A Cuban resident in Spain has been unable to progress with her application for Spanish nationality for months due to a document she is still waiting for from the island: the certificate of Cuban criminal records duly legalized.
Yuni Rodríguez shared her experience in a video published on Facebook, where she expressed her frustration over having spent years preparing her migration process and, as she explains, meeting the requirements to apply for citizenship, only to remain stuck in the final stage due to the delay of a document issued in Cuba.
"I haven't been able to apply for my Spanish nationality here in Spain because of my damn criminal record," he lamented.
Rodríguez explained that she has now been a legal resident in Spain for a year, is married to a Spanish citizen, and passed the constitutional and sociocultural knowledge test (CCSE) last year, which is one of the requirements in the nationality application process.
"In Cuba, there’s no sticker, there’s nothing, there’s nothing. We have to keep waiting and waiting and waiting for credentials that are farther away than the horizon, than utopia,” he expressed.
Two years preparing the documents before leaving Cuba
Rodríguez's frustration is greater because, as he recounts, he spent two years before emigrating preparing the necessary documentation to establish himself legally in Spain.
During that time, she handled the transcription of her marriage at the Spanish Embassy in Havana, arranged the corresponding visa for herself and her son, and carried out the necessary procedures for the minor.
He arrived in Spanish territory with a significant portion of the bureaucratic process already completed, anticipating that he would be able to apply for citizenship once he fulfilled the required residency period for his situation.
However, the criminal record certificate ended up being the document that stalled the entire process.
"It was all for nothing, going through the whole process of transcribing the marriage to get here and, after a year, to be able to apply for Spanish nationality. What did it serve? Because I am completely stuck here, completely stuck," she lamented.
His case reflects a difficulty that affects many Cuban émigrés who need documents issued and legalized in the island to carry out immigration, academic, employment, or nationality procedures in their countries of residence.
The maze of obtaining a Cuban document from Spain
To apply for Spanish nationality by residency, it is necessary to demonstrate, among other requirements, good civic conduct. For foreign citizens, the process includes the submission of a criminal record certificate from the country of origin that meets the formalities required by Spain.
For Cubans, obtaining a valid document in Spain involves navigating a series of procedures on the island before they can submit it.
In addition, Cuba is not a part of the Hague Convention on Apostille, which means its documents cannot utilize that simplified mechanism for international recognition and require the appropriate legalization process.
Since February 2025, however, MINREX has ceased to directly provide certain services for the legalization of documents, transferring some of these processes to the Ministry of Justice. Specialized agencies warn, for their part, that obtaining and completing all necessary steps may take several months.
"Plant the bills."
Rodríguez also brought up another common concern among those trying to navigate procedures in Cuba: the money that can end up being spent to expedite or unblock certain processes.
"Now, go ahead and plant the bills. Just so you can see how everything gets resolved, everything appears beneath the ground. It’s what I still don’t understand, as if one were a millionaire here," he stated.
The Cuban did not provide specific evidence of irregular payments in her case, but used that expression to denounce what she perceives as a bureaucracy where obtaining documents swiftly may depend on making additional payments.
The pressure on these services has also increased with the recent migration processes initiated in Spain. One of them is the extraordinary regularization of immigrants approved in April 2026.
For those who already live in Spain, these delays have concrete consequences: a document that does not arrive from Cuba can postpone for months a file that affects their migratory future.
Wait until I can apply for it as a Cuban
Given the impossibility of proceeding along the initially planned route, Rodríguez is now considering another option: to wait until she completes the residency period that allows her to apply for Spanish nationality due to her status as a citizen of an Ibero-American country.
Nationals from Ibero-American countries can apply for Spanish nationality after two years of legal, continuous residency immediately prior to the application, compared to the general ten-year requirement set for other foreigners.
"Right now, I present myself. And I am not presenting because I am married to a Spanish citizen. I present because I am Cuban, I am Latin American," she explained.
But that alternative does not eliminate the cause of his frustration: after years of carefully preparing his departure from Cuba and his legal establishment in Spain, a pending documentary process on the island has disrupted his plans.
"Cuba's situation is beyond naming. It’s a huge anguish and an epic ordeal," he summarized.
Her story reflects a challenge that many Cubans face even after emigrating: leaving the island does not always mean leaving its bureaucracy behind. For certain crucial procedures abroad, documents that need to be issued or legalized in Cuba can continue to impact the lives of those who are already thousands of kilometers away for months.
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