LU · Citizenship by descent

Luxembourgish citizenship by descent

Reaches a parent. A grandparent only if you had already applied by 31 December 2025. 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 20267 sourcesNot legal advice

LU · PARENTLIKELYThrough a parentCitizen by descentLU · GRANDPARENTUNLIKELYThrough a grandparentRecovery route closedPossible if you had already applied by 31 December 2025LU · GREAT-GRANDPARENTUNLIKELYThrough a great-grandparentRecovery route closedPossible if you had already applied by 31 December 2025
Routes
Citizen by descent (Art. 7) · Recovery through an ancestor alive in 1900 (closed 31 December 2025)
Dual citizenship
Kept on every open route
Cutoff
31 December 2025
Comes with
EU citizenship: the right to live and work in 27 countries

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

UNLIKELY

Can you claim Luxembourgish citizenship through a grandparent?

Recovery route closed

The route through an ancestor alive in 1900 closed on 31 December 2025 after two extensions. Unless a parent is a Luxembourg national, there is no standing route through a grandparent.

What would settle itWhether anyone in the family made the recovery declaration before the end of 2025; if a parent did, you are the child of a Luxembourg national.

What changes the answer

  • POSSIBLE
    If you had already applied by 31 December 2025Recovery through an ancestor alive in 1900 (declaration lodged in time)

    The recovery route closed on 31 December 2025, but declarations lodged by then are being processed during 2026.

UNLIKELY

Can you claim Luxembourgish citizenship through a great-grandparent?

Recovery route closed

The route through an ancestor alive in 1900 closed on 31 December 2025 after two extensions. Unless a parent is a Luxembourg national, there is no standing route through a grandparent.

What would settle itWhether anyone in the family made the recovery declaration before the end of 2025; if a parent did, you are the child of a Luxembourg national.

What changes the answer

  • POSSIBLE
    If you had already applied by 31 December 2025Recovery through an ancestor alive in 1900 (declaration lodged in time)

    The recovery route closed on 31 December 2025, but declarations lodged by then are being processed during 2026.

02Dates that matter

The dates that matter

  1. 1900
    1 January 1900

    Recovery of nationality by descendants of an ancestor who was a Luxembourg national on 1 January 1900 was available for declarations made by 31 December 2025. Luxembourg Ministry of Justice, communiqué of 14 January 2026 on nationality in 2025

  2. 1900
    1 January 1900

    The time for the recovery declaration based on descent from an ancestor who was Luxembourgish on 1 January 1900 expired on 31 December 2025; applications lodged by that date are processed during 2026. Luxembourg Ministry of Justice, communiqué of 14 January 2026 on nationality in 2025

  3. 1900
    1 January 1900

    Recovery requires proof that the ancestor held Luxembourg nationality on 1 January 1900 and the chain of descent to you. Luxembourg Nationality Law of 8 March 2017, Art. 7 (descent) and Art. 89 (recovery for descendants of an ancestor alive on 1 January 1900; final deadline 31 December 2025), Art. 89

  4. 2025
    31 December 2025 · the cutoff

    A recovery declaration through an ancestor who was Luxembourgish on 1 January 1900, lodged by 31 December 2025 (2017 Nationality Law, Art. 89)

What counts as having applied by 31 December 2025: A recovery declaration through an ancestor who was Luxembourgish on 1 January 1900, lodged by 31 December 2025 (2017 Nationality Law, Art. 89).

03Mothers’ lines

How mothers’ lines were treated

Luxembourg’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

Recovery through an ancestor alive in 1900 (declaration lodged in time)

Open through a grandparent or a great-grandparent

  • POSSIBLE
    Through a grandparent, if you had already applied by 31 December 2025

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether the Ministry's review confirms your ancestor's nationality on 1 January 1900 and each link in the chain.

Recovery route closed

Closed: no open answer on this route

  • UNLIKELY
    Through a grandparent

    The route through an ancestor alive in 1900 closed on 31 December 2025 after two extensions. Unless a parent is a Luxembourg national, there is no standing route through a grandparent.

The law

What would settle an unsure case

  • Whether anyone in the family made the recovery declaration before the end of 2025; if a parent did, you are the child of a Luxembourg national.

