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The year 2025 marked a historic record for nationality acquisitions in Galicia: 8,344 foreign residents in the autonomous community obtained Spanish nationality, compared to 2,123 cases recorded in 2019, according to data published by La Voz de Galicia.
Eighty-five percent of the new Spanish citizens in Galicia come from Latin America, with three countries accounting for the majority of the cases: Venezuela with 2,127 naturalizations, Cuba with 1,095, and Colombia with 1,074. They are followed by Peru, Morocco, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil.
In five years, from 2019 to 2025, Galicia has recorded 27,216 naturalizations, a figure that reflects the intensity of the Latin American migration flow towards the region.
The Cuban case stands out due to its exceptional migratory context.
Since 2021, more than a million Cubans have left the Island driven by the economic crisis, power outages, food shortages, and the political repression of the regime.
Between 2023 and 2024, more than 53,100 Cubans arrived in Spain, and at the beginning of 2025, 252,290 individuals of Cuban nationality resided in the Iberian country.
The most common route to obtain nationality is through residency, which generally requires ten years of continuous residence in Spain. However, this is reduced to only two years for Latin Americans, which explains the high proportion of Cubans, Venezuelans, and Colombians among the beneficiaries.
In 2025, 78% of those naturalized in Galicia took this route, and 707 of them were already born in Spanish territory to foreign parents.
In addition to the residency route, thousands of Cubans obtained citizenship through the Democratic Memory Law, known as the "Grandchildren's Law."
Only the Spanish Consulate in Havana registered 107,338 applications under that regulation by September 2025, accounting for 12.24% of the global total.
The deadline to submit new applications closed on October 22, 2025, although the ongoing cases will continue to be processed.
The Cuban exodus also has a significant professional dimension.
In the first half of 2025, 5,551 Cubans had their university degrees recognized in Spain, surpassing the total number of recognitions from previous years: 1,401 in 2022, 2,154 in 2023, and 2,749 in 2024.
Doctors top the list, followed by nurses, dentists, and engineers, in an exodus of healthcare professionals that has left Cuba without 30,767 doctors between 2021 and 2024.
The demographic profile of those naturalized in Galicia in 2025 is predominantly young and female. The largest age group is between 35 and 39 years old, with 1,014 cases. Twenty-five percent are under 19 years old, only 3.5% are over 65, and 58.5% are women.
Galicia also has a special historical connection with Cuba: it is the third country in the world with the most citizens of Galician origin, with nearly 50,000 residents, surpassed only by Argentina and Brazil.
The Xunta de Galicia has launched return and labor integration programs to attract descendants of Galicians, with aid of up to 6,000 euros per returning family.
At the national level, Spain approved 299,732 nationality applications in 2025, an increase of 18.7% compared to the previous year and the highest number on record, with Catalonia and the Community of Madrid leading the acquisitions by autonomous communities.
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