The same citizenship costs A2 in Madrid and B2 in Paris

Every immigration forum has a thread that asks what level of the language you need for citizenship, and every answer in it is somebody’s memory of somebody’s summary. This page answers it from the statute or decree of each country, quoting the words that set the level, on 11, 20 and 26 September 2026. Where an instrument names an exception, the exception is here. Where we could not read the law itself, the row says so instead of guessing.

The spread is two whole levels. Across 66 countries whose law we read, the answer runs from A2 in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands to B2 in France, with B1 the most common answer, Finland asking for a level of its own naming, Denmark and Sweden naming a test rather than a letter, Croatia, Latvia and Bulgaria describing the level in words, Slovenia naming only a “basic level” exam, Slovakia testing by a newspaper article read aloud and summarised, Lithuania naming only its own exam (A2 comes from a Government resolution), Canada, South Korea and the United States describing it in plain words, Japan’s statute saying nothing about language at all, Australia and New Zealand asking for “basic” and “sufficient” English with no score, Ireland, Argentina, Uruguay and Serbia asking for no language at all, Turkey asking only that applicants can speak enough Turkish, Iceland pegging its test to a 240-hour course, Taiwan accepting a course certificate in place of a test, Malta accepting English instead of Maltese, Armenia exempting anyone of Armenian ethnicity, Georgia leaving its “established limits” to a regulation, Israel checking Hebrew in a short casual conversation at the counter, Russia accepting a Soviet-era school certificate as proof, Mexico excusing applicants over 60 from its history exam but not from its Spanish one, Indonesia accepting the applicant’s own signed statement, Thailand’s ministry naming speaking and listening only, the Philippines asking for two languages at once, Costa Rica writing speaking, writing and reading Spanish into its Constitution, Colombia testing Spanish only when it is not the applicant’s mother tongue, Ecuador still evaluating the Spanish of older applicants it excuses from the knowledge exam, Peru accepting Quechua or Aymara as well as Spanish in a 2025 law that still waits for its regulation, Bosnia and Herzegovina accepting the language and script of any one of its three constituent peoples, Panama writing “el idioma español” into its Constitution, Vietnam asking for enough Vietnamese to integrate and excusing anyone with a Vietnamese spouse or child, Andorra asking for a B1 Catalan diploma up to age 70, Singapore accepting any one of four languages for registration, Malaysia sending applicants to a Language Board, Kazakhstan refusing applicants without elementary Kazakh, Morocco accepting Amazigh in place of Arabic since 2023, the United Arab Emirates asking Arabic of applicants after up to thirty years’ residence, and Romania naming neither and asking at an interview. And the level is only half of the rule: Norway tests speaking alone, France tests speaking and writing, Switzerland wants B1 spoken but only A2 written, Luxembourg wants A2 spoken but B1 understood, and the Netherlands tests all four skills at a level its own integration law has since abandoned.

Three levels for one act. The Council of Europe’s scale was built so that a B1 in one language means the same as a B1 in another. Twenty states have used it to set twenty thresholds for the same legal event, and they span A2 to B2; 46 more, Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania, South Korea, Japan, Iceland, Taiwan, Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Russia, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Malta, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Argentina, Panama, Uruguay, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Turkey, Sweden and the United States, never write a letter for naturalisation at all. A candidate who moves from Madrid to Paris does not become a worse speaker; the bar moves two rungs under them.

The direction is up, almost everywhere. France raised nationality from B1 to B2 on 1 January 2026. Sweden, which had no language condition at all, wrote one into its citizenship act on 6 June 2026 and has a national test scheduled for 1 October 2027. Finland lengthened residence from five years to eight in 2024 and, by a law of 16 June 2026, adds a citizenship test from 1 January 2027. Germany’s faster route, which the 2024 reform attached to a C1 certificate, now reads (weggefallen) in the statute. Italy’s court moved the other way on one point only, carving out people who cannot learn. The Netherlands is the exception in the whole table: its 2021 integration law went to B1, and its naturalisation regulation answered by pinning itself to the repealed A2 law, which is how a country ends up with a requirement of A2 by explicit reference to a text no longer in force.

Skills are not interchangeable across rows. Norway’s § 8 names the oral test and nothing else: a candidate who writes at C1 and speaks at A2 does not qualify. France’s decree names oral and written. The Dutch decree names four skills. Germany names an exam at B1 and leaves the skills to the exam. Switzerland and Luxembourg split the level itself by skill: B1 spoken and A2 written in one, A2 spoken and B1 understood in the other, and Luxembourg never tests a written word. Comparing “B1” across those rows without reading the skills column is how people arrive with the wrong paper.

The proof can expire before the right to use it. France’s arrêtés give a test attestation two years and a diploma no term at all, so the same B2 is permanent proved one way and dead in two years proved the other. Britain goes the opposite direction and accepts a B1 that has already run out, provided it was accepted at settlement. Whether a certificate is still good is a question about the country, not the certificate.

Décret n° 2025-648 amends the 1993 decree twice with one sentence: la référence : « B1 » est remplacée par la référence : « B2 », once for acquisition by marriage and once for naturalisation. The arrêtés of 22 December 2025 set the whole staircase on one afternoon: A2 for the carte de séjour pluriannuelle, B1 for the carte de résident, B2 for nationality. The date that counts is the filing date, not the decision.

Two doors prove the same B2, and only one expires: a diploma (DELF or DALF, which France Éducation international says is valable à vie) or a test (TCF or TEF), and la durée de validité des attestations linguistiques est de deux ans. On 11 September 2026 FEI’s own TCF page adds that re-marking of the oral and written papers is suspended from the 1 September 2026 sessions for about a year. The full reading of the law is in the nationality guide.

Statsborgerloven § 8, read on lovdata.no: Søkere mellom 18 og 67 år skal ha oppnådd minimum nivå B1 på muntlig prøve i norsk og ha bestått statsborgerprøve. The oral test, and a passed citizenship test. The age limit is counted from the date of application. The B1 requirement entered into force on 1 October 2022 (lov 30 okt 2020 nr. 123).

Statsborgerforskriften § 4-1 lists who is exempt from the oral requirement — among them a grade of 2 or better in Norwegian or Sami at school, 30 credits of university Norwegian, and stateless applicants — and then adds a floor under four of the exempt groups: må oppnå minimum nivå A2 på muntlig prøve i norsk. So the real range in Norway is A2 to B1, and it is oral at both levels. The exam itself is in the norskprøven muntlig guide.

The law asks for nothing written. A teacher who prepares candidates for both the oral and the written tests says the written one is still in demand. Kassandra, who teaches Norwegian at Petsa undervisning: Jeg møter likevel svært mange som ønsker å oppnå gode resultater i skriftlig norsk på offisiell prøve, av ulike grunner. Noen har personlige mål, mens andre ønsker dette som dokumentasjon i arbeidssøknader. In our translation: she still meets a great many people who want good results in written Norwegian on an official test, for different reasons; some have personal goals, others want it as proof for job applications. That is her experience with her own students.

§ 10 Abs. 1 Nr. 6 StAG requires ausreichende Kenntnisse der deutschen Sprache, and Abs. 4 defines them: Die Voraussetzungen des Absatzes 1 Satz 1 Nr. 6 liegen vor, wenn der Ausländer die Anforderungen einer Sprachprüfung der Stufe B 1 des Gemeinsamen Europäischen Referenzrahmens für Sprachen erfüllt. Read on gesetze-im-internet.de on 11 September 2026. The residence requirement in Abs. 1 is five years.

The exceptions are in the same paragraph. A child under 16 qualifies with altersgemäße Sprachentwicklung. Someone who came under a recruitment agreement before 30 June 1974, or as a contract worker to the GDR before 13 June 1990, qualifies if they can sich ohne nennenswerte Probleme im Alltagsleben in deutscher Sprache mündlich verständigen — oral, everyday, no level. Abs. 4a extends the same oral standard to anyone who shows that reaching B1 was impossible trotz ernsthafter und nachhaltiger Bemühungen, and Abs. 6 waives the requirement for illness, disability and age.

Abs. 3 reads (weggefallen). The 2024 reform had placed there a three-year route for applicants with a C1 certificate and special integration; the text read today no longer contains it. Which B1 exam to sit is the subject of telc B1 or Goethe B1; integration course participants sit the DTZ, which awards B1 or A2 from one test.

Article 111Β(1) of the περί Αρχείου Πληθυσμού Νόμος lists the qualifications for naturalisation, cumulatively. Letter (δ) asks for επαρκή γνώση της ελληνικής γλώσσας επιπέδου Β1, όπως καθορίζεται στο Κοινό Ευρωπαϊκό Πλαίσιο Αναφοράς, proved by a certificate awarded after a written and an oral exam held at regular intervals under a ministerial decree. Letter (ε) then asks, separately, for knowledge of the basic elements of the Republic’s contemporary political and social reality, assessed by a three-member committee of the interior, education and justice ministries. Residence is twelve months’ continuous stay before the application plus seven years in the ten before that.

The level moves the clock. For highly skilled employees of companies designated by the Council of Ministers, article 111Β(2) replaces the seven years with four for a holder of an A2 certificate and three for a holder of B1. A school leaving certificate or a degree taught in Greek exempts from the language exam altogether. Read on cylaw.org, consolidated with amendments up to 224(I)/2025, on 26 September 2026; the decree that names the certificates we have not read.

The Ministry of Interior’s form M127 page names the two Greek certificates it accepts and sets the civics pass mark at 60%. That exam costs 20 euros and is held in Greek. See our guide to Greek B1 and the Cyprus civics exam.

Article 5A of the Κώδικας Ελληνικής Ιθαγένειας asks that an applicant γνωρίζει επαρκώς την ελληνική γλώσσα and, in a separate letter, knows Greek history and geography, Greek culture and the working of the state’s institutions. Article 7 then turns both into one written test: the applicant must pass examinations of Greek επιπέδου ανάλογου του Β1 στην κατανόηση και παραγωγή του προφορικού και του γραπτού λόγου, a level “analogous to B1” in understanding and producing speech and writing, together with the history, geography, culture and institutions questions. Legal residence is seven continuous years (article 5).

