Residency & citizenship timeline calculator
Choose a country and residence start date. The tool converts published general residence thresholds into milestone dates without pretending the date alone makes you eligible.
Research set checked: 10 September 2026
Why ExpatEngine calls these “milestones”
A residence-duration rule is often only one condition among many. Denmark is a good illustration: the general citizenship residence requirement is nine continuous years, but citizenship by naturalisation also requires permanent residence and other conditions. Permanent residence itself is generally based on eight years, with a four-year route available in certain cases if all supplementary conditions are met.
For the Netherlands, the official IND pages state a five-consecutive-year requirement for the standard permanent residence and naturalisation routes, with exceptions. Spain states a minimum five-year route for long-term residence and a general ten-year citizenship-by-residence period, with shorter citizenship periods for certain categories. Italy states ten years for the general non-EU citizenship-by-residence route and four years for EU citizens.