SV · Citizenship by descent

Salvadoran citizenship by descent

Reaches a great-grandparent. Every answer on this page is what Postern’s rulebook returns, word for word, with the law it cites. The free check runs the same rules.

Last verified 25 September 20266 sourcesNot legal advice

SV · PARENTLIKELYThrough a parentCitizen by descentSV · GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a grandparentCitizen by descent, generation by generationSV · GREAT-GRANDPARENTPOSSIBLEThrough a great-grandparentCitizen by descent, generation by generation
Routes
Citizen by descent (Art. 90(3))
Dual citizenship
Kept on every open route

The stamps assume no one in the line became a citizen of another country before the next person in the line was born. What changes each answer is below.

On this page
  1. 01Who qualifies
  2. 02Dates that matter
  3. 03Mothers’ lines
  4. 04Keeping your citizenship
  5. 05The routes and the law
  6. 06The documents
  7. 07What it takes
  8. 08Where the records live
  9. 09Law changes
  10. 10Other doors
  11. 11Sources

01Who qualifies

Who qualifies, generation by generation

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Salvadoran citizenship through a grandparent?

Citizen by descent, generation by generation

Nationality passes from parent to child; each generation registers in turn, so your parent establishes their Salvadoran nationality first, then you.

What would settle itWhether your parent can be registered as a Salvadoran national first.

POSSIBLE

Can you claim Salvadoran citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Citizen by descent, generation by generation

Nationality passes from parent to child; each generation registers in turn, so your parent establishes their Salvadoran nationality first, then you.

What would settle itWhether your parent can be registered as a Salvadoran national first.

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

No date named in El Salvador’s rule decides who qualifies. The answers above turn on the family’s facts, not on when anyone was born or left.

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

El Salvador’s rule gives the same answer whether the line runs through a mother or a father.

04Keeping your citizenship

Dual citizenship with your home country

You keep your citizenship.

On every open route, the rule lets a citizen of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina or South Africa keep that citizenship.

05The routes

Every route, and the law behind it

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizen by descent

Through a parent

  • Your parent’s Salvadoran birth certificate or identity document
  • Your birth certificate, apostilled and translated

Citizen by descent, generation by generation

Through a grandparent or great-grandparent

  • Your ancestor’s Salvadoran birth certificate
  • Birth and marriage records for each generation, registered in turn

Most countries also want proof that no one in the line became a citizen elsewhere before the next birth: the naturalization record with its date, or a letter that none exists.

07What it takes

What it takes: time, cost, the hard part, who decides

Citizen by descent

Time
A few weeks to a few months at the consulate.
Cost
About $150–350: consular fee, apostilles and certified translations.
The hard part
None, usually. Bring your parent’s Salvadoran birth certificate or DUI and your own apostilled birth certificate.
Who decides
The Salvadoran consulate for your address, by appointment.
The first record
Your parent’s Salvadoran birth certificate (partida de nacimiento), from The Registro Nacional de las Personas Naturales (RNPN). Request the certified copy online (Simple SV or Market SV for those abroad) or in person with the full name and approximate date; it issues in about 10 business days plus shipping. rnpn.gob.sv

How it’s filed

Where
The Salvadoran consulate for the place of birth or nearest your residence (a large U.S. network: Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Doral, Atlanta, Boston, New York, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Woodbridge and others). office list
How
In person; you appear in person
Appointments
miconsulado.mrree.gob.sv (an appointment is mandatory at every post, per a 2026 secondary source). Corrected 2026-09-25: a secondary source names miconsulado.mrree.gob.sv as the current mandatory booking portal, superseding this spec's prior citation of portalcitas.rree.gob.sv. Prior research also found a Consulado Virtual phone line (1-888-301-1130). Neither the old nor the new URL could be fetched directly to confirm bot-protection status; treat as no-automation given the mandatory in-person/phone appointment and this region's general use of Radware/Cloudflare on government sites.
Fee
About $15
Decision
2–17 weeks
What goes in the file (6)
  1. Your foreign birth certificate, certified original, apostilled by the issuing state
  2. The notarial literal translation of that certificate into Spanish
  3. The Salvadoran parent's certified birth partida, issued within the last year
  4. The other parent's birth certificate, issued within the last year (apostilled and translated if foreign)
  5. Both parents' identity documents, originals (DUI or passport)
  6. Your photo ID
What goes wrong (5)
  • Registration within the legal term is free; later (adult) registration pays a consular fee in USD under Art. 212 Bis of the Organic Law of Consular Service. Secondary sources give $15; unverified.
  • Unverified: turnaround from consular filing to the registered partida.
  • From CA: Salvadoran consulates in Canada (e.g. Toronto) run the same process; Canadian certificates are apostilled since 2024.
  • From GB, AU, NZ, ZA, BR, AR: file at the Salvadoran embassy or consulate for your country; the same apostille and notarial-translation rules apply.
  • Naturalization-proof requirement (whether a Salvadoran ancestor's foreign naturalization must be proven or disproven) remains completely unresearched.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Citizen by descent, generation by generation

