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The General Council of Spanish Citizens abroad (CGCEE) has proposed to the Government and Parliament a reform of the Civil Code that would allow descendants of Spanish emigrants to choose nationality at any time and without restrictions based on degree of kinship.
The initiative seeks to replace the current framework of the Democratic Memory Law, which expired on October 22 after two years of validity and an additional extension, and which has allowed the children and grandchildren of Spaniards to apply for a passport, but only within a limited time frame.
According to the CGCEE, the closure of the period for new applications and the serious administrative delays in the consulates have highlighted the need for a more stable regulation that recognizes citizenship as a permanent right for the descendants of emigrants.
"The current system has placed excessive pressure on consular offices and created great uncertainty among applicants," the Council warned in its formal proposal, which has already been submitted to the Justice committees of Congress and the Senate.
A structural reform of the right to nationality
According to La Nueva España, the proposal from the advisory body suggests that access to nationality be permanently incorporated into the Civil Code, eliminating the concept of "temporary windows" that have characterized recent laws recognizing descendants.
The text further suggests that the right of access should extend to any generation of descendants who can prove the existence of a Spanish ancestor, regardless of whether it is through the paternal or maternal line.
This modification would involve a historical correction of inequalities stemming from previous legislation, which granted nationality more easily to the descendants of Spanish men than to those of women who lost their citizenship by marrying foreigners before 1978.
The Council believes that maintaining a generational limit —currently up to grandchildren, and in some cases great-grandchildren— "creates unjustified discrimination" and fragments families of Spanish origin abroad.
Delays and consular saturation
Since the enactment of the Democratic Memory Law, over 1.5 million people have filed applications for nationality through the descendants' route, the majority from Latin America.
The consulates in Argentina, Cuba, Mexico, and the United States are among the most overwhelmed, with waiting times in some cases exceeding two years. In Buenos Aires, the volume of paperwork is so high that, according to official estimates, the city could become the third in the world with the largest Spanish population, after Madrid and Barcelona.
In this context, the CGCEE considers it "unsustainable" to maintain a model based on fixed terms and quotas, as it "creates legal insecurity, inequality of opportunity, and a bureaucratic collapse that could extend for decades."
Political support and obstacles
The reform proposal has been well received in sectors of the PSOE and the Partido Popular, which have expressed their willingness to consider a “definitive” law on nationality. However, ideological differences and parliamentary fragmentation could hinder broad consensus.
The Ministry of Justice has acknowledged the existence of issues in the management of the current process, although it has not yet announced an official position on the reform. The Minister of Territorial Policy and Democratic Memory, Ángel Víctor Torres, has indicated that any structural change "must have broad political agreement."
Other complementary measures
In addition to the elimination of deadlines and the generational extension, the CGCEE proposes to amend the articles of the Civil Code related to the involuntary loss of nationality, which affects thousands of young people born abroad.
Currently, those who acquire dual nationality must perform a "conservation act" before the age of 21 to maintain their status as Spanish citizens, a procedure that many are unaware of and that results in automatic, undesired losses. The Council proposes that loss should only occur through an explicit renunciation.
Towards a permanent and more inclusive law
The proposal, which is currently under parliamentary review, aims to establish a stable policy for Spanish citizenship abroad. The objective, according to the document submitted to Congress, is to "translate the advancements of the Law of Democratic Memory into a definitive regulation, without time restrictions or discrimination based on family lineage."
If successful, Spain could become one of the few European countries with an indefinitely open nationality system by descent, which would have an immediate impact on communities historically linked to Spanish emigration in Latin America.
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