Following the deadline for Spanish citizenship functions through the so-called ‘Grandchildren’s Legislation’, Spain’s consulates world wide are struggling to course of the flood in functions.
Spanish consulates world wide are struggling to course of a flood of citizenship functions through the Grandchildren’s Legislation, new Ministry of Overseas Affairs figures have revealed.
Over half 1,000,000 persons are nonetheless awaiting their ultimate choice, regardless of the application window closing in October 2025. Authorities sources recommend that “monumental efforts” have been made to extend consular workers numbers overseas.
Citizenship functions through the Law of Democratic Memory (known as La Ley de Nietos or Grandchildren’s Legislation in English) have been in pressure since October 2022.
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The preliminary window for this citizenship route was beforehand scheduled to finish in October 2024 however prolonged by a 12 months as a result of sheer variety of functions.
The scheme supplied a approach for tens of millions world wide who certified through descendants of Spaniards who fled Spain through the Civil Battle and Franco’s dictatorship.
The backlog continues to be being processed by Spanish consulates. In whole, greater than 1,000,000 folks (1,170,999) have exercised this proper to citizenship through descent since 2021, of whom greater than half (632,670) are nonetheless awaiting a choice.
Solely 25 p.c of all functions have, up to now, been lastly registered.
That is in accordance with figures from the Ministry of Overseas Affairs seen by Spanish outlet El Diario through a freedom of data request. The information lays naked the lack of Spanish consulates overseas to deal with the sheer quantity of functions following the deadline.
Argentina, Cuba, Brazil and Mexico account for the best variety of functions and likewise the best variety of registrations. These 4 nations alone account for 72 p.c of those that have utilized for citizenship through the Grandchildren’s Legislation.
On the prime of the listing is Argentina, the place 462,815 functions have been registered throughout Spain’s 5 consulates within the nation, adopted by Brazil (137,322), Mexico (116,785) and Cuba, the place 137,770 functions have been filed at its sole consulate in Havana. America and Chile additionally recorded over 50,000 functions, while France exceeded 25,000.
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The figures additionally present very excessive charges of approval. Of the functions processed, nearly all have been authorized up to now, with just one.32 p.c being rejected.
The bottleneck comes from the truth that 54 p.c of functions are nonetheless ready to be processed, one thing that has left 1000’s in authorized limbo world wide. Many have been ready for over a 12 months simply to safe an appointment and complain of feeling trapped in an limitless administrative course of.
Roberto, a Cuban who has utilized for citizenship alongside his mom, sisters and cousins, instructed El Diario: “For a lot of households, this has change into a bureaucratic nightmare and an ordeal of paperwork, administrative silence and emotional pressure”.
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The preliminary window for this citizenship route was beforehand scheduled to finish in October 2024 however prolonged by a 12 months as a result of sheer variety of functions.
The Spanish authorities estimates it has acquired greater than 1.5 million functions in whole.
Although the deadline for submitting functions was twenty second October 2025, reviews within the Spanish press and from consulates overseas recommend the processing interval may conclude years down the road.
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