Time
Several months to over a year: your parent’s Salvadoran nationality is established first, then yours follows.
Cost
About $300–700 across both registrations, in fees, apostilles and translations.
The hard part
Establishing your parent as Salvadoran before the consulate will register you. Older municipal records can be slow to trace.
Who decides
The Salvadoran consulate for your address, for each generation’s registration in turn.
The first record
Your grandparent’s Salvadoran birth certificate, from The Registro Nacional de las Personas Naturales (RNPN). Request the certified copy with the full name and approximate birth date and place; records before RNPN’s founding in 1996 are held by the municipal alcaldía where the birth was recorded. rnpn.gob.sv

How it’s filed

Where
A Salvadoran consulate, once for each generation in turn. office list
How
In person; you appear in person
Fee
About $30
Decision
1–8 months
What goes in the file (2)
  1. Step 1, your parent: their apostilled and notarially translated foreign birth certificate, the Salvadoran grandparent's partida (issued within a year), identity documents
  2. Step 2, you: your apostilled and translated birth certificate, your parent's new Salvadoran partida (after step 1), identity documents
What goes wrong (2)
  • The parent's registration must be complete, with a Salvadoran partida, before the member's can be filed.
  • Fee assumes the unverified $15 per late registration, twice.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Estimates are honest ranges from official fee tables and what families report; where a fee or time could not be confirmed, it says so.

08Where the records live

Where each record lives, and how to ask for it

  • birth1860–2026

    The Registro Nacional de las Personas Naturales (RNPN), which issues certified partidas from the municipal Registros del Estado Familiar; the original books stay with each alcaldía's Registro del Estado Familiar.

    Name, date and place of birth and the parents' names are enough for the RNPN. If the RNPN cannot find an older entry, the alcaldía of the town of birth holds the book.

    Ask
    Online, in Spanish · request page ↗
    Fee
    5 USD
    Takes
    1–4 weeks
    Good to know (4)
    • $5.00 per certification in El Salvador, issued within about 2 hours in person.
    • From abroad, prior research found online ordering through the government's Simple SV / Market SV platforms with delivery via Docuexpress in 3-9 business days plus an unverified shipping fee (not re-confirmed on the RNPN page on 2026-09-25).
    • The consulate wants parents' partidas issued within the last year.
    • RNPN's San Salvador office: Alameda Manuel Enrique Araujo, Km 4½ carretera a Santa Tecla, Colonia Roma, Pasaje Carbonell (secondary, 2026-09-25); phone 2521-9300. No RNPN email address was legible in search results.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into
Spanish
Who may translate
A sworn translator in the country
About
$25–$80 a page

The Foreign Ministry requires a foreign-language birth certificate to carry 'diligencias de traducción literal' before a Salvadoran notary (done in El Salvador, or before the consul acting as notary), so even an English U.S. certificate needs one. Price range unverified.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where
A Salvadoran consulate, in person, with the DUI (issued free at consulates) or the certified birth partida and photo ID. $60 for five years outside Central America; delivery reported at 2–5 weeks (secondary).
Fee
About $60
Time
2–6 weeks

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Law changes

Recent and pending changes

The legislative watch has no pending bill or recent ruling recorded for El Salvador.

The watch re-reads the official pages behind this guide every day. When one changes, a person re-checks the rule before anything here moves.

10Other doors

If descent doesn’t reach you

2 residence programs lead to El Salvador without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

11Sources

Every source on this page

1 laws and official pages behind the answers, then the offices and pages behind the records and filing. Records and filing checked 25 September 2026.

  1. LawConstitution of El Salvador, Art. 90(3) (children of Salvadorans born abroad) and Art. 91 (dual nationality) · Art. 90(3)
  2. RecordsThe Registro Nacional de las Personas Naturales (RNPN): Your parent’s Salvadoran birth certificate (partida de nacimiento) · checked 25 September 2026
  3. RecordsHow to file: Citizen by descent · checked 25 September 2026
  4. Recordsmiconsulado.mrree.gob.sv (an appointment is mandatory at every post, per a 2026 secondary source) · checked 25 September 2026
  5. RecordsThe Registro Nacional de las Personas Naturales (RNPN): Your grandparent’s Salvadoran birth certificate
  6. RecordsThe passport: where, the fee and the wait · checked 25 September 2026

Not legal advice. Postern’s rulebook is written from the statutes and tested against documented cases; where the law is unsettled, the answer says “possible” or “unsure” rather than guess.

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