The question bank is public. The law requires at least 100 texts with their exercises for the language part and 300 questions for the rest, drawn at random, kept by the General Secretariat for Citizenship and ανοικτή σε κάθε ενδιαφερόμενο, open to anyone on the ministry’s site. A pass earns the Πιστοποιητικό Επάρκειας Γνώσεων για Πολιτογράφηση (ΠΕΓΠ), which the application file must contain. Applicants over 62, people certified at 67% disability or more and people with a diagnosed learning difficulty sit an oral test before a three-member committee instead, unless they choose the written one; nine completed school years in Greek, or a Greek-language university degree, exempt the applicant altogether. Read on ypes.gr, the ministry’s consolidation to 17 September 2025, on 26 September 2026; later amendments, if any, are not reflected.

The exam itself, its 70-point pass rule, the €150 fee and the ministry’s own pass rates (59.34% in April 2026), is in our guide to the ΠΕΓΠ.

Article 9.1 of Law 91/1992, read on normattiva.it, text in force from 13 March 2025: La concessione della cittadinanza italiana ai sensi degli articoli 5 e 9 è subordinata al possesso, da parte dell’interessato, di un’adeguata conoscenza della lingua italiana, non inferiore al livello B1 del Quadro comune europeo di riferimento. Articles 5 and 9 are citizenship by marriage and by residence.

Who must produce a certificate: applicants who have not signed the accordo di integrazione and do not hold the EU long-term residence permit. They attest either a qualification from a recognised school or apposita certificazione rilasciata da un ente certificatore riconosciuto. The Constitutional Court, judgment no. 25 of 30 January–7 March 2025, struck the article nella parte in cui non esonera dalla prova della conoscenza della lingua italiana il richiedente affetto da gravi limitazioni alla capacità di apprendimento linguistico arising from age, illness or disability. Article 9-bis sets the application contribution at €250. The CELI, one of the recognised certifications, is documented in the CELI guide.

Which paper stops candidates, the law cannot say. We asked a teacher who prepares them for the CILS B1 cittadinanza. Andrea Badii, who teaches Italian at language-teacher.it: la prova che risulta più difficile per i candidati che sostengono l’esame per la cittadinanza è sicuramente quella di scrittura: trattandosi di persone che molto spesso già vivono in Italia, sono molto abituati a leggere, ascoltare e comunicare, ma non a scrivere, specialmente in maniera formale. In our translation: the hardest paper for citizenship candidates is certainly writing; because they very often already live in Italy, they are used to reading, listening and communicating, but not to writing, especially formally. That is a teacher’s experience with their own candidates, not a rule about the exam.

Article 30 ust. 2 of the Ustawa o obywatelstwie polskim, consolidated text of 27 November 2025 on isap.sejm.gov.pl: an adult applying to be recognised as a citizen jest obowiązany posiadać znajomość języka polskiego potwierdzoną urzędowym poświadczeniem … na poziomie biegłości językowej co najmniej B1, świadectwem ukończenia szkoły w Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej lub świadectwem ukończenia szkoły za granicą z wykładowym językiem polskim. Ust. 2a adds that a post-secondary school (szkoła policealna) certificate does not count.

Two things worth reading twice. This is the uznanie route, article 30; the President’s grant of citizenship under article 18 carries no language clause in the text. And the certifying body’s own FAQ declines to name the level for citizenship and refers people to the voivodeship office — the level is in the statute, not on the exam body’s site. The exam is in the Polish certificate guide.

Kansalaisuuslaki 13 § 1 mom. 6 kohta, read on finlex.fi: the applicant must have suomen tai ruotsin kielen tyydyttävä suullinen ja kirjallinen taito — satisfactory oral and written Finnish or Swedish — or the equivalent in Finnish or Finland-Swedish sign language. 17 § lists how it is shown, and the first way is yleinen kielitutkinto taitotasolla kolme, the YKI at level 3. The statute names no CEFR letter; the YKI’s own scale places level 3 at B1, and that mapping is documented in the YKI guide.

The residence requirement became eight years by law 474/2024. And law 552/2026 of 16 June 2026 adds a seventh condition from 1 January 2027: riittävät tiedot suomalaisesta yhteiskunnasta, shown by passing a multiple-choice kansalaisuuskoe in which valtaosa — the great majority — of answers must be correct, or by a Finnish- or Swedish-medium matriculation or university degree. It does not apply under 18 or from 65. Migri expects the first test in March 2027; the format, places and transition are in our guide to Finland’s citizenship test.

gov.uk, Prove your knowledge of English for citizenship and settling, read 11 September 2026: applicants aged 18 or over prove it with an English qualification at B1, B2, C1 or C2 level from an approved Secure English Language Test provider, or a degree taught or researched in English. GCSEs, A levels and NVQs are expressly not accepted. The citizenship page adds that Welsh or Scottish Gaelic satisfy the requirement too.

The detail nobody expects: Some recognised test qualifications only last for 2 years, and yet for citizenship you can use a B1, B2, C1 or C2 level qualification that’s run out if it was accepted when you settled, even if the test is no longer on the list. The B1 stands on 11 September 2026; nothing on the page read today raises it. Which bands correspond is in the IELTS guide.

For settlement the bar is about to move. The explanatory memorandum to Statement of Changes HC 1691 (5 March 2026, paragraphs 5.60 to 5.62) raises the English requirement for settlement to B2 on the routes where it is B1 today, from 26 March 2027, and applies it to people already on a route to settlement. It says nothing about citizenship. Read on 21 October 2026; the tests, exemptions and routes are in our guide to English for UK settlement and citizenship.

The foreigners’ state-language exam, set by the National Commission for State Language Standards and read on its own pages on 9 September 2026, returns a B1 certificate at 70% or a refusal below it — there is no A2 to fall back on. Four parts, each weighted at 25%, sat only inside Ukraine. That exam and its rules are in the Ukrainian state exam guide; this page repeats nothing it has not read there.

Real Decreto 1004/2015, article 6.1, read on boe.es: applicants deberán superar tanto los exámenes para la obtención del diploma de español como lengua extranjera (DELE) como mínimo de nivel A2, como la prueba que acredite el conocimiento de los valores históricos, constitucionales y socioculturales de España (CCSE). Both are designed and administered by the Instituto Cervantes and are in person, though the decree allows remote administration with identity checks.

The preamble states the exemptions: no DELE is needed for nationals of a Spanish-speaking country, or for anyone who already holds a DELE of A2 or above. The registry may verify results electronically with the Cervantes rather than asking for the certificate. The DELE’s levels and prices are in the DELE guide, the CCSE’s format and pass mark in the CCSE guide, and how the civic tests of several countries compare in citizenship tests compared.

The Rijkswet op het Nederlanderschap, article 8(1)(d), asks for a degree of knowledge of Dutch bij algemene maatregel van rijksbestuur te bepalen. That decree, the Besluit naturalisatietoets, names four skills — spreekvaardigheid, luistervaardigheid, schrijfvaardigheid en leesvaardigheid — and no level. The level is in the ministerial regulation, in force from 28 June 2025: the test is passed when the applicant het inburgeringsexamen, bedoeld in artikel 7, tweede lid, van de Wet inburgering met goed gevolg heeft afgelegd.

Which Wet inburgering? Article 1(f) of the same regulation defines it: de Wet inburgering, zoals die wet luidde onmiddellijk voorafgaand aan het tijdstip waarop de Wet inburgering 2021 in werking treedt — the act as it stood before the 2021 act replaced it. That act’s article 7(2)(b), which wetten.overheid.nl marks vervallen per 01-01-2022, set the language parts op ten minste het niveau A2. So the naturalisation level is A2, fixed by a live regulation pointing at a repealed statute, while the 2021 act’s own integration duty is B1. Holders of the Staatsexamen NT2, Programma I or II, are exempt from the test under article 3(1)(c) of the Besluit; that exam is in the NT2 guide. The A2 integration exam itself, its fees and DUO’s current result delays, are in the inburgeringsexamen guide.

Article 29(1) of the Llei qualificada de la nacionalitat lists what every application must contain, and letter f) is document acreditatiu de disposar del títol del nivell B1 de català per totes aquelles persones de menys de 70 anys: proof of a B1 Catalan diploma for everyone under 70, either the Andorran Government’s own diploma or a certificate it recognises as equivalent. Article 36 then tells the integration assessment to treat knowledge of Catalan and of Andorran history, geography and institutions as an essential element.

The clock is long. Naturalisation by residence takes twenty years (article 11(1)), or ten with ten school years in Andorra (article 11(2)); a foreign spouse needs five years’ residence (article 10). Read in the unofficial consolidated text on portaljuridicandorra.ad, the version in force from 4 June 2026 that includes Llei 8/2026, on 7 October 2026.

The law accepts an equivalent, so which diploma do candidates actually sit? We asked a teacher who prepares them online. Sara Marugan Oliva, who teaches Catalan at cursosdecatala.cat: Els del B1 solen fer l’examen oficial andorrà, el que certifica Andorra. In our translation: B1 candidates usually sit the official Andorran exam, the one Andorra certifies. That is a teacher’s experience with their own candidates, not a rule about the law.

§ 10a Abs. 1 Z 1 of the Staatsbürgerschaftsgesetz, in the text in force since 1 October 2017, makes every grant of citizenship conditional on proof über ausreichende Deutschkenntnisse gemäß § 7 Abs. 2 Z 2 Integrationsgesetz, and Z 2 adds basic knowledge of the democratic order and of the history of Austria and the applicant’s Land. The level is therefore not in the citizenship act at all. § 7 Abs. 2 Z 2 of the Integrationsgesetz defines Modul 2 of the integration agreement as German zur selbständigen Sprachverwendung auf dem Sprachniveau B1 gemäß dem Gemeinsamen Europäischen Referenzrahmen für Sprachen, against Modul 1’s A2. Read on ris.bka.gv.at on 20 September 2026.

