<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Consulate General of Spain in Havana will increase its capacity by 27.2 percent to process applications for nationality arising from the Democratic Memory Law. It is estimated that some 300,000 Cubans have applied for Spanish nationality through their parents or grandparents.</strong></h4> "Starting May 5, 336 more people per week will be able to submit their applications for the Democratic Memory Law, representing an increase of 27.2%," the Consulate reported on April 25 through its social media account X, without providing further details. This increase in capacity to allow up to 336 weekly appointments responds to the strong demand from applicants on the island. However, according to the online newspaper 'Directorio Cubano,' many applicants believe the measure comes too late and does not solve the main problems of the process. “The Consulate's social media and applicant forums are collecting hundreds of complaints about processing delays, lack of clear information, and, especially, the failure to deliver the birth certificates once the application is complete,” the outlet continues. Due to the delay in issuing the birth certificates necessary to continue the naturalization process in Spain and irregularities in the order in which applicants are served, some people “have been waiting for this essential document for months” after their applications were approved, and many fear “being left out despite having started the process well in advance,” it adds. The Democratic Memory Law establishes October 22, 2025, as the deadline for submitting applications. More than 500,000 people have applied for Spanish nationality under the Democratic Memory Law (popularly known as the "Grandchildren's Law") of October 2022, according to information provided by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, during the opening of the 9th Conference of Ambassadors last January. According to consular data, Cuba, Mexico, and Argentina are the three countries with the highest number of applications. In July 2024, the Council of Ministers extended the deadline for applying for Spanish nationality through the Democratic Memory Law for a third year, until October 2025, after the General Council of Spanish Citizens Abroad (CGCEE) warned that staff shortages were causing "saturation" in "consulates general, which are understaffed for this process." The Ombudsman's latest annual report, published at the end of March, warns that "the majority of complaints from Spanish citizens abroad" in 2024 focused on "the lack of material and personnel resources of consular services" and specifies that "the largest number of complaints on this matter came from Cuba and Ecuador." The report also warns that the operation of consular registries led to a significant number of complaints not only from Spaniards residing in their respective districts but also due to "its impact on nationality applications provided for in the 2022 Democratic Memory Law." A year ago, in April 2024, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged, in response to four written questions from the Popular Parliamentary Group in Congress, that the Spanish Consulate General in Havana only had 30 staff to handle the 36,117 applications registered to date. <h5><strong>The "Grandchildren's Law"</strong></h5> The Democratic Memory Law allows access to Spanish nationality to people who were unable to obtain it between 2008 and 2011 under the Historical Memory Law approved in 2007 by the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Under this law, approximately 250,000 descendants of Franco exiles were naturalized, primarily in the consulates of France, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, and Cuba. The current law, in force since October 2022, grants Spanish nationality to "those born outside of Spain to a father or mother, grandfather or grandmother, who were originally Spanish, and who, as a result of having suffered exile for political, ideological, or religious reasons, or because of their sexual orientation and identity, have lost or renounced their Spanish nationality."
