How does a country join NATO?

The world’s most powerful military alliance has 31 members. Sweden is poised to make it 32, and Ukraine wants in as well.
On the final day of the NATO summit in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, the military alliance’s chief, Jens Stoltenberg, has told reporters, “Ukraine is now closer to NATO than ever before.” In a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Stoltenberg said: “I look forward to the day we meet as allies.”
While Zelenskyy described the results of the NATO summit as good after allies pledged more military aid to Ukraine, he said an ideal situation would have been an invitation to Kyiv to become a member of the alliance.
Here is how a country joins NATO:
NATO History and Expansion
Since its creation in 1949, the world’s most powerful military alliance has increased its membership from 12 to 31 countries through nine rounds of enlargement.
NATO’s founding members were Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. Their aim was to curb Soviet expansion and encourage political integration in Europe. Countries interested in joining NATO are asked to agree to a membership action plan tailored to the individual country and potentially requiring political, legal, military, and security reforms.
The following steps outline the process of joining NATO:
Step 1: Accession talks with NATO in Brussels. This involves discussions to determine if an invitee meets the requirements of NATO membership.
Step 2: Letter of intent sent to NATO secretary-general. This involves an invitee providing written confirmation of its acceptance of NATO commitments and a timetable of reforms.
Step 3: Accession protocols signed by NATO members. This step allows an invitee to become a party to the Washington Treaty, which formed NATO.
Step 4: Accession protocols ratified by NATO member governments according to their national procedures. In the US, this requires a two-thirds majority of the Senate to pass the required legislation.
Step 5: Secretary-general invites the potential member to accede to the treaty.
Step 6: Invitee accedes to the treaty according to their national procedures.
Step 7: After depositing their instruments of accession with the US Department of State, an invitee becomes a NATO member.
Source:ctvnews.ca