Hi,

I am a British national and have been living in Spain since Feb 2007 and have had my own registered business since Dec 2007 (autonomo). I just found out that I am pregnant and would prefer my child to have Spanish nationality if at all possible.

The father is also a British national who has been residing in Spain for approximately 4 years but we are not married.

I have heard that the baby would not be entitled to apply for a Spanish passport until it has resided in Spain for 1 year as both parents are British. Is this correct?

Would the child be able to have spanish nationality if I changed my nationality to Spanish before the birth? Although I understand it normally requires 10 years residency to achieve this, my grandmother on my fathers side was Spanish so I'm not sure if this would speed up matters. I also don't know how fast the process is as I am due in 7 1/2 months.

I don't mind giving up my British passport as I have no intention to ever return to live in the UK. Personally I am finding the lack of a DNI card to be an issue and I would prefer for my child not to have the same problems growing up with only an NIE number.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Kirsty