Acquiring nationality in Spain has become more difficult after in 2024 alone, a record number of citizenship applications, or a total of 20,099, were rejected, based on the statistics from the Ministry of Justice.
In spite that the number of rejections, last year’s figures were more than double of those registered in 2023 (7,399). Applications to acquire citizenship also marked a sharp increase, Schengen.News reports.
Achieving citizenship in Spain can be done through several options, among them by residency, by marriage (Nationality by option), or by proving Sephardic Jewish heritage and links to this country.
Another option is citizenship under the Grandchildren Law, known as the Law of Democratic Memory, which permits children and grandchildren of Spanish emigrants to apply for Spanish citizenship.
According to a report from El Universo, certain Spanish surnames have been linked to eligibility for nationality under the Grandchildren Law, through a list published by the Spanish government.
However, applicants are also required to meet other needed conditions after this eligibility alone is not enough.
List of Eligible Surnames for Citizenship Under the Democratic Law
According to the Spanish government, the following surnames may indicate eligibility for obtaining citizenship under the Grandchildren Law, depending on other factors as well:
- Abraham, Acevedo, Acosta, Aguado, Aguiar, Aguilar, Alarcon, Alba, Aldana, Alcala, Alegre, Alfonso, Alfaro, Almeida, Alonso, Alvarez, Friend, Beloved, Amaya, Aranda
- