Latin Americans have a wider range of options to obtain Spanish citizenship. The Democratic Memory Law, known as grandchildren law, In force since last October, it facilitates access to the grandchildren and children of Spaniards who first fled the Civil War and to those who went into exile for political reasons during the Franco regime. The new norm, whose sense of reparation for the victims goes far beyond the right to citizenship of their descendants, adds three new assumptions to achieve the granting of nationality to the Historical Memory Law, which has been in force since December 2008. The extension of the universe of possible applicants has a great impact in Latin America, where a good part of the Spanish diaspora went in the last century.
According to the new norm, now they will be able to opt for Spanish nationality “those born outside Spain of father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, who originally had been Spanish, and who, as a consequence of having suffered exile for political, ideological or belief reasons, or sexual orientation and identity, they had lost or renounced their Spanish nationality”. They may also do so “the sons and daughters of legal age of those Spaniards whose nationality of origin was recognized by virtue of the right of option in accordance with the provisions of the previous Law of Democratic Memory.” The third group affected by the new law is that of the sons and daughters born abroad of Spanish women who lost their nationality by marrying foreigners before the entry into force of the 1978 Constitution.
Descendants of Spaniards in exile will have two years from October 21, 2022, when the law came into force, to present all the documentation, although this period may be extended for another year if so determined by the Council of Ministers. The law considers all Spaniards who left the country between July 18, 1936 and December 31, 1955 as exiles.
If the departure from Spain occurred between January 1, 1956 and December 28, 1978, the applicant for nationality must prove with additional documentation the exile status of their parents or grandparents. The possibilities are varied: having received a pension as an exile or presenting certificates issued by political parties, unions or institutions recognized by the Spanish authorities. In addition, a passport or travel title with the stamp of the host country or some other document that accounts for the income must be attached.
One of the differences with the previous law is that the new one allows generational jumps: the grandchildren of Spaniards exiled between 1936 and 1975 can start the process regardless of whether their parents have done so before. The Historical Memory Law clashed with the fact that the grandchildren of Spaniards often found that their parents had already died and had not applied for citizenship, either due to lack of interest or because they felt alien to the past of the Franco dictatorship. If the parents were alive, another obstacle was added: they could only transmit the right to nationality to their children under 21 years of age.
To access the benefits of the grandchildren’s law, you must gather all the required documentation and then request an appointment online at the Spanish consulates that operate in each Latin American country. In any case, the service of a manager is not necessary.
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