§ 10a Abs. 4 deems the proof given when die deutsche Sprache die Muttersprache des Fremden ist or when the applicant has completed Modul 2 auch wenn er nach dem Integrationsgesetz dazu nicht verpflichtet ist. Abs. 2 exempts minors under fourteen, people whose lasting physical or mental condition, including speech or hearing impairment, makes the proof impossible and is certified by an official doctor, and a list of cases in §§ 10, 11a, 13 and 57 to 59. Abs. 3 lets a school pupil pass on a positive mark in Deutsch in the previous school year. The exam itself is the ÖIF’s Integrationsprüfung, which the integration act names in § 10 and § 12; the B1 it certifies is the same B1 as in the telc and Goethe guide.

What the integration act no longer says matters as much. § 10 Abs. 2 Z 2, the line that once admitted other language diplomas, was repealed in 2019 (BGBl. I Nr. 41/2019), and neither act names Goethe, telc or ÖSD. The ÖIF’s exam rules grant the B1 certificate for B1 in Sprechen plus one other module (Hören/Lesen or Schreiben) and a sufficient values score, in one sitting. For citizenship after six years, § 11a Abs. 6 Z 1 asks for B2 instead. Read on 10 October 2026; the format, fee and pass rule are in the ÖIF B1 Integrationsprüfung guide.

§ 4c of the Bürgerrechtsgesetz makes two proofs general conditions of every naturalisation: der Kenntnis der deutschen Sprache and basic knowledge of Liechtenstein’s legal order and constitution, the second by a written exam marked only pass or fail and open to retakes (§ 4c(6)). The Act names no level. The ordinance does: article 3(a) of the Bürgerrechts-Nachweis-Verordnung counts German as proved by anerkannte Sprachdiplome, welche die Erreichung des Sprachniveaus B1 des Gemeinsamen Europäischen Referenzrahmens für Sprachen bestätigen, and article 4 names Goethe-Institut and telc certificates. German passed at school year 9, a completed Liechtenstein apprenticeship, or German as mother tongue (§ 4c(4)) count as well.

Applicants for whom high age or lasting ill health makes the proofs impossible, certified by the public health officer, are exempt (§ 4c(2)(c)). The ordinary route needs ten years’ residence and a municipality’s agreement to take the applicant in (§ 6); a spouse of a citizen needs ten years, with the years of marriage counting double, and five years of marriage (§ 5); thirty years of residence, with the years before age 20 counting double, give a right to apply (§ 5a). Read on gesetze.li, the Act in its text of 1 January 2024 and the ordinance in its text of 12 February 2010, on 9 October 2026. The exam itself is in telc B1 or Goethe B1, and the four German-speaking rules side by side are in German for citizenship.

§ 14 odst. 4 of zákon č. 186/2013 Sb. says citizenship may be granted to an applicant který prokáže znalost českého jazyka, and nothing about a level. The same paragraph excuses anyone who completed at least three school years at a primary, secondary or higher school taught in Czech, anyone mladší 15 nebo starší 65 let on the day of application, and anyone whose physical or mental disability makes learning the language impossible. § 78 hands the scope to the education ministry.

The ministry’s vyhláška č. 433/2013 Sb., § 2 odst. 1, in force since 1 January 2014, supplies the number: Požaduje se znalost jazyka alespoň na úrovni B1 podle Společného evropského referenčního rámce pro jazyky. Odst. 2 lists what that covers, four descriptors lifted almost word for word from the CEFR’s B1 column. The decree also names the exams that replace the language part of the state examination, so a B1 certificate in Czech as a foreign language from a body it recognises is accepted without sitting the ministry’s own paper. Read on zakonyprolidi.cz on 20 September 2026.

The exam itself, and the separate 30-question test of Czech realities, are in our guide to the Czech A2 and B1 exams.

Which of the four skills stops candidates, the decree cannot say. We asked a teacher who prepares them. Veronika, who teaches Czech at justczech.com: In Czech, it’s very often the writing part of the exam. Most of my students use ChatGPT, Google Translate, or other tools while writing, which makes this process quite easy in everyday life. Very often, they don’t think about the fact that writing without a dictionary, or at least a spell checker, is something completely different. That is her experience with her own students, not a rule about the exam.

§ 8 lg 1 of the Kodakondsuse seadus, in the wording in force since 1 August 2012, defines the required Estonian as the everyday general language mis vastab vähemalt keeleseaduses sätestatud B-1 tasemele või sellele vastavale tasemele. Lg 2 then writes the level out in four sentences: coping in most everyday situations, describing experiences and plans and briefly giving reasons, understanding the essentials on familiar topics such as work, school and free time, and writing a simple text on a familiar subject. Lg 3 puts the assessment in an exam whose rules the Government sets; lg 5 excuses anyone kes on omandanud eesti keeles põhi-, kesk- või kõrghariduse.

The unusual clause is § 8¹. A person who passes both the language exam and the constitution-and-citizenship exam is reimbursed kuni 100 protsenti of the tuition paid to a licensed provider for Estonian courses aimed at the level exam, up to a ceiling the Government sets, on application to the Haridus- ja Noorteamet within three months of the second pass, paid within two months. No other row in this table pays the candidate back. Read on riigiteataja.ee, text as of 5 July 2025, on 20 September 2026.

Both exams, the free B1 language exam (59.57% passed in 2025 on Harno’s figures) and the 24-question constitution exam, and the refund ceiling of €384, are in our guide to the Estonian citizenship exams.

The Bürgerrechtsgesetz leaves the level to its ordinance. Art. 6 Abs. 1 of the Bürgerrechtsverordnung, text as of 1 August 2026, requires the applicant to show, in a national language, mündliche Sprachkompetenzen mindestens auf dem Referenzniveau B1 und schriftliche Sprachkompetenzen mindestens auf dem Referenzniveau A2 of the European framework. It is the only row in the table that sets two levels for two skills in one sentence, and the writing bar is a full level below the speaking bar. Read on fedlex.admin.ch on 20 September 2026.

Abs. 2 deems the proof given for anyone who eine Landessprache als Muttersprache spricht und schreibt, who attended at least five years of compulsory school in a national language, who completed upper-secondary or tertiary education in one, or, under a letter d in force since 1 January 2019, who holds a certificate from a testing procedure das den allgemein anerkannten Qualitätsstandards für Sprachtests entspricht. The cantons check the certificates and may run their own tests, with the SEM’s support. A Goethe or telc B1 in German satisfies both halves at once; the levels are explained in the telc and Goethe guide. The SEM’s own test, fide, which can be booked one part at a time, is in the fide test guide.

Art. 14(1) 2° of the loi du 8 mars 2017 sur la nationalité luxembourgeoise asks for une connaissance de la langue luxembourgeoise, documentée par le certificat de réussite de l’examen d’évaluation de la langue luxembourgeoise, and art. 15(1) says what that exam is: l’épreuve d’expression orale portant sur le niveau A2 and l’épreuve de compréhension de l’oral portant sur le niveau B1 of the European framework. No reading, no writing. The applicant must sit both papers; the exam is passed on half marks in speaking, and a lower speaking mark can be rescued by the listening mark if the rounded average of the two reaches half. The Institut national des langues runs it. Consolidated text of 24 December 2024, read on legilux.public.lu on 20 September 2026.

Speaking takes 10 minutes and listening 35 on a tablet, in one half-day, and registration costs 75 euros, refunded by the State once the nationality application is filed. The free 24-hour Vivre ensemble course, or its 40-question exam, is the other condition. Both are in our guide to the Sproochentest.

Article 8(1) of the Zakon o hrvatskom državljanstvu asks that an applicant for naturalisation be 18, have lived in Croatia with registered residence for eight years without a break and hold permanent-stay status, and da poznaje hrvatski jezik i latinično pismo, hrvatsku kulturu i društveno uređenje: know the Croatian language and the Latin script, Croatian culture and the social order. No level is printed. People over 60 do not have to meet that condition.

The ministry’s rulebook (Narodne novine 6/2021) says how it is proved. Article 2 accepts a certificate of a passed exam in Croatian and the Latin script from a university or an approved school or adult-education institution, a Croatian school or university certificate, or a course certificate or foreign transcript showing najmanje B1 stupnja znanja hrvatskog jezika. So B1 is named for one route, the course certificate, and not for the exam. Culture and the social order are tested by a questionnaire filled in on the spot (article 5). Read on zakon.hr, database updated to NN 104/26, and on narodne-novine.nn.hr, on 26 September 2026.

Many applicants never meet that condition at all. Article 11 lets an emigrant and their descendants naturalise iako ne udovoljavaju pretpostavkama iz članka 8. stavka 1. točaka 2. – 4., even without meeting points 2 to 4 of article 8(1), and point 4 is the language one; a foreign spouse of such a person is treated the same way. A teacher who prepares students for this sees it in her own classroom. Ivana, who teaches Croatian at croatian-with-ivana.com: Most of my students who apply for Croatian citizenship don’t need to pass the Croatian exam because they get citizenship as descendants of Croats. The law says that in that case, a certificate is not necessary, and they apply at their country’s embassy. The rules are different there, depending on the country. That is her experience with her own students. Article 11 read on zakon.hr on 29 September 2026.

The rulebook’s culture questionnaire has 15 questions, filled in alone in 60 minutes at the police, with 10 correct to pass, drawn from 110 questions printed in its annex. The proof routes, exemptions and fee are in our guide to the Croatian citizenship test.