06The documents

The documents, as the rule lists them

Citizen by descent

Through a parent

  • Your parent's Luxembourg nationality certificate
  • Your birth certificate
  • Your parents' marriage certificate

Recovery through an ancestor alive in 1900 (declaration lodged in time)

Through a grandparent or great-grandparent

  • Your declaration receipt from before 1 January 2026
  • Proof your ancestor was Luxembourgish on 1 January 1900
  • Birth and marriage records for each generation to you

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
4–8 months to document the claim and get a first passport.
Cost
About $250–450: certified copies, apostilles, translations and the passport fee.
The hard part
Getting your Luxembourg parent’s nationality certificate if the family hasn’t needed one before; the civil registry can be slow to answer written requests.
Who decides
The Luxembourg consulate for your address, then the Ministry of Justice.
The first record
Your parent’s Luxembourg nationality certificate or birth certificate, from The Ministry of Justice’s nationality service, or the commune of birth. Request the certificate from the Ministry of Justice’s nationality office, or write to the commune’s civil registry with the name and date of birth. guichet.public.lu

How it’s filed

Where
Ministry of Justice, Nationality Office, Luxembourg: by email or post from abroad office list
How
By post; no appearance needed
Fee
No fee
Decision
1–6 months
What goes in the file (6)
  1. Request stating the member's name, date and place of birth, address, each parent's name, date and place of birth, and the intended use and receiving body
  2. Copy of the member's passport or ID card
  3. Member's birth certificate showing the Luxembourg parent, apostilled
  4. Parents' marriage certificate, apostilled
  5. Proof of the parent's Luxembourg nationality at the birth (their passport, ID card or certificate of nationality)
  6. Any further civil-status records or court rulings the Nationality Office asks for
What goes wrong (4)
  • Free. The Nationality Office encourages contacting it first, since the documents depend on the case.
  • Art. 7: a child is Luxembourgish if a parent was Luxembourgish at the birth. Nothing is 'granted'; the certificate records it.
  • Decision time not published; widened.
  • From CA, GB, AU, NZ, BR, AR, ZA: same office by email or post. The passport goes through the Luxembourg mission accredited to that country, or a Belgian mission where Luxembourg has none (temporary passports only).

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

  • birth

    The commune's civil registry (état civil) where the Luxembourg parent was born; the national register of natural persons (RNPP) for people registered in Luxembourg.

    The parent's commune of birth.

    Ask
    By email, in French
    Takes
    2–9 weeks
    Good to know (1)
    • Takes says the civil registry can be slow to answer written requests. Fee and turnaround not verified this pass; widened.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

  • citizenship

    Ministry of Justice, Nationality Office (Service de la nationalité luxembourgeoise), 13 rue Erasme, L-1468 Luxembourg; nationalite@mj.public.lu

    A certificate in the Luxembourg parent's own name proves the parent's nationality at the birth; a certificate in the member's name is the claim itself.

    Ask
    By email, in French
    Fee
    0 EUR (about $0)
    Takes
    2–17 weeks
    Good to know (1)
    • Free. Non-residents apply by post or email (MyGuichet online is residents-only). Turnaround not published; widened.

    Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

Translations

Into
French, German or Luxembourgish
Who may translate
No translation needed
About
$0–$90 a page

Supporting documents are accepted in German, French, Luxembourgish or English. Documents in any other language must be translated by a sworn translator on the Ministry of Justice's list. U.S. documents need the issuing state's apostille. Per-page range unverified.

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

The passport

Where
Embassy of Luxembourg in Washington (U.S. and Mexico residents): email copies of the listed documents first, then book the appointment by the link the Embassy sends; honorary consulates do not issue passports. Register with the Embassy before applying.
Fee
About $57
Time
2–9 weeks

Checked 25 September 2026 · source ↗

09Law changes

Recent and pending changes

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

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 Luxembourg without an ancestor, each with its own law and road to citizenship.

11Sources

Every source on this page

2 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. LawLuxembourg Nationality Law of 8 March 2017, Art. 7 (descent) and Art. 89 (recovery for descendants of an ancestor alive on 1 January 1900; final deadline 31 December 2025) · Art. 7; Art. 89
  2. LawLuxembourg Ministry of Justice, communiqué of 14 January 2026 on nationality in 2025
  3. RecordsThe Ministry of Justice’s nationality service, or the commune of birth: Your parent’s Luxembourg nationality certificate or birth certificate
  4. RecordsHow to file: Citizen by descent · checked 25 September 2026
  5. RecordsBirth records: The commune's civil registry · checked 25 September 2026
  6. RecordsTranslations into French, German or Luxembourgish · checked 25 September 2026
  7. 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.

Check your family for Luxembourg.

Name one ancestor. The check runs these same rules and answers in about a minute, with the law behind the answer.

Check your family

All 79 countries · Every door, not only descent