How long does citizenship by descent take? Processing times in 46 countries

Citizenship by descent can take 15 days or five years, depending on the country and the route. Where you are already a citizen through a parent and only need to register, it is often a matter of weeks or months. Grandparent, restoration and diaspora routes usually take one to two years, and Romania commonly takes longer. Several countries publish no processing time at all. And in almost every guide, finding and preparing the records takes longer than the government’s decision.

The table below gives the time each of our 46 country guides states, in the guide’s own terms: a legal deadline where the law sets one, a consulate’s estimate where that is all there is, and “not published” where that is the honest answer. Follow the country link for the detail and the official sources.

The short answer

• Days to weeks: Georgia (15 days free, faster for a fee) and Liechtenstein (about 5–10 working days for a registration).
• A few months: Czech declarations (60 days plus up to 30 for an embassy to forward), Hungary’s certificate of citizenship (60 days by law), Luxembourg’s Article 23 option (around four months), Latvia (usually a few months), Netherlands option procedures, Serbia (3–12 months).
• Six months to two years: Ireland’s Foreign Births Register (about 12 months), Lithuania, Estonia, Greece, France, Croatia, Bulgaria, Malta, Ukraine, Slovakia (up to 24 months), Italy at most consulates.
• Longer: Romania (18–36 months typical, 3–5 years for difficult Article 11 cases).
• No official time published: Germany, Austria’s § 58c, Portuguese grandchild declarations, Monaco and San Marino. Poland has a six-month legal deadline but no published average.

Processing times in every country guide

Times run from a complete application unless the row says otherwise. They don’t include the months you may spend gathering records first.

Times are as each guide states them, from the official sources that guide lists. Consulates and ministries change their estimates; check the country guide and the authority before you plan around a date.

Legal deadlines versus real waits

A legal deadline and a typical wait are different things, and several guides show the gap:

• Poland: since 1 August 2025 the law gives the voivode six months, but certain periods don’t count: time you’re given to answer a request for more documents, periods when the case is suspended, and delays caused by you or by things outside the office’s control. See Polish citizenship confirmation: form, fee and timeline.
• Hungary: the legal limit for simplified naturalization is usually 3 months, extendable by 60 days, not counting time to supply extra documents, but the Toronto consulate says 6–12 months is typical in practice. Details are in our simplified naturalization guide.
• Romania: the National Citizenship Authority aims for 12 months; backlogs mean 18–36 months is typical.
• Slovakia: the Ministry of Interior has up to 24 months, though many cases are decided sooner.

Where no deadline is published, the guides say so rather than guess. Germany’s BVA, for example, handles files in order of receipt, often asks for more documents and runs security checks on every case. Austria’s Foreign Ministry and Ministry of the Interior publish no time for § 58c declarations (see Austrian citizenship under § 58c), and Portugal’s registry publishes none for grandchildren (see Portuguese citizenship for grandchildren).

What makes it slow

1. Finding the records

This is the step our guides most often call the slowest. Some examples:

• The Czech embassy in Washington warns that if your ancestor emigrated before 1953, archive research adds at least six months.
• In Latvia, finding proof of the ancestor’s 1940 citizenship (1935 census entries, pre-war passports or house registers) often takes longer than the decision itself. The National Archives of Latvia says an archive statement on interwar citizenship takes about one month.
• Records from former Hungarian territories now in Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Ukraine or Austria can add months before you file a Hungarian claim.
• Romanian civil registries and archives add 3–12 months; Bulgarian archives 2–6 months; Serbian archives 2–4 months, according to those guides.
• In Ukraine, records in occupied or conflict-affected regions may be inaccessible, and reconstructing them adds months.

Our guides to church records, USCIS naturalization records and proving an ancestor never naturalized cover where to look.

2. Apostilles and their expiry dates

Nearly every guide needs foreign documents apostilled, and you can’t send them until the apostilles are back. Some authorities also want recent documents: Slovakia’s Office for Slovaks Living Abroad wants apostilles no older than six months, Austria a criminal record certificate no more than 8 months old, and Germany’s BVA a police certificate no more than six months old. Order those last, so they don’t expire while you wait for the rest. Our apostille guide explains how to get them.

