The Council of Ministers has agreed to extend by one year the period for exercising the right to opt for Spanish nationality set out in the eighth additional provision of Law 20/2022, of 19 October, on Democratic Memory, making it possible to extend to a third year the two-year period provided for in that section for exercising the right to opt for Spanish nationality, in the cases recognised in that additional provision.
The application of this additional provision involves the Civil Registry Offices, with a very significant impact on the Consular Civil Registries. In some Consular Posts, despite the efforts made to provide them with additional resources, the two-year period is not sufficient to absorb the demand for appointments for the exercise of the right.
Consequently, it is necessary to exercise the power granted to the Council of Ministers to extend by one year the period of two years foreseen in the law to opt for Spanish nationality, in such a way that all the applications for appointment already submitted and pending the assignment of a date can be dealt with, as well as all the applications submitted that cannot be dealt with in the first two years of application initially foreseen in the law.
The two-year period of two years provided for in that section for the exercise of the right to opt for Spanish nationality recognised by that additional provision for those born outside Spain of a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, who were originally Spanish, and who, as a result of having suffered exile for political, ideological or religious reasons or for reasons of sexual orientation and identity, have lost or renounced Spanish nationality, as well as persons who are in the following situations, is therefore extended for a third year:
a) Children born abroad to Spanish women who lost their nationality because they married foreigners before the entry into force of the 1978 Constitution.
b) Sons and daughters of legal age of those Spaniards whose nationality of origin was recognised by virtue of the right of option in accordance with the provisions of this law or the seventh additional provision of Law 52/2007, which recognises and extends rights and establishes measures in favour of those who suffered persecution or violence during the civil war and the dictatorship.
The eighth additional provision of the Law of Democratic Memory itself establishes that the aforementioned two-year period begins with the entry into force of the law, so that its validity would end on 22 October 2024.
Since the entry into force of the aforementioned Law, until 31 March 2024, the Consular Civil Registry Offices have received 301,121 applications for the option of Spanish nationality of origin.
More than 95 percent of the applications were received at the Spanish Consular Offices in Latin America and the Consulate General of Spain in Miami. Specifically, the five consulates general of Spain in Argentina account for 40 percent of the applications, and together with the Consulate General of Spain in Havana, they account for more than 53 percent of the applications. In all of them there are a number of applicants who are unlikely to be summoned and attended to before the end of the two-year period provided for in the aforementioned eighth additional provision of the Law.
For this reason, the Government is extending the two-year deadline for applying for Spanish nationality by one year, so that all applications for appointments already submitted and pending the assignment of a date can be dealt with, as well as all applications submitted that cannot be dealt with in the first two years of application initially foreseen in the law.
