The new ‘Grandchildren’s Law’ that facilitates European citizenship for descendants of Spaniards

A new law, published on Thursday (20) in Spain’s Official Gazette and officially called the Law of Democratic Memory, is being dubbed the “Grandchildren’s Law” by many media outlets.

This is because the new legislation extends access to Spanish nationality to thousands of descendants of Spaniards born abroad.

The regulation extends the conditions stipulated in the law passed by Spain in 2007, which established the possibility of acquiring nationality by children of a mother or father of Spanish origin.

The benefit could also be passed on to grandchildren, as long as they were minors.

With the move, however, adult grandchildren and family members of victims of the Spanish Civil War and the subsequent military government of Francisco Franco can also benefit.

The new law makes it easier for three groups to obtain a Spanish passport:

• Children or grandchildren of those born in Spain who have lost or had to renounce their Spanish nationality for political, ideological, belief or sexual orientation and identity reasons;
• Children of Spanish women who lost their nationality by marrying foreigners before the entry into force of the 1978 Constitution;
• Children of legal age of Spaniards whose nationality has been recognized by virtue of this law or the seventh additional provision of Law 52/2007, of December 26th.
• The document specifies that this procedure must be formalized within two years from the entry into force of the law.

“At the end of this period, the Council of Ministers may agree to extend it for one year”, reads the text.

no preparatory period

The new law was approved by the Spanish Senate with 128 votes in favour, 113 against and 18 abstentions.

Until its approval, grandchildren of Spaniards whose parents, born outside Spain, obtained nationality had the following age restrictions to access citizenship:

• Be born before January 1985 and the father or mother, born outside Spain, obtained Spanish nationality before the birth of the child;
• Be under 21 years of age and that the father or mother, born outside Spain, acquired nationality before the birth of the child;
• Be under 20 years of age and the father or mother, born outside Spain, have acquired nationality after the birth of the child but before the child turns 18.

The Latin American press, such as Argentina’s Clarín newspaper, points out that, unlike the 2007 law, which established an additional deadline to process Spanish nationality until official bodies were prepared to receive new applications, and is no longer in effect. , the current legislation did not create any period for the preparation of interested parties.

According to immigration experts, the countries from which the largest number of citizenship applications are expected from the change in legislation are Argentina, Cuba and Mexico. But Brazilians who fit the new requirements can also apply.

Spanish immigration to Brazil occurred at different times in national history, but the main wave took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

However, during the 1930s, with the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the influx of Spaniards to Brazil also increased, especially with the arrival of those defeated by Francoist forces.

This text was originally published here.