Article 10 of the Zakon o državljanstvu Republike Slovenije lists ten conditions for naturalisation. Point 3 is ten years of actual residence, the last five without a break. Point 5 is that the applicant obvlada slovenski jezik za potrebe vsakdanjega sporazumevanja, kar dokaže s spričevalom o uspešno opravljenem izpitu iz znanja slovenščine na osnovni ravni: command of Slovene for everyday communication, proved by a certificate of a passed exam at the basic level. The exam is set by a commission the Government appoints, which also fixes the criteria for its written and oral parts. No CEFR letter appears.

The condition counts as met for anyone who finished primary or secondary school in Slovenia, took a Slovene degree after 25 June 1991, or finished a Slovene-language school in the autochthonous Slovene communities of neighbouring countries, and for people over 60 who have lived in Slovenia for 15 years. A person who cannot read and write can pass an oral-only exam instead. Read on pisrs.si, unofficial consolidated text NPB 11 (last amendment ZDRS-E, Uradni list RS 40/17), on 29 September 2026.

The Centre for Slovene, which runs the exam, requires at least 60% in each of its four parts, and its own figures show the basic-level pass rate falling from 77% in 2024 to 65% in 2025. The fee, dates and part-by-part rules are in our guide to the Slovene exam for citizenship.

§ 7(1)(h) of Act No 40/1993 on Slovak citizenship requires that the applicant preukázal ovládanie slovenského jazyka slovom aj písmom a všeobecných znalostí o Slovenskej republike: proved command of Slovak in speech and writing, and general knowledge of Slovakia. Residence is eight years. No level is named.

What the Act does name, unusually, is the test itself. § 8(6) has three parts: an interview about the applicant, the people close to them and Slovak history, geography and society; reading aloud a randomly chosen press article in Slovak of at least 500 words, handed over just before; and writing down its content within 30 minutes. A three-member commission appointed by the regional office, or by the ambassador or consul abroad, decides by a majority of two (§ 8(7)), and each member records why.

Exempt are applicants under 14, present or former Czech citizens, holders of a certificate of Slovak living abroad, people over 65, and anyone who passed a Slovak maturita, a state language exam in Slovak or a Slovak-taught university state exam within the last ten years. Read on slov-lex.sk, the version in force from 15 July 2026, on 29 September 2026.

No points scale or pass mark is published: a three-member commission decides by at least two votes and records its reasons the same day. The fee is 1,000 euros for an adult, collected only once citizenship is granted. See our guide to the Slovak citizenship test.

Article 12(1) of the Bulgarian Citizenship Act asks for five years since a permanent or long-term residence permit and, in point 5, that the applicant владее български език, knows Bulgarian, established as an ordinance of the Minister of Education and Science sets out. Article 15 lets people of Bulgarian origin, and people with a Bulgarian parent, naturalise without that condition.

Ordinance No 5 of 3 September 1999 sets the test. Article 6(2): a written exam, held monthly on a published schedule, that establishes Bulgarian позволяващо нормална комуникация на елементарно ниво, allowing normal communication at an elementary level. No CEFR letter appears. Blind applicants, people with group I or II disability and people over 70 have an oral interview instead (art. 6(3)); a failed candidate may sit again after three months (art. 6(5)); graduates of Bulgarian schools show their diploma (art. 2). Read on lex.bg, the ordinance as last amended in Darzhaven vestnik 15/2015, on 29 September 2026.

The Institute of Education runs it in Sofia: 20 questions in one hour, 12 correct to pass, free of charge. Dates, documents and sample tests are in our guide to the Bulgarian citizenship exam.

Danish naturalisation is granted by statute, one bill at a time, and the conditions for getting onto a bill sit in a circular. § 24 stk. 1 of the Cirkulæreskrivelse om naturalisation of 17 June 2021 requires proof of Danish ved bevis for at have bestået danskuddannelsernes Prøve i Dansk 3 eller en af de i bilag 3.a angivne prøver. Stk. 2 lets an applicant who meets the self-support test in § 23 and has drawn no more than three months of the listed public help in nine years qualify on Prøve i Dansk 2 instead. Stk. 3 adds the Indfødsretsprøven af 2021 on society, culture and history. Stk. 4 sends cases of lasting physical, mental, sensory or intellectual impairment to the Folketing’s naturalisation committee for dispensation.

The circular never writes A2, B1 or B2. The level is whatever Prøve i Dansk 3 is, and that is a question for the test’s own body, not for this page. The 2022 amending circular, nr. 9432 of 11 April 2022, leaves § 24 untouched. Read on retsinformation.dk on 20 September 2026.

The test’s own body answers it. Annex 1 of the exam order for the Danish tests, BEK nr. 1687 of 16 December 2025 (in force 1 January 2026), says both parts of Prøve i Dansk 3 relaterer til niveauet B2, and puts Prøve i Dansk 2 at B1 written and B1+ oral. Read on retsinformation.dk on 16 October 2026. The ministry (UIM) says that, as a rule, it is not processing citizenship applications until the conditions after the 2026 general election are clear. The tests, pass marks and dates are in our guide to Danish for citizenship.

Until this summer the Swedish citizenship act had no language clause. Lag (2026:447), in force 6 June 2026, rewrote 11 § of Lag (2001:82) om svenskt medborgarskap: an adult may be naturalised if they, among five other conditions, har visat tillräckliga kunskaper i svenska och om det svenska samhället enligt 13 §. The same section says Kravet i första stycket 6 gäller inte den som har fyllt 67 år, and lengthens residence to eight years. Read on riksdagen.se on 20 September 2026.

What counts as sufficient Swedish is in 13 a §, for now: a pass in Swedish or Swedish as a second language from the final year of compulsory or upper-secondary school, the highest course of SFI, the test universities use for entry, or ett annat kunskapsprov i svenska som med hög grad av säkerhet visar kunskaper i svenska på funktionell nivå. Civics is already a medborgarskapsprov. From 1 October 2027, under Lag (2026:448), a medborgarskapsprov i svenska takes over, testing reading and listening på funktionell nivå; a further law, (2026:449), whose start date the government has yet to set, adds speaking and writing på grundläggande nivå. 13 b § exempts anyone with a passing school grade in Danish or Norwegian from another Nordic country. The ordinance (2026:451) gives the test to the Universitets- och högskolerådet and sets a fee of 2 000 kronor. No CEFR letter appears in any of the four instruments.

Which level that will turn out to mean is open, and a licensed teacher of Swedish as a second language, who is also a Swedex test leader from A2 to C1, told us why it is hard to pin down. For work, she said, functional Swedish ranges from about SFI D for jobs with little communication to around C1, or Swedish as a second language 3, where the job means patients, clients or complex written material: there isn’t really one single level that can be called ‘functional Swedish’. That is her experience as a teacher and test leader, not an official reading of the act, and she asked not to be named. Our own guess is that the 2027 test will have to settle on one pass mark; that is a guess, not the law.

Law no. 21/1991 on Romanian citizenship, republished, in the consolidated form of 15 March 2025, sets two different language rules for two different doors. Naturalisation by residence, article 8(1), lists seven conditions. Letter f) is that the applicant cunoaște limba română și posedă noțiuni elementare de cultură și civilizație românească, în măsură suficientă pentru a se integra în viața socială; letter g) that they cunoaște prevederile Constituției României și imnul național. No CEFR letter appears. Residence is eight years, or five from the date of marriage for someone married to, and living with, a Romanian citizen.

The check is an interview, not a certificate. Article 12(2) has the citizenship commission decide on the documents and on rezultatul la interviul susținut pentru verificarea condițiilor prevăzute la art. 8 alin. (1) lit. f) și g). Language, culture, the Constitution and the anthem are tested together, in one sitting, and the statute names no exam that stands in for it. Article 12(3) then sets the bar for every condition at certainty: orice îndoială cu privire la îndeplinirea vreuneia dintre ele ducând la respingerea cererii. Any doubt is a refusal.

The second door is for people who lost Romanian citizenship and for their descendants, to the second degree under article 10 and the third under article 11. Here the law does print a level. Article 15^1(4) asks for a certificat de competență lingvistică from an accredited university’s preparatory-year programme, the Institutul Limbii Române, the Institutul Cultural Român or a Romanian cultural institute abroad, care atestă cunoașterea limbii române la un nivel nu mai mic decât nivelul B1, or a legalised transcript showing at least three years of secondary or higher study in Romanian. Article 15^1(5) exempts former citizens themselves and anyone aged 65 or over on the day they file. A transitional rule in Law 14/2025, as amended by emergency ordinance 16/2026, lets applicants under articles 10 and 11 hand the certificate in within two years of that law entering into force.

So “what level does Romania require” has two true answers, and a summary that gives one of them is wrong for half its readers: B1 by certificate for a descendant, no letter at all for someone naturalising after eight years in the country. Read on legislatie.just.ro on 26 September 2026.

What the naturalisation interview asks in practice is not in the statute, so we asked someone who prepares candidates for it. Deaconu Virgil Ionut, licensed educator and founder of romanian-lessons.com, answered: The Romanian citizenship interview requires a B1-B2 level of communication, but CEFR alone does not describe it. It is fundamentally a test of cultural, historical, and civic integration (constitution, national history, geography, and customs) delivered through language. That is his experience of the interview, not wording from the law, and it is consistent with article 8, which puts the language and the culture in the same letter and tests them in the same sitting.

The interview is recorded on audio and video, and failing it leads the Commission to propose rejection. For the descendants’ route, the National Citizenship Authority says the B1 certificate may be handed in until 14 March 2027. Both are set out in our guide to the Romanian citizenship interview and B1 certificate.

Section 4(1) of Act LV of 1993 on Hungarian citizenship lets a foreign national be naturalised after eight years of continuous residence if, among other conditions, they prove hogy alkotmányos alapismeretekből magyar nyelven eredményes vizsgát tett: that they passed an exam in basic constitutional knowledge, in Hungarian. The language is the medium of the exam, not its subject, and no CEFR level is printed. The exam’s requirements are set by Government Decree 125/1993.

The larger route has no exam at all. Section 4(3) offers preferential naturalisation, with no residence in Hungary, to a person whose ancestor was a Hungarian citizen or who shows Hungarian origin, provided they magyar nyelvtudását igazolja, prove their knowledge of Hungarian. Section 4(3a) asks the same of spouses married ten years, or five with a child. How that knowledge is proved, and to what standard, the act does not say. Read on net.jogtar.hu on 26 September 2026.

The decree’s Annex 7, read on 18 October 2026, makes the exam written and oral on the same day, pass or fail, over nine topics, and the Budapest Capital Government Office charged 145,400 HUF in 2025. For the preferential route, the official who receives the application checks the Hungarian and signs to certify it; there is no written test. Details in our guide to the Hungarian citizenship exam.

Article 12(1) of the Pilsonības likums lists what naturalisation takes: five years’ permanent residence, and a person kura prot latviešu valodu, who knows the basic principles of the Satversme, and who knows the text of the national anthem and the basics of Latvian history and culture. Article 20 then defines knowing Latvian, in four points and without a CEFR letter: the person pilnībā saprot sadzīves un oficiāla rakstura informāciju, can talk and answer questions freely on everyday topics, can read everyday instructions and texts fluently, and prot uzrakstīt rakstudarbu par komisijas uzdoto sadzīves rakstura tematu, write an essay on an everyday subject the commission sets. That wording has stood since 10 November 1998. How the test is run is left to the Cabinet (article 19). Regulation No. 973 of 2013, read on 17 October 2026, requires at least 16 of 25 points in each of the four skills; the tests, the fee and PMLP’s pass rates are in our guide to the Latvian naturalisation tests.

Two exemptions are unusual. Article 21(2) waives the language test for anyone who proved Latvian at school in the five years before applying: after 31 August 2011, at least 50 percent in the 9th-grade centralised exam or at least 20 percent in the 12th-grade one, or a degree taught in Latvian. And article 21(3) says that for people aged 65 or over neattiecas šā likuma 20.panta 4.punkta noteikumi: the written essay is dropped and the rest of the test stays. Basic education completed mostly in Latvian, and the disability groups 21(1) lists, exempt from the whole test. Read on likumi.lv on 26 September 2026.

Article 18(1) of the Pilietybės įstatymas lists the conditions for naturalisation: ten years’ lawful permanent residence, the right to live in Lithuania permanently, a lawful source of income, and a person who išlaikė valstybinės kalbos egzaminą and išlaikė Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucijos pagrindų egzaminą, passed the state-language exam and the exam on the basics of the Constitution. That is all the statute says about the language. Article 18(3) hands the rules of both exams to the Government.

The level comes from there. Government resolution No 1688 of 24 December 2003, on state-language proficiency categories, as amended, provides that people išlaikę valstybinės kalbos egzaminą Lietuvos Respublikos pilietybei gauti, laikomi įgiję pirmąją valstybinės kalbos mokėjimo kategoriją ir ne žemesnį kaip lietuvių kalbos mokėjimo A2 lygį: a pass in the citizenship exam counts as the first category and at least A2. We read that sentence as quoted, with the resolution named, on the Klaipėda and Šiauliai city councils’ pages for non-Lithuanian speakers on 28 September 2026; the State Language Inspectorate’s own page would not load for us. A teacher who prepares Russian-speaking candidates for this exam gave us the same answer before we found it: это уровень А2, it is A2. So the statute prints no letter, and the Government’s rule and the classroom both say A2.

Article 18(4) exempts people aged 65 or over, people with a working-capacity level of 0–55%, and some pensioners with special needs from both exams. Spouses of Lithuanian citizens qualify after seven years instead of ten (article 19) and still sit both. Read on e-seimas.lrs.lt, consolidated text in force from 1 January 2024, on 26 September 2026.

NŠA’s own pages, read on 17 October 2026, add the detail: the language exam must reach A2 in each of its three parts, the Constitution exam passes at 14 of 20, and in 2024 73% and 75% of candidates passed them. Fees, dates and the scoring are in our guide to the Lithuanian citizenship exams.

Article 65 of the Lei de Migração (Lei nº 13.445/2017) grants ordinary naturalisation to a person with four years of residence who is able to comunicar-se em língua portuguesa, consideradas as condições do naturalizando: communicate in Portuguese, taking the applicant’s circumstances into account. Article 66 cuts the four years to one for a person with a Brazilian child or a Brazilian spouse or partner. The law names no level.

Neither does the list of proofs. Article 5 of Portaria MJSP nº 623 of 13 November 2020 names what is indicativo of the ability: a certificate of proficiency from the Celpe-Bras exam, with no level stated, a degree from a Brazilian institution, a pass in the bar exam, a Portuguese course for immigrants completed at an accredited university, ENCCEJA, Brazilian schooling, or a medical degree revalidated through Revalida. The ministry’s own guidance page repeats the list. Read on planalto.gov.br and gov.br on 26 September 2026.

Article 11 of the Turkish Citizenship Law (No. 5901) lists the conditions for a foreigner applying for citizenship by decision of the authority: adulthood, five years’ uninterrupted residence, settling in Turkey, health, good morals, a living, no security obstacle, and in point (e) Yeteri kadar Türkçe konuşabilmek, being able to speak sufficient Turkish. That names speaking only, and no test, no TYS score and no CEFR letter.

Article 12 is the exceptional route, by presidential decision, and its point (b) covers foreigners holding a residence permit under article 31(1)(j) of Law 6458, the investment route, and Turquoise Card holders, with their spouses and children. The only condition that article attaches is that there is no national-security or public-order obstacle, so no Turkish is required on the investor route. Read on mevzuat.gov.tr on 28 September 2026.

Section 15(1) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 lets the Minister grant naturalisation to an applicant who is of full age, is of good character, has had one year’s continuous residence immediately before applying and four years’ residence in total in the eight years before that, intends in good faith to continue to reside in the State, and has made a declaration of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State and undertaken to observe its laws and respect its democratic values. That is the whole list. It contains no language condition, in English or in Irish, and names no test. Read in the Law Reform Commission’s revised text of the Act on 28 September 2026.

Section 21(2) of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 lists the general eligibility criteria, and paragraph (e) is that the applicant possesses a basic knowledge of the English language. Section 21(2A) then says that this, together with understanding the application and knowing about Australia, is taken to be satisfied if and only if the person sat and successfully completed a test the Minister approves under section 23A. So English is not proved with a certificate: there is no IELTS score and no CEFR letter in the Act, and the test itself, including what counts as passing it, is set by a ministerial determination that section 23A(7) says is not a legislative instrument.

Section 21(4) is a separate route for people aged 60 or over, or with a permanent loss or substantial impairment of hearing, speech or sight, and its list of criteria leaves out the English requirement. Read on legislation.gov.au, compilation of 4 June 2026, on 28 September 2026.

Section 8(2) of the Citizenship Act 1977 sets the requirements for citizenship by grant. Paragraph (e) is that the applicant has sufficient knowledge of the English language, next to sufficient knowledge of the responsibilities and privileges of citizenship. The Act names no test, no score and no level. Presence is 1,350 days in the five years before the application, with at least 240 in each of them.

Section 8(8) lets the Minister waive the English requirement if satisfied that, because of the applicant’s age or standard of education, or for any other reason personal to the applicant, insisting on it would cause undue hardship. Read on legislation.govt.nz, version as at 6 June 2026, on 28 September 2026.

The test comes earlier, at residence. Immigration New Zealand requires English for its skilled residence visas, with IELTS 6.5 overall for the principal applicant and 5 for a partner or a child aged 16 or over, or English shown by citizenship, work or study in the countries it lists; a partner or child may instead pay for English lessons in New Zealand. The Parent Resident Visa asks it of both parents, who may also pay for lessons instead. For the Active Investor Plus Visa the requirement was removed on 1 April 2025. Read on immigration.govt.nz on 11 October 2026.

Article 9 of the Icelandic Nationality Act (nr. 100/1952, as in the law collection of 1 September 2026) requires, in point 3, that the applicant hafi staðist próf í íslensku samkvæmt kröfum sem ráðherra setur í reglugerð: passed a test in Icelandic to requirements the minister sets by regulation. Residence under article 8 is seven years, four for citizens of another Nordic country, and four years from the wedding for the spouse of an Icelandic citizen.

Regulation 1129/2008 sets the standard in article 4, and it is a course, not a CEFR letter: the test follows the final goals of the ministry’s 2008 curriculum for grunnnám í íslensku fyrir útlendinga (240 stundir), basic Icelandic for foreigners, 240 hours. The candidate must cope in everyday situations at school, work and home, take part in talk on familiar topics, follow simple conversations, and read and write short simple texts; the test covers tal, hlustunarskilning, ritun og lesskilning, all four skills. Article 2 lets the Directorate of Immigration waive the test for people aged 65 or over with seven years’ residence, for children of school age or younger, and for people who cannot sit it for serious medical reasons. Read on althingi.is and island.is on 28 September 2026.

There is currently no sitting to book. On 17 October 2026 the Ministry of Justice’s page said it was still contracting a new operator for the test and did not know when the next tests would be held. The format, the 40,000 ISK fee of the last sitting and MMS’s pass rates (90% and 84% in 2024) are in our guide to the Icelandic citizenship test.

Of those four, one is harder than the rest for most learners. Siggi, who teaches Icelandic at icelandicmadeeasier.com: Out of the four main skills, most speakers struggle with speaking. That is one teacher’s classroom experience, not a statement about how the test is marked.

Japan’s Nationality Act (国籍法, Law No. 147 of 1950, as in force 1 June 2025) lists the conditions for naturalisation in article 5: five years’ continuous residence, age 18 with legal capacity, good conduct, the means to make a living, losing the previous nationality, and never having sought the violent overthrow of the government. Language is not among them, and the word 日本語 does not appear anywhere in the Act. Articles 6 to 8 relax the residence and other conditions for people born in Japan, spouses and children of Japanese citizens, and former citizens.

The requirement comes from the Ministry of Justice instead. Its nationality Q&A, after setting out the six conditions, adds: 日常生活を営むのに十分な日本語能力（会話及び読み書き）を有することや10年以上在留していることなど、日本社会に融和していることが必要です, that an applicant must be integrated into Japanese society, for example by having Japanese sufficient for daily life, in conversation and in reading and writing, and by having lived in Japan for ten years or more. So the ministry’s page asks for more residence than the Act’s five years, and for a language standard the Act does not contain. It names no JLPT level and no test. Read on laws.e-gov.go.jp and moj.go.jp on 28 September 2026.

Article 5 of the Nationality Act (국적법) lists the conditions for general naturalisation: five years’ continuous residence, a status that allows permanent residence, adulthood, good conduct, the means to support oneself, and, in point 5, 국어능력과 대한민국의 풍습에 대한 이해 등 대한민국 국민으로서의 기본 소양(素養)을 갖추고 있을 것: Korean-language ability and an understanding of Korean customs, as the basic grounding of a citizen. The Act names no level and never mentions TOPIK. Article 6(2) lets the spouse of a Korean citizen apply after two years’ residence in the marriage, or one year once the marriage is three years old.

How the ability is checked is in the enforcement rule (국적법 시행규칙, as amended 29 April 2024), article 4. There is a comprehensive evaluation (종합평가), which minors, people aged 60 or over, people who completed the Korea Immigration and Integration Program (사회통합 프로그램을 이수한 사람), and anyone who scored 60 out of 100 in the evaluation within the last three years do not have to sit. Then there is an interview, which 국어능력 … 등 대한민국 국민으로서 갖추어야 할 기본요건을 심사한다, examines Korean ability among the basic requirements of a citizen. A TOPIK certificate appears in neither text. Read on law.go.kr, the Ministry of Government Legislation’s database, on 28 September 2026.

The KIIP itself, its levels, its 60-point tests and the course fees charged since 2025, is in our guide to the KIIP.

Article 3(1)(5) of the Nationality Act (國籍法, as amended 24 May 2024) asks that an applicant for ordinary naturalisation 具備我國基本語言能力及國民權利義務基本常識: basic language ability, and basic knowledge of a national’s rights and duties. Residence is five years with at least 183 days in each; spouses of nationals and the other groups in article 4 need three. The Act names no level and leaves the rest to the Ministry of the Interior.

The Ministry’s standard (as amended 3 June 2017) defines the ability in article 2 as being able to 在日常生活上能與他人交談、溝通，並知曉社會相關訊息, talk and communicate with others in daily life and know relevant social information. Article 3 accepts any one of three proofs: a year at a school in Taiwan; a certificate of government-run classes, 200 hours for ordinary naturalisation, 72 for spouses and former spouses of nationals, parents of a national child and anyone aged 65 or over, and 100 for the other routes in articles 4 and 5; or a pass in the naturalisation test.

The test (arts. 5–7) draws 20 questions from a question bank the Ministry publishes. The applicant chooses either an oral test, in Mandarin, Taiwanese Hokkien, Hakka or an Indigenous language, or a written multiple-choice test in Mandarin. Each question is worth five points, and the pass mark is 70 for ordinary naturalisation, 60 for the article 4 and 5 routes and 50 for applicants aged 65 or over. The fee is NT$500 (art. 10). No CEFR letter and no TOCFL band appears in either text. Read on law.moj.gov.tw on 30 September 2026.

Article 13(1) of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Armenia gives the right to apply to an adult who has lived permanently in Armenia for the last three years, կարող է բացատրվել հայերեն լեզվով (can make themselves understood in Armenian), and is familiar with the Constitution. That is the whole language clause: the Act names no level, no test and no certificate.

Article 13(2) drops the residence and language conditions for spouses of citizens and people with a citizen child or parent, on the terms it sets; for people whose parent was a citizen and who have lived in Armenia for the last year; for people who gave up Armenian citizenship after 1 January 1995; and for recognised refugees and stateless residents. Article 13(3) drops all three conditions, the Constitution included, for ազգությամբ հայ անձը, a person of Armenian ethnicity, who therefore needs neither residence nor Armenian to apply. Read on arlis.am on 30 September 2026.

Article 12(1) of the Organic Law of Georgia on Georgian Citizenship grants citizenship by the ordinary route to an adult who has lived lawfully in Georgia for the last ten consecutive years, დადგენილ ფარგლებში იცის საქართველოს სახელმწიფო ენა (knows the state language within the established limits), knows Georgia’s history and the basic principles of its law within the same kind of limits, and has a job, property, a business or shares in Georgia. The Act names no level and no test; it leaves the limits to a regulation of the Citizenship Commission, which we have not read.

The spouse of a citizen may apply after five years’ residence (article 14(1)), but still has to meet the language and history conditions. Article 12(3) lifts them for a person whose lasting physical, psychological, intellectual or sensory disorder makes checking impossible, and article 14(2) takes people with repatriate status out of article 12 altogether. Read in the Georgian consolidated text of 25 June 2026 on matsne.gov.ge, checked against the English translation of 7 March 2025 (the only change since is a word in article 12(4)), on 9 October 2026.

The law is thinnest on the history and law part, and that is where a teacher who prepares candidates sees them struggle. Georgiy Efimov, who runs a Georgian citizenship-exam course at gruzinskij.ru: Сложность вызывают вопросы по праву - там длинные вопросы, много специальной правовой лексики, похожие варианты ответов. (The hard part is the law questions: long questions, a lot of specialised legal vocabulary, and answer options that look alike.) That is one teacher’s classroom experience, not a rule of the exam.

Section 5(a) of the Nationality Law 5712-1952 sets six conditions for naturalisation: being in Israel, three of the five years before the application spent there, the right to permanent residence, having settled or meaning to settle, giving up any other citizenship, and, in paragraph (5), יודע ידיעת־מה את השפה העברית: knows some Hebrew. The Law names no test and no level. Section 6(d) lets the Minister of the Interior exempt an applicant from it for a special reason.

The Population and Immigration Authority’s procedure 4.4.0001 says how it is checked: the officer forms an impression of the applicant’s Hebrew in a short casual conversation while receiving the application, basic knowledge is enough, and the impression goes on the summary sheet (¶ 12.5). Applicants over 60 are to be exempted (¶ 8.5). People who immigrate under the Law of Return become citizens under section 2 of the Law, which has no language condition at all. The application costs ₪195 and must be filed in person. Read on he.wikisource.org (the Law) and on gov.il (procedure 4.4.0001, version 18, updated 10 May 2026, and the service page) on 11 October 2026.

Article 15(1) of Federal Law 138-FZ of 28 April 2023 lets an adult apply for citizenship after five years’ permanent residence counted from the decision to grant a residence permit, if the applicant владеет русским языком (has command of Russian) and knows the history of Russia and the basics of its law. Article 15(3) lifts both conditions for applicants aged 70 or over or with a group I disability. The Act names no level.

The Regulation approved by Presidential Decree No. 889 lists the proofs (¶ 39(b)). A certificate from a state institution on the Government’s list, at the level the Government sets for citizenship, is one. The others need no exam: a school document from a Soviet republic issued before 1 September 1991 or a Russian one issued after, a degree taught in Russian at a university run jointly with Russia, basic schooling in a country where Russian is a state language (for its citizens), the certificate already obtained for the residence permit, or a commission’s decision recognising a compatriot as a Russian speaker. History and law are proved the same way (¶ 39(c)). We have not read the Government resolution that sets the citizenship level. Read on consultant.ru, the Act as amended to 26 June 2026 and the decree as amended to 1 June 2026, on 11 October 2026.

Article 16 of the Law “On Citizenship of the Republic of Kazakhstan” (No. 1017-XII) admits people who have lived in Kazakhstan lawfully for at least five years, or have been married to a citizen for at least three. The language condition sits in the list of refusals. Article 17(1)(14), in the wording of Law No. 82-VIII of 16 May 2024, refuses an applicant who не знает государственный язык на элементарном уровне, does not know the state language at an elementary level, or the basics of the Constitution and the history of Kazakhstan, to a scope the ministry for science and higher education sets.

The same article exempts minors, people without legal capacity, people with special merit or a profession on the President’s list, ethnic Kazakhs, and people entitled to the simplified route by a treaty. No CEFR letter is named, and we have not read the ministry’s rules on scope. Read on adilet.zan.kz, in the current Russian text, on 14 October 2026.

Article 11 of the Moroccan Nationality Code (Dahir 1-58-250) lists six conditions for naturalisation. The fifth, in the wording of Law 08-23 promulgated on 10 February 2023, is to justifier d’une connaissance suffisante de la langue arabe et amazighe ou de l’une des deux langues: show sufficient knowledge of Arabic and Amazigh, or of either one. Before 2023 only Arabic was named. Residence is five years of habitual and lawful residence before the application, and a commission decides on applications.

Article 12 lets someone who has rendered exceptional services to Morocco be naturalised without the residence, language and means conditions. No test or level is named anywhere in the Code. Read in the consolidated text published by the Trésorerie Générale du Royaume and in the French edition of the Bulletin officiel No. 7300 of 16 May 2024 on 14 October 2026.

Federal Law No. 17 of 1972 on Nationality and Passports sets the residence by origin: three years for an Arab of Omani, Qatari or Bahraini origin (article 5), seven for other Arabs (article 6), and thirty, twenty of them after the law took effect, for everyone else (article 8), who must also be proficient in Arab language. Article 12 bis lists the conditions for granting nationality to any applicant, among them that the applicant be proficient in Arabic, and article 9 lets the President grant nationality by decree regardless of the conditions.

No test or level is named. Read in the English text published by the Federal Authority for Identity, Citizenship, Customs and Port Security, which incorporates amendments up to Federal Decree-Law No. 16 of 2017, on 14 October 2026; we did not check for later amendments.

