Spain can increase the electoral roll by more than 20,000 people ahead of the general elections, which are held next December. The Democratic Memory Law approved by the Government of Pedro Sánchez establishes the right to obtain Spanish nationality for a large number of citizens who are descendants of victims of the Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship.
The norm grants the right to “those born outside of Spain to a 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 , had lost or renounced their Spanish nationality”, and for sons and daughters born abroad to Spanish women who lost their nationality by marrying foreigners before the 1978 Constitution came into force”, among others.
This large number of conditions has overwhelmed in recent weeks the Spanish consulates of Latin American countries, the place where the most people have taken refuge.
According to a document updated to March 31 to which EL MUNDO has had access, most of the 180 consular posts and embassies that have a Spanish consul have received nationality requests. Even in Vilnius (Lithuania) or distant Seoul there are people interested in the national passport.
Argentina leads the number of requests, with a total of 6,791 records between the consulates of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza and Rosario. It is followed by Cuba, with 4,041 applications. Mexico, land ruled by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose attacks on the Crown are constant, has 3,358 requests between the Federal District and Monterrey. In Maduro’s Venezuela, 1,766 people have requested a Spanish passport, and in Santiago de Chile, 815. Almost the same number as in the Dominican Republic, with 809 requests, and in Uruguay, with 790. Despite the fact that Brazil was a Portuguese colony , another 550 petitions have been registered there, slightly more than the 547 from Peru and the 441 from Guatemala. In Ecuador, 187 people have requested it, 122 in San Juan de Puerto Rico and 51 applications finish the ranking in Bolivia and 26 in Nicaragua.
Having the possibility of a Spanish passport is opening the doors of Europe for those foreigners who meet the requirements for nationality. As Lucía Goy, a lawyer specializing in immigration from the Gentile Law firm, explains, there are four main benefits: «Access to any country in the European Union to live or work without the need for a visa; vote in the general elections, in Spain or through the consulate if they live abroad; access to emergency Social Security, and transfer your nationality to minor children.
In other words, those new Spaniards with children or planning to start a family will contribute future voters to the electoral roll. In addition, all those who obtain nationality who are married extend to their spouses the same rights of residence in Europe that they have while they are married.
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