline is shorter than that, say so in your first message and we prioritise the case.
What we need from you straight away
- Decision granting citizenship (original) and the exact notification date.
- Valid passport and NIE/TIE for the day of signing.
- Birth certificate from your country of origin, apostilled or legalised.
- Criminal record certificate from your country of origin, still valid and apostilled.
- Certificate of registration, only if you have moved since applying.
The three reasons an urgent oath falls through
- An expired criminal record certificate. Many countries issue them with three or six months' validity. If your file took a while, the one you hold is probably no longer usable and must be requested again, with a fresh apostille.
- Missing sworn translation. Documents in a language the notary cannot read need a sworn translation by a translator accredited by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. That takes days to obtain.
- Your mother's surname. Nationals of Russia and the former Soviet republics, Romania, Moldova, Morocco and other countries where a married woman takes her husband's surname will be asked for their mother's birth certificate or her marriage certificate showing her maiden name.
How many days do you have left?
Send us the notification date and we will tell you today whether you can make it — the consultation is free.
If your deadline has already passed
We will be straight with you: if the 180 days expired and nothing had been started, the general rule is that the file must be started again. We are not going to tell you otherwise. In practice the situation tends to be handled more flexibly where an appointment had already been requested or the procedure was under way before expiry, but that depends on the case and on the registry's view.
Write to us with the dates and we will tell you what real margin you have — before you spend money on translations or apostilles that may turn out to be useless.
Fixed price, no rush surcharge
250€ + VAT (302.50€ VAT included), with the notarial fee included. It is the same price as the standard citizenship oath — we do not charge extra for handling it quickly. Obtaining documents abroad and sworn translation are not included, as they do not depend on us.
If you want to handle it in the capital, see the citizenship oath in Madrid.