The Principality of Monaco has passed new legislation on one of the options for obtaining citizenship.
After a period of two years of intense debates and an official declaration that the draft of the new act on acquiring citizenship by marriage will be made publicly available by June 17, 2021, on November 24, 2021, the act on acquiring citizenship by marriage (No. 1038) was passed by the National Council.
As a result of a change in the legal environment in the Principality of Monaco, a person applying for Monaco nationality by marriage must have been married to a Monaco national for twenty years.
Refusing to abolish the possibility of acquiring Monaco nationality by marriage, the National Council decided to double the ten-year period from the entry into force of the previous 2011 law.
The new legislation on obtaining Monaco nationality by marriage was enacted in order to preserve Monaco's social and economic model.
Since the Principality of Monaco is not expandable, the vote on this bill is a means to preserve the rights and benefits of citizens for future generations, while allowing nationality to be united within families.
The law has already been passed, but in accordance with the wishes of the Commission, taking into account the repeated postponement of marriages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the law entered into force on July 1, 2022.
In conclusion, the new 20-year marriage period will apply only to marriages that were concluded after July 1, 2022. Couples who got married before that date will still be subject to the ten-year period.
