also called citizenship by marriage · spousal naturalization
Gaining citizenship through marriage to a citizen, usually after a reduced residence period.
Naturalization by marriage is becoming a citizen through marrying a citizen, usually after a shorter residence period than the standard route. It can be a faster way to a second passport. It still tends to require you to actually live in the country and to prove the relationship is genuine, so it is rarely as quick or automatic as people hope.
You marry a citizen and expect the passport to follow soon after. In practice the country still wants you physically resident for a stretch and asks you to show the marriage is real, so the faster route is faster than starting from zero, but it is not the shortcut you pictured.
It can be a faster passport route, but often still requires living in-country and proving a genuine relationship.
The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.
These split by what qualifies you.
Citizenship by birth is granted by being born on the soil, citizenship by descent comes through a parent or grandparent, and a grandfathered route or right of return extends that to a wider heritage a country chooses to honour.
Naturalization is the process a foreigner goes through after living there and meeting language and residence rules, and naturalization by marriage is the shortened version for the spouse of a citizen.
Citizenship by birth · Citizenship by descent · Naturalization
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