Local media reports note that there were two main changes applied to this law: the extended deadline for applying for citizenship until October 2025 and the ensure that each family should have the same file, meaning that if a father or a mother obtains nationality, it is passed on to their children and grandchildren.
Yesterday, on November 11, 2024, a provision was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) by which “the Instruction of October 25, 2022, on the right to opt for Spanish nationality established in the eighth additional provision of Law 20/2022, of October 19, on Democratic Memory, is modified.”
The new changes give additional time to those whose applications are being processed to obtain Spanish nationality.
Large Number of Descendants of Spaniards Have Applied for Citizenship Between 2022 & 2024
According to the statistics provided by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, José Manuel Albares, from October 2022 until May 2024, over 226,000 descendants of Spaniards applied for Spanish passports.
Of the total number of applications, about 110,540 descendants of Spaniards received a positive decision on their applications to obtain Spanish citizenship. The Spanish minister back then said that a total of 69,421 applications were registered from October 2022 until May 2024.
Minister Albares said that the trend of filing an application will also continue throughout this year.
In addition, the figures from the Consulate General of Spain in Buenos Aires revealed that in May alone this year, a total of 1,588 Argentinians became Spanish nationals through the Democratic Memory Law, also called Grandchildren Law. These statistics were confirmed by the Consulate of Spain in Buenos Aires.
The same revealed that there are more than 12,000 people registered since the law became effective in October 2022.
