A fairly common situation: you have your Spanish citizenship application ready, you have already taken the CCSE or DELE exam, but you are still waiting for the result.
Can you submit your application now and provide the certificate once you receive your result?
A recent judgment by Spain’s Audiencia Nacional (National High Court) establishes an important criterion to keep in mind: if these exams are mandatory in your case, we do not recommend submitting your application until you have received a passing result.
💡 If you would like to learn more about the requirements, necessary documents, and application process, you can read our ARC Legal Guide to Spanish Citizenship by Residence.
⏺️ The exams must be passed before submitting the application
Judgment No. 367/2026, issued on July 24, 2026, by Spain’s Audiencia Nacional, examines the case of a Syrian citizen who applied for Spanish citizenship by residence on November 4, 2021.
His application included a CCSE certificate showing a passing result (APTO), but the certificate was dated December 13, 2021. In other words, the passing result was obtained after the citizenship application had been submitted.
The Audiencia Nacional is particularly clear on this point: the applicant was required to have passed the CCSE and DELE exams before applying for Spanish citizenship. The judgment states that applications cannot be submitted “in advance” on the assumption that the necessary requirements will be met while the application is being processed.
This distinction is particularly important: providing a document at a later stage that proves a requirement was already met when the application was submitted is not the same as meeting that requirement after the application has already been filed.
⏺️ What if I have already taken the exam and am just waiting for the result?
From a practical perspective, we recommend waiting.
Taking the exam does not mean that you have passed it. If you submit your citizenship application before receiving the result, you cannot yet demonstrate that you met this requirement on the date of filing.
This recommendation also reflects a trend currently being observed in practice: the Ministry of Justice appears to be taking a stricter approach to applications where the required exam results are provided only after the citizenship application has been submitted.
Therefore, although in the past applicants may have chosen in certain circumstances to file first and complete their application afterward, we currently consider this strategy to involve an unnecessary risk.
⏺️ What if one of my documents is about to expire?
This is one of the main reasons why an applicant may be tempted to file quickly.
For example, you may already have your criminal record certificate, birth certificate, and other documents ready, but still be waiting for your CCSE result.
In this situation, it can be tempting to submit the application immediately to prevent one of those documents from expiring.
However, it may be preferable to obtain a new copy of the relevant document and submit a complete application a few weeks later rather than risk a denial because the citizenship application was filed before all the requirements had been met.
⏺️ How ARC Legal can help
At ARC Legal, we review your situation before submitting your citizenship application to make sure that you meet all the applicable requirements and identify potential issues that could delay or jeopardize the process.
We can review your period of residence and absences from Spain, determine whether you need to take the CCSE or DELE, prepare the required documentation, submit your application, and handle the subsequent follow-up.
If you are considering applying for Spanish citizenship or are unsure whether your application is ready to be submitted, you can contact our team for an initial assessment of your case.
Related publications
- Spanish Nationality surpasses 1.2 Million applications: how the process has evolved as of June 30, 2026
- Spanish Nationality for PhD Students: the impact of the new criteria for the Research Residence Permit
- Spanish nationality for Sahrawis advances in the Spanish Congress
¿Prefieres leer este artículo en español 🇪🇸? Puedes encontrarlo aquí: ¿Puedo presentar la nacionalidad española antes de tener los resultados del CCSE o DELE?
The content of this article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Spanish immigration and citizenship regulations are subject to ongoing legal, administrative, and interpretative changes. At ARC Legal, we make every effort to keep the information we publish up to date and verified against official sources. However, we always recommend consulting a specialized professional before starting any procedure or making legal decisions. If you need advice tailored to your particular circumstances, you can contact our firm.professional before starting any procedure or making legal decisions. If you need advice tailored to your particular circumstances, you can contact our firm.