The ordinary route to a carta de naturalización needs five years’ residence immediately before the application (article 20 of the Ley de Nacionalidad, article 14 of its Reglamento). The Foreign Ministry’s list of requirements asks, at number 9, to acreditar por medio de los exámenes que sabe hablar español, que conoce la historia del país y que está integrado a la cultura nacional. No level is named.

Refugees, minors and people over 60 sit only the Spanish exam. An applicant who fails waits at least fifteen working days to apply again, may sit the exams twice, and after a second failure waits a year from the last exam before a new application. The SRE publishes a study guide for the history and culture exam, which it calls the only official one. Read on portales.sre.gob.mx, page updated 6 August 2026, on 11 October 2026.

Article 10(1) of the Maltese Citizenship Act (Cap. 188) lets the Minister grant naturalisation to an adult who satisfies him of five things. The third is that he has an adequate knowledge of the Maltese or the English language, so English alone meets it. The Act defines neither “adequate” nor a test, a level or a skill; the judgment is the Minister’s.

Residence is the whole of the twelve months before applying, and at least four of the six years before that (art. 10(1)(a) and (b)); in special circumstances the Minister may count residence from earlier than seven years before the application. Read on legislation.mt, text consolidated to Act XXI of 2025, on 30 September 2026.

Section 10 of the Nationality Act B.E. 2508 lets an alien apply for naturalisation after five years’ domicile, and point 5 asks for knowledge of Thai language as stipulated in Ministerial Regulation (the English translation hosted by the Department of Provincial Administration, DOPA). The Ministry of Interior’s registration bureau states the criterion as มีความรู้ภาษาไทย โดยสามารถพูดภาษาไทยและฟังภาษาไทยเข้าใจ: knowledge of Thai, being able to speak Thai and understand spoken Thai. Reading and writing are not named. The same criteria set a monthly income floor, lower for applicants with Thai ties such as a Thai spouse, and three years of tax records.

Section 11(4), added by the Nationality Act (No. 4) B.E. 2551, exempts a husband of a Thai citizen from the residence and language conditions. We read the DOPA translation and criteria pages on 30 September 2026; the Thai text of the Act and the Ministerial Regulation, on the Council of State and Royal Gazette sites, could not be opened, so no test format is stated here.

Law No. 12 of 2006 on Citizenship, Pasal 9, lists the conditions for naturalisation: five consecutive years’ residence or ten non-consecutive, and in letter d that the applicant dapat berbahasa Indonesia serta mengakui dasar negara Pancasila dan Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945: can speak Indonesian and acknowledges Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution. No level and no test.

How it is shown is in Government Regulation No. 2 of 2007, Pasal 3 ayat (2), as rewritten by Regulation No. 21 of 2022. Among the documents to attach is item g, a surat pernyataan pemohon dapat berbahasa Indonesia: the applicant’s own signed statement that they can speak Indonesian. A foreign spouse of a citizen can instead declare before an official under Pasal 19 after the same residence, and that route has no language condition. Read on peraturan.bpk.go.id and in the official text of PP 21/2022 on 30 September 2026.

Commonwealth Act No. 473, the Revised Naturalization Law, section 2, lists six qualifications. The fifth is that the applicant must be able to speak and write English or Spanish and any one of the principal Philippine languages: two languages, both spoken and written. Residence is ten continuous years, which section 3 shortens to five for some applicants. Naturalisation under the Act is a petition heard by a court, and no test is named.

Republic Act No. 9139, the administrative route, asks that the applicant be able to read, write and speak Filipino or any of the dialects of the Philippines, but it is open only to people born in the Philippines and residing therein since birth. Both Acts read on the Supreme Court E-Library on 30 September 2026.

Singapore’s Constitution has two routes for adults, and they ask for different languages. Registration under article 123 asks for an elementary knowledge of one of the following languages, namely, Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil, and the Government may exempt applicants who are 45 or older. Naturalisation under article 127 asks for an adequate knowledge of the national language, and article 153A makes the national language Malay, in the Roman script.

Both routes ask for residence of ten of the last twelve years, including the twelve months before applying; article 123 lets the Government accept five of the last six. A wife of a citizen registers under article 123(2) with two years’ residence and no language condition. No test or level is named. Read on Singapore Statutes Online, version current at 15 October 2026, on 14 October 2026.

Article 19 of the Federal Constitution lets the Federal Government naturalise an adult who has lived in Malaysia ten of the last twelve years, including the last twelve months, is of good character, and has an adequate knowledge of the Malay language.

The Citizenship Rules 1964 say how that is judged. Rule 4 has the Registrar set up a Language Board, chaired by the Registrar, with a Malay member and, where possible, a member of the applicant’s own community. Rule 8 deems the knowledge adequate if the Board finds the applicant is able with reasonable proficiency to speak that language and, unless prevented by blindness or another physical impediment, to read and write Malay in the Jawi or Rumi script. Read in the Rules reprint as at 1 May 2021 on lom.agc.gov.my, and in a copy of the Federal Constitution, on 14 October 2026.

Law 79/2025/QH15, in force from 1 July 2025, rewrote article 19 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality. Point c) of its first paragraph asks that the applicant biết tiếng Việt đủ để hòa nhập vào cộng đồng Việt Nam: knows enough Vietnamese to integrate into the Vietnamese community. Residence is five years of permanent residence. No test and no level are named, and paragraph 7 leaves the details to the Government.

The family routes skip the language. Paragraph 2 lets an applicant with a Vietnamese spouse or biological child naturalise without points c), đ) and e): language, the five years and the means of living. Paragraph 3 does the same, and drops permanent residence too, for an applicant whose parent, or both paternal or both maternal grandparents, are Vietnamese citizens. Every applicant takes a name in Vietnamese or another language of Vietnam (paragraph 4). Read in the law as published on chinhphu.vn on 7 October 2026.

Article 15 of Costa Rica’s Constitution, as reformed in 1987, says that whoever applies for naturalisation must show que sabe hablar, escribir y leer el idioma español and submit to un examen comprensivo de la historia del país y sus valores. All three skills are named: speaking, writing and reading. No CEFR level is.

The Ley de Opciones y Naturalizaciones No. 1155 repeats the condition in article 11(6) and says in article 11 a how it is proved: a certificate from the Ministry of Public Education (MEP) donde conste que aprobó el examen referente a que lee, escribe y habla el idioma español, which also certifies knowledge of history and values. For Indigenous applicants the MEP must define a special procedure. Read on SINALEVI and in the Tribunal Supremo de Elecciones’ text of Law 1155 on 5 October 2026.

Ley 2332 de 2023 replaced Ley 43 de 1993. Its article 13 asks applicants to prove knowledge of the Constitution, history, culture and geography of Colombia, and adds that they deberán presentar prueba de castellano, cuando este no fuere su lengua materna. The Foreign Ministry sets the method and the marking; the exams are sat at the gobernación of the department where the applicant lives. Two attempts are allowed, the second six months after the first.

Paragraph 4 exempts holders of a Colombian bachillerato or university degree, people over 60, applicants with a cognitive disability, and Indigenous communities that share a border territory with Colombia. Residence is five years on a resident visa, reduced to two with a Colombian spouse, partner or child (art. 9). Read on secretariasenado.gov.co on 5 October 2026.

The Foreign Ministry’s procedure for a carta de naturalización, which quotes articles 71 and 72 of the Ley Orgánica de Movilidad Humana, lists among the requirements Hablar y escribir en el idioma castellano, general knowledge of Ecuador’s history, geography, culture and current affairs, and an interview on why the applicant wants the nationality. Residence is three years on a permanent residence visa.

The exemptions are uneven. Graduates of a degree or postgraduate programme taught in Spanish in Ecuador skip both the Spanish requirement and the knowledge exam. Older adults skip the knowledge exam only: they deberán hablar y escribir en el idioma castellano, del cual se efectuará una evaluación para determinar las destrezas en el uso del idioma. Read on gob.ec on 5 October 2026; no level is named.

Peru’s new Nationality Law, Ley 32421, was published in El Peruano on 15 August 2025. Article 11 sets the conditions for every route to nationality by choice, and the second is conocimiento del idioma castellano o alguno de los idiomas oficiales reconocidos por la Constitución Política del Perú o en la ley de la materia, siempre y cuando uno de dichos idiomas no sea su lengua materna: Spanish or another official language, such as Quechua or Aymara, unless one of them is already the applicant’s mother tongue. The third is general knowledge of Peruvian history, geography, the Constitution, art and culture and civics. Both are evaluados en el modo y forma establecido en el reglamento. Naturalisation itself adds five years’ continuous residence and lawful income of 10 UIT a year (article 17).

The law is not yet in force. Its third final provision makes it take effect the day after its regulation is published, and applications filed before then continue under the rules in force when they were filed, the 1996 Ley 26574. We did not read Ley 26574 or its regulation, so this page makes no claim about the test applicants sit today. Read in the text of Ley 32421 as republished by LP Derecho on 15 October 2026, when LP Derecho, which republishes Peru’s legal norms, listed no regulation for it.

Article 2 of Ley 346 de Ciudadanía, as replaced by Decreto 366/2025, makes citizens by naturalisation of foreigners over 18 who acrediten haber residido en la REPÚBLICA ARGENTINA en forma continua y legal durante los DOS (2) años anteriores a la solicitud and declare their wish before the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones, and of foreigners who make a relevant investment. “Continuous” means no trip abroad at all during the two years. Neither route contains a language condition.

Read on InfoLEG on 5 October 2026. We did not read the older implementing decree, so this page makes no claim about it.

With no language test, citizenship rarely brings anyone to a Spanish lesson. Fabiana, a Spanish teacher in Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Spanish), says most students there learn for daily life and travel: Russians are the only ones that were looking for citizenship, mostly in 2022 and 2023. That is one teacher’s classroom, not a statistic.

