<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>The Spanish Ambassador to Argentina, Joaquín de Arístegui, thanked the staff of the five Spanish Consulates General in that country for “their immense efforts” in processing applications for Spanish nationality under the Democratic Memory Law, the deadline for which ended on October 22.</strong></h4> “The deadline for submitting applications for Spanish nationality under the Eighth Additional Provision of Law 20/2022 on Democratic Memory has just ended,” the ambassador wrote on social media. “Thank you to the staff of the five Spanish Consulates General in Argentina for their immense efforts,” he continued. “I also want to express my gratitude to the network of Honorary Consuls and Vice Consuls of Spain in Argentina, to the Spanish Centers and Federations of Centers (especially FEDESPA), to the Councils of Spanish Residents/CRE, and to Ce.DEU (the Center for United Spanish Descendants) for contributing to better information and management,” he added. “The second stage of the process now begins, which will lead to a significant increase in the Spanish community in Argentina and the subsequent strengthening of our bilateral social ties. But, above all, justice will be done for hundreds of thousands of descendants of Spaniards,” he concluded. The deadline for applying for Spanish nationality under the 2022 Democratic Memory Law closed on October 22nd. According to the latest data from July 31st, the total number of applications—414,652 (237,145 already registered) and 876,321 applications—including 423,048 in the processing phase. Argentina registered the highest number of applications, with 366,579, representing 40% of the total. Of these, 174,277 have already been approved, and 61,499 are already registered. The Spanish consular offices in the various countries were responsible for processing these applications. More than 95% of these applications were received at the Spanish consular offices in Latin America and at the Consulate General of Spain in Miami. Specifically, according to government data, 42% of applications were submitted to the five consulates in Argentina, 12.2% in Cuba, 11% in Brazil, 9.7% in Mexico, 5% in Chile, and 2.4% in Venezuela. The Democratic Memory Law (popularly known as the "Grandchildren's Law"), of October 2022, allowed access to Spanish nationality to people who were unable to apply for it between 2008 and 2011 under the Historical Memory Law approved in 2007 by the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Under this law, around 250,000 descendants of Franco exiles were naturalized, primarily in the consulates of France, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, and Cuba. The 2022 law granted 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, had lost or renounced their Spanish nationality." It also included among the beneficiaries the descendants born abroad of Spanish women who lost their nationality for marrying foreigners before the 1978 Constitution came into force.
