Eduardo González
The Council of Ministers has approved this Tuesday the Royal Decree on the registration of persons of Spanish nationality in the Registration Registries of Consular Offices abroad, a regulation that is part of the ongoing consular digitalization process and whose objective is to facilitate procedures abroad.
“With this regulation, the Government takes another step in the process of modernising our Administration and, in particular, its consular services, which are the face of Spain abroad,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported in a press release.
The main objective of this regulation, according to the Ministry, is “to take advantage of the opportunities offered by new digital tools to achieve a more agile, closer and, above all, more useful Public Administration for citizens”, both for those who live in Spain and for Spaniards living abroad, “because everyone has the same right to feel their Administration equally close and equally accessible”.
This measure “will allow us to offer more and better digital services in our Consulates to Spaniards who are abroad”, declared the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, at the press conference following the Council of Ministers. “Our objective is efficient, close and agile consular attention”, he added.
The Consular Registration Registry, which collects information on Spaniards abroad, for example, can become “a key tool” for Spanish nationals who are outside Spain to exercise their right to vote, as well as to provide consular protection and assistance to Spanish citizens abroad.
In addition, the new registry will avoid physical travel to carry out certain procedures electronically (such as registration, deregistration or modification of data) and will allow the creation of a unique and invariable Central Consular Identification Number (NICC) to facilitate the procedures, which will contribute to a more agile and efficient management of the files.
At the same time, some of the characteristics of the previous Consular Registration Registry will be maintained, such as the possibility of carrying out the procedures in person for those who wish to do so. The distinction between people residing abroad (for whom registration will continue to be mandatory) and non-residents (for whom it will be optional) is also maintained, thus allowing registration to be adapted to the specific circumstances of each person.
Its approval completes a processing process that has been underway since 2021, and which has required the collection of numerous technical reports. Once approved, its entry into force is expected within a period of six months. From that moment on, its implementation will be carried out, given its complexity, progressively, over a maximum period of one year.