Article 10 of the Constitución Política lets a foreigner with five consecutive years of residence apply for naturalisation if, once of age, they declare their wish to naturalise, renounce their nationality of origin and comprueban que poseen el idioma español y conocimientos básicos de geografía, historia y organización política panameñas: prove command of Spanish and basic knowledge of Panamanian geography, history and political organisation. Three years is enough for a foreigner with children born in Panama of a Panamanian parent, or with a Panamanian spouse, on the same proof. Nationals by birth of Spain or a Latin American state may naturalise on the terms their own country sets for Panamanians. No level and no test are named; article 12 leaves the rest to statute, which we have not read. Read in the text published by the Tribunal Electoral on 7 October 2026.

Uruguay grants ciudadanía legal, and article 75 of the Constitution sets its conditions: foreigners of good conduct with a family in Uruguay and capital, property, a profession or a trade, after three years’ habitual residence, or five without a family; and people the General Assembly honours for notable service. None of the three routes mentions language. The rights it brings can be exercised only three years after the letter is granted. Read in the updated text on IMPO on 7 October 2026; we did not read the implementing laws, so no claim is made about them. The six Spanish-speaking countries of the Americas on this page are compared side by side in Spanish for citizenship in Latin America.

Article 9(1) of the Law on Citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina lists twelve conditions for naturalisation. Letter c) is that the applicant dovoljno poznaje pismo i jezik jednog od konstitutivnih naroda Bosne i Hercegovine: knows sufficiently the script and language of one of the constituent peoples. In practice that is Bosnian, Croatian or Serbian, in Latin or Cyrillic. No test and no level are named. Residence is three years of approved permanent residence before the application. Read in the official consolidated text, Službeni glasnik BiH 22/2016, on 5 October 2026.

Article 14 of the Law on Citizenship of the Republic of Serbia admits a foreigner with approved permanent settlement on four conditions: being 18, release from (or a route around) their other citizenship, at least three uninterrupted years of registered residence, and da podnese pismenu izjavu da Republiku Srbiju smatra svojom državom, a written statement that they consider Serbia their state. None of the four mentions language. Read in the consolidated text (Sl. glasnik RS 135/2004, 90/2007 and 24/2018) published by Paragraf on 5 October 2026; the official portal’s text could not be opened.

The level most often quoted for Canadian citizenship is a Canadian Language Benchmark of 4. The regulation does not say it. Section 14 of the Citizenship Regulations (SOR/93-246) reads: A person is considered to have an adequate knowledge of one of the official languages of Canada if they demonstrate that they have competence in basic communication in that language, such that they can take part in short, routine conversations about everyday topics, understand simple instructions and directions, use basic grammar, including simple structures and tenses, in oral communication, and use vocabulary adequate for routine oral communication. All four points are about speaking and listening; reading and writing are not mentioned. No benchmark and no CEFR letter appear.

Who has to show it is in the Citizenship Regulations, No. 2 (SOR/2015-124), section 2(1)(g): an applicant at least 18 years of age but is under 55 years of age on the day on which their application is made files evidence of adequate knowledge, including language test results or other evidence. The benchmark lives one level down, on the department’s own page, modified 11 September 2025: If you’re 18 to 54 years of age, you must submit proof that you can speak and listen at the Canadian Language Benchmarks (CLB) Level 4 or higher in English or French. So CLB 4 is IRCC’s published standard for meeting section 14, not words of the regulation, and it too names speaking and listening only. Section 14 as amended by SOR/2012-178, read on laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, and the IRCC page on canada.ca, both on 26 September 2026. Every proof IRCC accepts, with the test scores, is in the Canadian language-proof guide. How CELPIP, IELTS and PTE Core convert to CLB on IRCC’s own chart is in CELPIP, IELTS or PTE Core for Canada, and the French tests in TEF Canada or TCF Canada.

8 CFR § 312.1(a): no one is naturalised on their own application unless they can demonstrate an understanding of the English language, including an ability to read, write, and speak words in ordinary usage in the English language. No CEFR letter, and no test of the European kind: speaking will be determined by a designated immigration officer from the applicant’s answers to questions normally asked in the course of the examination, and reading and writing are tested in a manner prescribed by USCIS.

The exemptions are by age and years, together. § 312.1(b) excuses anyone over 50 who has lived in the United States for at least 20 years as a permanent resident, and anyone over 55 with at least 15 years, plus people whose medically determinable impairment has lasted or will last at least 12 months. The civics requirement in § 312.2 still applies to the two age groups. Text as amended on 29 August 2011, read on ecfr.gov on 26 September 2026.

This row said “not read” from 11 September: the government portal served an error page twice. The law is now read, and it changed this year. Article 6.º n.º 1 of the Lei da Nacionalidade, in the version of Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 of 18 May 2026, requires among nine conditions that applicants Comprovarem, através de teste ou de certificado, conhecer suficientemente a língua e a cultura portuguesas, a história e os símbolos nacionais, and separately that they know the fundamental rights and duties and the political organisation of the state. Legal residence is seven years for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and EU citizens, and ten for everyone else.

The A2 you will read everywhere is not in the law. The article names no CEFR level; whatever level applies is set below it, and we have not read that instrument after the 2026 reform, so this page does not print one. Two things the article does say: language now travels with culture, history and the national symbols in a single proof, and n.º 10 presumes that nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries meet the language part, salvo nos casos em que a falta de domínio da língua portuguesa, evidenciada pelo requerente junto dos serviços competentes, seja manifesta. Read on pgdlisboa.pt, the consolidated text kept by the Procuradoria-Geral Regional de Lisboa, on 26 September 2026.

The Code de la nationalité belge defines its own term. Art. 1 § 2, 5°, text updated to 10 March 2026, reads la connaissance minimale d’une des trois langues nationales correspondant au niveau A2 du Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues, proved by the means a royal decree lists. Art. 12bis § 1, 2° c) then makes that proof one of the conditions for the declaration after five years’ legal residence, and 3° c) repeats it for the ten-year route. Dutch, French or German, the applicant’s choice.

A law of 28 March 2024, in force 8 April 2024, added the exception the Constitutional Court had asked for: for a person who is illiterate in the code’s sense, seule la preuve d’une connaissance orale correspondant au niveau A2 is required, once the competent community authority certifies that the written skills cannot be acquired even with the training it offers. The French A2 is the DELF A2 level described in the DELF and DALF guide. Read on ejustice.just.fgov.be on 20 September 2026.

Proof has to come from one of eight sources listed in the Royal Decree of 14 January 2013 (a private school’s own certificate is not one), and the registration fee rose from 150 to 1,000 euros in July 2025. The Flemish nationality-file Dutch test costs 180 euros. All of it is in our guide to proving A2 for Belgian nationality.

Each row was read on the official legislation portal of the country on 11, 20 and 26 September 2026 — gesetze-im-internet.de, normattiva.it, boe.es, wetten.overheid.nl, lovdata.no, finlex.fi, isap.sejm.gov.pl, gov.uk, fedlex.admin.ch, ris.bka.gv.at, zakonyprolidi.cz, ejustice.just.fgov.be, legilux.public.lu, retsinformation.dk, riigiteataja.ee, riksdagen.se, legislatie.just.ro, likumi.lv, pgdlisboa.pt, laws-lois.justice.gc.ca, law.go.kr, laws.e-gov.go.jp, althingi.is, pisrs.si, slov-lex.sk, lex.bg, lex.bg (Ordinance No 5), zakon.hr (article 11), legislation.gov.au, revisedacts.lawreform.ie, mevzuat.gov.tr, legislation.govt.nz, island.is, moj.go.jp, law.moj.gov.tw, arlis.am, legislation.mt, bora.dopa.go.th, peraturan.bpk.go.id, elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph, sinalevi.go.cr, tse.go.cr, secretariasenado.gov.co, gob.ec, infoleg.gob.ar, Službeni glasnik BiH 22/2016, paragraf.rs, constitucion.te.gob.pa, impo.com.uy, chinhphu.vn, portaljuridicandorra.ad, matsne.gov.ge, he.wikisource.org, gov.il (procedure 4.4.0001), consultant.ru (138-FZ), consultant.ru (Decree 889), portales.sre.gob.mx, immigration.govt.nz, gesetze.li (BüG), gesetze.li (BüNV), ecfr.gov — except France and Ukraine, whose readings are dated in their own guides on this site. The first ten rows were read on 11 September 2026; Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Luxembourg, Sweden and Switzerland were added on 20 September 2026, and Brazil, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania and the United States on 26 September 2026; the Lithuanian Government resolution, Australia, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and Turkey on 28 September 2026. Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia’s article 11 were added on 29 September 2026. Taiwan, Armenia, Malta, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines were added on 30 September 2026, and Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia on 5 October 2026, and Andorra, Vietnam, Panama and Uruguay on 7 October 2026, and Georgia and Liechtenstein on 9 October 2026; Austria’s integration act, its implementing ordinance and the ÖIF’s exam rules were re-read on 10 October 2026; Israel, Russia and Mexico were added, and New Zealand’s residence-stage English read on Immigration New Zealand’s pages, on 11 October 2026; Singapore, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates were added on 14 October 2026. Peru was added on 15 October 2026. Quotations are verbatim in the original language; translations and every cross-country comparison are ours.

What is deliberately absent: any country whose instrument we could not open, any level we know only from a summary, and any exam fee, which belongs to the exam body and is recorded in the exam comparison. Laws move — Italy, the Netherlands and Romania changed in 2025, Sweden wrote its clause in June 2026, and Finland and Sweden change again in 2027 — so the date beside each row is part of the fact.

We run a marketplace for language teachers, so read this as interested rather than neutral. The defence is the same as on the other research pages: nothing here is ours except the comparison, every quotation is checkable on the government’s own site, and a country we cannot read is named as unread rather than filled in. Corrections to hello@kololingo.com, and we will publish who corrected us.