How much does citizenship by descent cost? Official fees in 46 countries

The government fee for citizenship by descent is often small, and sometimes nothing at all. Across our 46 country guides, official fees run from free in Hungary, Luxembourg and Austria’s § 58c route to €600 per adult in Italy. What usually costs more is the paperwork: records, apostilles and translations, which the guides put at a few hundred euros to over €1,000. Several countries publish no fee at all, and where that is so, the table says it.

Below is each guide’s official fee and its estimate of the other costs, in the guide’s own words. Currencies are as the authority charges them. Follow the country link for the detail and the official sources.

The short answer

• No government fee: Hungary, Austria’s § 58c declaration, Germany’s § 5 declaration, Luxembourg’s Article 23 option, French consulates (no filing fee), Latvian registration, Spanish birth registration, Swedish and Norwegian retention, Finnish registration.
• Under €200 or so: Cyprus (€20–€80 by form), Georgia (free, or GEL 40–100 for speed), Slovakia (€30 under § 7(8)), Croatia (EUR 139.36), Lithuania (€159), Portugal (€175), Poland (277 zł), Malta (€150 plus €50).
• Higher: Ireland (€278 plus the passport), Italy (€600), Switzerland’s reinstatement (CHF 900), UK registrations outside the special sections (£1,540 plus a £130 ceremony).
• Not published: Monaco and San Marino; several Balkan countries leave consular fees to each embassy.

Official fees in every country guide

The “other costs” column gives the guide’s own estimate. Those are typical figures, not official ones, and depend on how many generations and countries your records span.

Fees are as each guide states them. Governments change fees, often at the start of a year; check the country guide and the authority’s own fee table before you pay.

The costs on top of the fee

Our guides break the extra costs into the same few items. The ranges below are the ones the guides give; they vary by country, by provider and by how many documents you need.

Records

You need a certified record for every link in the chain, from the authority that holds it. Some examples from the guides:

• Ireland: a full birth certificate from the HSE civil registration service, €20 plus postage (€5 outside Ireland); GRONI charges £15 for a Northern Ireland certificate, excluding postage.
• Greece: authenticated copies of municipal records, €3–€10 a page.
• Romania: civil registry extracts €5–€20; archive research at DANIC €10–€30 an hour.
• Bulgaria: registry extracts €5–€15; State Archive research €10–€30 a session.
• Lithuania: archive records ordered remotely, €15–€50 each.
• Estonia: National Archives requests, €3–€15 per record.
• France: records from the SCEC (Service Central d’État Civil) are free.

US naturalization files cost extra too; our USCIS genealogy records guide explains how to order them, and our church records guide covers parish books.

Apostilles

Foreign public documents generally need an apostille. The guides put them at €10–€40 per document (Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, the Netherlands, France), €15–€40 (Greece, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg) and £15–£30 in the UK. Multiply by every document in the chain. See our apostille guide.

Translations

Certified translations into the country’s language are usually the largest single extra:

• €30–€60 per document (Portugal), €30–€70 (Lithuania), €30–€80 (France, the Netherlands).
• €40–€80 per document (Romania, Croatia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine), €40–€80 per page for Italian court cases.
• €60–€120 per document (Greece, Estonia, Latvia).

Some countries cut this cost. Austria’s § 58c makes translations free of Austrian fees and German or English records need none; the US embassy accepts a Latvian translation by anyone fluent in Latvian with a signed statement; Luxembourg needs none for French, German or Luxembourgish records. See certified translation for citizenship by descent and apostille vs certified translation.

Other items the guides list

• Language exams: Portugal’s A2 exam (CAPLE/CIPLE) €80–€120. See language requirements by country.
• Criminal record certificates: €50–€150 in total for Portugal, from every country involved.
• Postage and returns: Latvia charges €12.15 plus postage to post your originals back.
• Travel: Luxembourg’s option is signed in person in Luxembourg; Montenegro’s Article 10 needs two years’ residence.
• The passport: usually a separate fee once you are a citizen, such as Ireland’s €75 online or a first Czech passport at CZK 2,400.

Lawyers and court cases

Most routes can be filed without a lawyer, but some guides give professional costs where they are common. Italy’s 1948 court route has Italian legal fees commonly €5,000–€15,000 or more (our 1948 rule guide breaks them down); Czech citizenship specialists €1,500–€4,000; Spanish Democratic Memory Law specialists €800–€3,000. If you need research help rather than legal advice, see when to hire a genealogist.

How to keep costs down

1. Confirm the route before you order anything. Fees like Italy’s €600 and Portugal’s €175 aren’t refunded on refusal. Run the free eligibility checker and compare requirements by country.
2. Order only what your route needs. A Polish applicant who attaches a parent’s confirmation decision skips the grandparents’ part of the form. Our documents checklist and document chain guide help you avoid duplicates.
3. Check whether filing at home or abroad changes the fee. Czech declarations cost CZK 500 in the Czech Republic and CZK 1,000 at an embassy; Croatia charges EUR 139.36 in Zagreb only on approval, while consulates charge their own fee up front.
4. Fix name and date mismatches before you file. A rejected or delayed file can mean paying for new records, apostilles or translations.

For how long each claim takes, see how long citizenship by descent takes; for whether you can keep your current passport, see dual citizenship by descent, country by country; and for the steps after approval, what to do once you’re approved.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

Each country guide linked in the table lists the official sources behind its fee. The main ones are:

• Consulate General of Italy in Los Angeles: citizenship by descent (€600 per adult application since 1 January 2025)
• Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki: confirmation of Polish citizenship (277 zł; 17 zł power of attorney)
• Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (Portugal): fees for services (€175, article 18, item 2.1.1)
• Ministry of the Interior (Croatia): citizenship (EUR 139.36 on a positive decision)
• Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic: citizenship by declaration under § 31 (CZK 500 fee in the Czech Republic)
• Community Malta Agency: acquisition of citizenship (€150 application, €50 certificate)
• Public Service Development Agency (Georgia): citizenship services (free in 15 days; GEL 40, 60 or 100 for faster service)
• Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (Latvia): Latvian exiles and their descendants (€12.15 to return originals; no registration fee listed)
• Home Office: immigration and nationality fees from 8 October 2026 (£130 ceremony; £1,540 adult registration)
• Passport Service (Ireland): passport fees and Department of Foreign Affairs: registering a foreign birth (€278 / €153)

Checked against these sources on 29 October 2026. The Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Croatian, Czech, Maltese, Georgian, Latvian and UK pages were read directly on that date; the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs pages blocked automated access, so the Irish fees are as our Irish guides recorded them on 24 October 2026. Every other figure is as stated in the linked country guide, which gives its own sources and check date. The estimates for records, apostilles and translations are the guides’ typical ranges, not official prices. Confirm the current fee with the authority or your consulate before you pay.