‘Grandchild Law’ opens door to Spanish nationality for more than 180 thousand descendants: Cuba leads applications
Recent data indicate that in 2023 more than 180 thousand descendants applied for Spanish nationality, which is protected by the Law of Democratic Memory (LMD).
According to a report from 20 minutesDuring last year, the first year of the so-called ‘Grandchildren Law’, 182,400 people in particular applied for Spanish nationality.
The law, in effect from October 2022 to October 2024, allows descendants of Spaniards deported after the civil war and during the dictatorship to choose a Spanish passport.
Of the total applications submitted last year, 51% (91,996) have already been approved and two-thirds (57,585) of these descendants of Spaniards are registered in the consulates of their countries of birth and residence, according to the Diplomatic Information Office.
The Democratic Memory Law, also known as the ‘Grandchild Law’, continues the process started by the Historical Memory Law between 2009 and 2011. At the time, as many as 500,000 citizenship applications were registered, but many remained unresolved, the aforementioned media highlighted. .
Now, descendants who were not of legal age in 2011 and whose siblings acquired nationality can also apply for nationality, as well as Spanish women who lost their nationality when they married a foreigner. It is estimated that 300,000 people could benefit from this second procedure, according to descendant associations.
Spanish Nationality: LMD CUBA
According to the information offered, the majority of people born to Spanish parents or grandparents live in Latin America (94.9%), with Cuba, Argentina and Mexico being the countries with the highest number of these residents. The rest (5.1%) is distributed in other parts of the world, mainly France, the United States and Morocco.
Another Spanish media report indicates that one year after the implementation of the Democratic Memory Law, the Spanish Consulate in Havana has approved the highest number of citizenship applications with nearly 15,000. Next comes the consulate in Mexico, where more than 8,500 applications have been approved.
The most worrisome problem in Cuba at this time is delay Delivery of Credentials To access the appointment system.
According to some users on the social network, this week they started receiving credentials corresponding to the month of August, indicating a delay of five months.
