EU citizenship in 2026: every route, and all 27 countries

“EU citizenship” is not a document you apply for. There is no single “European Union passport”: there are the passports of 27 member states, and each one automatically makes its holder a citizen of the Union. So the real question is never “how do I get EU citizenship” — it is which of the 27 countries, and by which route. This guide is a map of every real route in 2026, and of what that passport actually gives you.

One fact worth keeping in mind throughout: an EU passport is not about travel, it is about the right to live somewhere. That is where most of the confusion sits, and where the most expensive mistakes hide.

What an EU passport actually gives you

Union citizenship is additional to national citizenship (Art. 20 TFEU) — it does not replace the national citizenship it comes with, it sits on top of the citizenship of the country you naturalize in. Whether you also keep the citizenship you hold today is a separate question, decided by two different legal systems, and the section on dual citizenship below works through it. The main right it carries is free movement: a citizen of the Union may move and reside freely in any of the 27 states (Art. 21 TFEU, spelled out by Directive 2004/38/EC). Not “enter for 90 days” — settle, work and study in any country of the Union.

That right does not stop at the EU border. Through separate agreements it extends to:

• Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein — through the European Economic Area (EEA) Agreement. (Caveat: Liechtenstein applies quotas to residence permits, so movement there is not entirely unrestricted.)
• Switzerland — through the separate bilateral EU–Switzerland Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons (in force since 1 June 2002). Switzerland is not an EEA member; it is its own legal track.

On top of that comes Schengen: travel with no border checks inside the zone (Schengen Borders Code, Regulation 2016/399). And the passport itself is among the strongest in the world — per Henley 2026, EU states carry visa-free access to roughly 174–186 destinations.

The EU does not grant citizenship — the 27 countries do

An important legal fact: the European Union naturalizes nobody. Who becomes a citizen is decided by each member state under its own law (this follows from Art. 20 TFEU, where Union citizenship is tied to national citizenship). So there is no single set of “EU citizenship rules” — there are 27 different sets of requirements on residence, language and integration.

Union law does impose one common limit: EU citizenship cannot be bought. On 29 April 2025, in Case C-181/23 Commission v Malta, the Court of Justice held that selling citizenship for predetermined payments is contrary to EU law — acquiring Union citizenship “cannot be the result of a commercial transaction”. The “buy an EU passport for a contribution” option therefore no longer exists: even the most expensive former scheme, Malta's, is closed.

Four families of routes

Despite 27 different legal systems, every real route to an EU passport falls into one of four families.

1. Naturalization — through residence

The main route for most people: live in the country lawfully for a set number of years, meet the requirements (language, integration, sometimes an exam), then apply. The residence term ranges from 5 to 10 years depending on the country. For anyone already lawfully resident in an EU state this is the most realistic route — and the term is only half the question, because each country also decides which kinds of residence count toward it. Check that on the country's own page before counting time you have already spent.

2. Descent (jus sanguinis) — through ancestors

Many EU countries grant citizenship by descent — through a father, a mother, sometimes a grandparent. If you have roots in one of the member states, this can be the fastest route of all, and it asks for no residence at all. The conditions, and how far back the ancestry is recognized, differ in every country — check the specific country page.

3. Marriage — a shortened term

Marriage to an EU citizen usually shortens the required residence term (by how much depends on the country), but almost nowhere does it grant citizenship automatically: residence, the marriage actually subsisting, and the other requirements are all still checked.

4. Investment — that is residence, not a passport

After the Malta ruling, direct “citizenship by investment” in the EU is effectively closed. The “golden visas” that still exist in some countries give a residence permit, not a passport — at best a way to start the naturalization clock earlier, not a route to citizenship in its own right. You cannot buy an EU passport. You can only earn it through residence, or inherit it by descent.

Fastest versus strongest

Globally, a “fast” passport often means a weak one. Inside the EU that trade-off barely exists: all 27 passports are strong (≈174–186 visa-free destinations). So when you choose between EU countries you are not trading passport strength. You are trading speed, the renunciation requirement, and how much effort the process demands.

• The fastest route inside the EU is the group of countries with a 5-year naturalization standard (our most accessible tier for the EU). By the Union's standards, that is “fast”.
• The slowest are the countries with 8–10 years of residence and the strictest conditions. The harshest is Austria, which as a general rule also requires you to renounce your previous citizenship.

The genuinely fast second passports measured by the calendar — naturalization in 2 years, as in Argentina, or a Caribbean citizenship-by-investment passport in roughly 6 months — all sit outside the EU. They are faster, but they are not an EU passport and they carry no right to live in the EU. Speeds are compared in the fastest citizenship guide. To weigh your own priorities (speed against passport strength against how the country treats dual citizenship), use the calculator.

Dual citizenship: two sides that have to line up

Whether you can keep the citizenship you already hold while taking an EU one is not one question but two, and both have to come out right.

• The destination side. A few EU states, as a general rule, require you to give up your previous citizenship when you naturalize — the classic examples are Austria and the Netherlands. Most do not.
• Your own side. Whether the country whose citizenship you already hold permits multiple citizenship at all. Some do, some do not, and some permit it only with a defined list of states. That question is answered by your own country's law, not by the country you are naturalizing in, and nothing in EU law settles it for you.

To end up holding both passports, both sides have to line up: the destination must not demand renunciation and your own country must permit multiple citizenship. Every country page states the destination side — whether that country requires you to renounce. The other side is a question about the law of the country you are already a citizen of, and it is one you have to answer for yourself.

All 27 EU countries by accessibility

Below are all 27 EU states, grouped by our accessibility tier, most accessible first. A tier is higher the shorter the residence term, the more tolerant the country is of dual citizenship, and the fewer additional barriers it puts up — language and religious requirements, mandatory renunciation. The list, the count and each country's tier are read live from our data: if the data changes, this section changes with it. The number on each card is the overall score; open a country to see its terms, requirements and sources.

Where to go next

• The EU region — all 27 countries with their scores side by side in one place.
• Calculator — weighs speed, passport strength, budget, the country's stance on dual citizenship and your willingness to relocate, then returns 3–5 countries for your situation.
• Germany: the route to citizenship — the most detailed breakdown of a single EU country (the StAG reform, the residence term, language, dual citizenship).
• Poland: the route to citizenship — the same treatment for Poland: the two grant routes, the residence count, the B1 language certificate and the Karta Polaka shortcut.
• Temporary protection: when the clock starts — for readers in the EU under temporary protection, the status granted to people displaced from Ukraine: whether that time counts toward the naturalization term (Directive 2001/55/EC).
• Fastest citizenship — the fast routes, including those outside the EU, with the honest caveats attached.