3. Translations

Most countries want certified translations into their language, and some are particular about who makes them. Spain generally wants a sworn translator (traductor jurado) or one your consulate accepts; Lithuania a qualified translator or translation office. Getting this wrong can mean a request for new translations, which stops the clock. See certified translation for citizenship by descent and apostille vs certified translation.

4. Name and date mismatches

Our Italy guide calls inconsistencies between records, such as “Giuseppe” on one and “Joseph” on another, the most common cause of delay. Ireland deals with the same problem through a statutory declaration explaining the difference. Either way, fix it before you file, not after.

5. Queues and appointments

Consulate capacity drives the wait in several countries. Italian times vary heavily by consulate; most use the Prenot@mi booking system. Croatian missions give different estimates (18–24 months in the US, 12–24 in Australia), Ukrainian consulates have faced heavy backlogs since 2022, and Spain’s Buenos Aires consulate said in October 2026 that it was still working on Democratic Memory Law files handed in during September 2023.

How to speed it up

Paying for faster service is only possible in a few places. What actually shortens most claims is a complete file the first time. From the guides:

1. Check the route before you spend money. The free eligibility checker and our requirements by country page tell you which route applies, so you only order the documents that route needs.
2. Order the hardest record first. Malta’s guide says to order the Malta-born ancestor’s birth certificates first, because they anchor the claim. For Poland, the naturalization certificate and the ancestor’s birth date are often the two most important papers. Our document chain guide and documents checklist help you plan the order.
3. Meet the language requirement before you file. Portugal’s guide says getting the A2 certificate first avoids the most common delay for grandchildren. Romania requires B1 Romanian on both articles since March 2025. See language requirements by country.
4. Know the place names your authority will ask for. Bosnia’s guide says knowing your parent’s municipality and entity speeds up registration considerably; Greek claims start from the family’s municipal registration (dimotologio).
5. Answer requests quickly. In Poland and Hungary, time spent waiting for your extra documents doesn’t count toward the deadline. Ireland’s Passport Service may decide on what it has if your documents haven’t arrived within 20 weeks of applying.
6. Don’t assume another office is faster. Croatia publishes no time for filing in Zagreb, so there’s no reliable evidence that it beats a consulate. Italy’s guide notes some consulates, such as Los Angeles, now take files by post.
7. Get help for genuinely hard chains. Where records are missing or the line is complex, a professional can save more time than they cost. See when to hire a genealogist.

One deadline you can’t speed past: in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland, dual citizens born abroad have to act before 22, in Belgium before 28 and in Switzerland before 25. Those are covered in dual citizenship by descent, country by country. For what each claim costs, see how much citizenship by descent costs, and for what comes next, what to do after you’re approved.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

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

• Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki: confirmation of Polish citizenship (6-month deadline, periods not counted, warning of delays)
• Ministry of the Interior of the Czech Republic: citizenship by declaration under § 31 (decision within 60 days)
• Office of Citizenship and Migration Affairs (Latvia): Latvian exiles and their descendants (four-month deadline)
• Public Service Development Agency (Georgia): citizenship services (15 days free; paid faster service)
• Department of Foreign Affairs (Ireland): registering a foreign birth and Passport Service turnaround times
• Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (Croatia): applying for Croatian citizenship (mission processing estimates)
• Bundesverwaltungsamt (Germany): declaration under § 5 StAG (no processing time published)
• Consulate General of Hungary, Toronto: simplified naturalization (6–12 months in practice)
• Liechtenstein National Administration: registration of children of Liechtenstein parents (5–10 working days)

Checked against these sources on 29 October 2026. The Polish, Czech, Latvian and Georgian pages were read directly on that date; the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs pages blocked automated access, so the Irish figures are as our Irish guides recorded them on 24 October 2026. Every other time on this page is as stated in the linked country guide, which gives its own sources and check date. Processing times change often; confirm with the authority or your consulate before you plan around one.