Becoming Luxembourgish: naturalisation, the Sproochentest and the Vivre ensemble course

Luxembourg's nationality law is among the more accessible in Europe for long-term residents, and it permits dual nationality, which for many people removes the main obstacle. The requirements are not money or connections but time, language and paperwork. The two elements that people underestimate are the spoken Luxembourgish test, which needs months of preparation rather than weeks, and the civil status documents, which need to be ordered from abroad long before they are needed.

The five conditions for naturalisation

The standard route for a foreign resident with no other qualifying connection requires all of the following.

• Being an adult.
• At least five years of legal residence in Luxembourg, of which the final year immediately preceding the application must have been uninterrupted. That last year is the only one the conditions explicitly require to be continuous.
• A pass certificate in the Luxembourgish language test, the Sproochentest, administered by the Institut national des langues.
• Completion of the Vivre ensemble au Grand-Duché de Luxembourg course, or a pass in the test covering the same material, organised under the Ministry of Education.
• No disqualifying criminal record.

The procedure itself is free of charge, although communes may charge a small municipal fee for preparing copies of civil status records. Applications are filed in person with the civil registrar of your commune of residence, which forwards the file to the Ministry of Justice.

The Sproochentest, in practice

The test assesses spoken Luxembourgish at A2 level and listening comprehension at B1. That combination is deliberate: the state expects you to understand the language as it is spoken around you at a reasonable pace, and to hold a conversation at a basic but functional level.

• It is the harder half of the requirement for most applicants. Speaking at A2 means managing everyday conversation, and listening at B1 means following audio at natural speed.
• The certificate does not expire. You can sit and pass the test in your second year of residence and use the certificate when you apply in your sixth.
• Registration is charged per attempt, at €75 at the time of writing, and there is no limit on the number of attempts.
• The INL runs preparation courses, and this is what most successful applicants use.

The single most useful piece of planning is to start the language early and sit the test when you are ready rather than when you are eligible. Because the certificate is permanent, there is no advantage in waiting and a considerable advantage in removing it from the critical path.

The Vivre ensemble course

This is the civic component, running to 24 hours across three modules covering fundamental rights, the institutions of the state and the country's history and European integration. You may either attend the course or sit an examination on the same material.

The examination is a multiple-choice paper of forty questions, weighted heavily toward institutions. Candidates who have completed the Contrat d'accueil et d'intégration, the optional welcome and integration contract available to legal residents planning to settle permanently, may be exempted from the history and European integration module, which reduces the paper accordingly.

Compared with the language test this is a manageable piece of preparation, measured in weeks rather than months for anyone comfortable with structured study.

Routes other than standard naturalisation

Naturalisation is not the only path, and the option procedure is shorter for certain categories.

• Spouses of Luxembourg nationals.
• People born in Luxembourg.
• People who attended at least seven years of Luxembourg schooling, who are assessed through that schooling rather than by a separate language standard.
• Very long-term residents. Those with at least twenty years of legal residence may replace the Sproochentest with 24 hours of Luxembourgish lessons rather than passing the examination.

There is also a medical exemption from the language test where a physical or mental condition prevents learning Luxembourgish, granted by the Minister of Justice. The exemptions are narrow, and the right course is always to confirm your own situation with your commune or the INL rather than to rely on a general description.

Preparing the file

• Birth certificate, in the form Luxembourg requires, which may mean an apostille or legalisation and a certified translation.
• Marriage, divorce and children's birth certificates where relevant.
• Criminal record certificates from the countries where you have lived, typically covering a substantial period.
• The Sproochentest certificate.
• The Vivre ensemble certificate or test result.
• Evidence of legal residence across the qualifying period.

Order the foreign documents first and everything else afterwards. They are the items with the longest and least predictable lead time, and they are the reason most applications are delayed.

Learning the language without waiting five years

Because the Sproochentest certificate never expires, the language is the part of the process that rewards starting early, and there is a specific mechanism to help pay for it.

• The congé linguistique gives employees with at least six months' service with the same employer a total of 200 hours of paid leave over their career to learn Luxembourgish, in two instalments of 80 to 120 hours each.
• The allowance equals your average hourly wage, capped at four times the hourly minimum wage for unskilled workers, is paid by the employer, and the state reimburses the employer half of it.
• The leave counts as effective working time and cannot be set against your statutory annual leave.
• The second instalment is available only once you have obtained a certificate of success from the first, which aligns neatly with working toward the test.
• Your employer must approve the request and is entitled to refuse, so present it with a specific recognised course and specific dates rather than as an idea.

Two hundred subsidised hours, taken in your second and third years, put the Sproochentest within reach long before you are eligible to apply. Most people discover this scheme in year six.

Three questions we are asked

Do I have to give up my current nationality?

Luxembourg permits dual nationality. Whether your country of origin does is a separate question governed by its own law, and it is the one you need to check before you apply. Some states do not permit it, and acquiring Luxembourgish nationality could have consequences you would want to understand in advance.

How long does the decision take once I file?

The Minister of Justice decides by ministerial order, with an indicative period published on guichet.lu. The variable that matters far more than the decision period is how long it takes you to assemble a complete file, particularly the foreign civil status documents.

Is it worth it if I already have permanent residence?

That depends on what you want. Permanent residence secures your right to live and work here. Nationality adds the right to vote in national elections, an EU passport with full free movement across the Union, and a status that does not need renewal and cannot be lost through absence. For anyone whose life is now centred here, those are substantial differences.

Where we can help

Most of the people who take this route have been in Luxembourg long enough to have bought property. If you are at that stage, it is usually also the stage where a first apartment stops fitting, and we can tell you what your current place is worth before you decide.

A useful editorial test for where we can help is to look at the consequence rather than the headline feature.

For the five conditions for naturalisation, measurement is often more revealing than opinion. For the question raised by “The five conditions for naturalisation”, the useful detail is not a generic list of advantages.

For the vivre ensemble course, this is especially useful because the first impression can be misleading.

Every strong property choice contains a trade-off, and the sproochentest, in practice is no exception. For the question raised by “The Sproochentest, in practice”, the useful detail is not a generic list of advantages.

A stronger reading of the five conditions for naturalisation starts by asking what would change for the resident on an ordinary weekday.