Spanish Nationality Law - Spanish Nationality By The Law of Historical Memory

Spanish Nationality By The Law of Historical Memory

In 2007, the Congress of Deputies, under the government of prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, approved the Law of Historical Memory with the aim or recognising the rights of those who suffered persecution or violence during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), and the dictatorial regime that followed (1939-1975). In recognition of the "injustice produced by the exile" of thousands of Spaniards, the law allowed their descendants to obtain the Spanish nationality by origin, specifically to:

• Those individuals born of a parent that was Spanish by origin, regardless of the place of birth of the parent, whatever the age of the applicant. (The Spanish Civil code currently grants Spanish nationality "by origin" only to those individuals born of a Spanish national who was born in Spain, and Spanish nationality "not by origin" to those individuals born of a Spanish national who was not born in Spain only if they apply for it prior to the second year after their 18th birthday or emancipation); and
• Those individuals whose grandfather or grandmother had been exiled because of the Spanish Civil War, and had lost his or her Spanish nationality. In this case the applicant must have proven that the grandparent had left Spain as a refugee or that the grandparent left Spain between 18 July 1936 and 31 December 1955.

The law also granted the Spanish nationality by origin to those foreign individuals members of the International Brigades who had defended the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War. (In 1996, they were granted Spanish nationality "not by origin", which implied that they had to renounce their previous nationality—Spanish nationals "by origin" cannot be deprived of their nationality, and therefore, these individuals can also retain their original nationality).

By virtue of this law, if an individual, whose father or mother had been originally Spanish and born in Spain, had previously acquired Spanish nationality "not by origin" by option (art. 20) could request his or her nationality to be changed to nationality "by origin", if he or she chose to do so.

The period wherein the Spanish nationality could be acquired by the Law of Historical memory started in 27 December 2008, and was concluded in 26 December 2011. Even though the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not yet released the final count, and it is still reviewing applications, by 30 November 2011 446,277 individuals had applied for Spanish nationality through this law. Around 95% were Latin American, half of them from Cuba and Argentina. To the surprise of government officials, 92.5% of all applications were made by sons or daughters of Spaniards by origin regardless of their place of birth, and only 6.1% by grandchildren of refugees.