Spain Sees Surge in Descendants Applying for Citizenship

By Brendan Cole

Senior News Reporter

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Spanish consulates in Latin America have been inundated with applications for citizenship from those whose ancestors hailed from the European country.

Over 2 million people from countries such as Cuba, Argentina and Mexico have applied for citizenship under the Democratic Memory Law. The legislation enables the return to Spain of the descendants of those who fled the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, who ruled from after the Spanish Civil War in 1939 until his death in 1975.

The deadline for applications was October 22, but appointments for citizenship are being held after this date.

Spain's 178 consular offices worldwide have been overwhelmed, with waiting lists stretching for months or even years, El Pais reported.

Newsweek has contacted Spain's Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration for comment.

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Why It Matters

The Democratic Memory Law, also known as the Grandchildren’s Law, was introduced in October 2022 and expired in October 2025. Its goal was to allow Spanish citizens who fled Spain during the Franco dictatorship to pass nationality to their descendants under several categories.

However, the goal to reverse historic injustices has hit logistical snags—with an avalanche of applications that could mean a yearslong process for Spain's missions, posing a diplomatic issue for Madrid and the Spanish-speaking world.

What To Know

About half of the over 1 million descendants of Spanish exiles who have applied for citizenship under the Democratic Memory Law have had their requests processed and citizenship granted, El Pais reported.

Meanwhile, about 2 percent of applicants were rejected, and those who were accepted await formal registration. However, another 1.3 million people seeking appointments to submit documents have been hit by bureaucratic delays, according to the newspaper.

This total figure of 2.3 million applications is 4.5 times the figure reached under the 2007 Historical Memory Law. At the current rate, some descendants of Spaniards may have to wait decades to see their citizenship granted.

Among those eligible are people born outside Spain whose parents or grandparents lost or renounced their Spanish nationality because of exile. Over 1 million applications have come from Argentina.

The consulates dealing with the next highest number of applications are Havana, Cuba, with 350,000; Mexico City with 165,000; São Paulo with 150,000; Miami with 120,000; and Caracas, Venezuela, with 40,000.

Violeta Alonso Peláez, the president of the General Council of Spanish Citizenship Abroad, told El Pais that the government in Madrid must provide enough resources to prevent the applications from overwhelming the consular network of 178 offices, including 86 consulates general and two consulates.

Alonso has called for the 7,000 civil registries in Spain to also help registering new Spanish citizens, for more staff to be hired and for an outsourcing of routine tasks, such as document digitization and data entry.

What People Are Saying

Violeta Alonso Peláez, the president of the General Council of Spanish Citizenship Abroad, told El Pais: "A redeployment of the consular network is needed."

She added: "It's not just a matter of increasing staff, although that's also important, but in many cases, more physical space is needed."

What Happens Next

The deadline has expired for applications under the Democratic Memory Law, but it appears that for many applicants, the process of obtaining Spanish citizenship could take years.

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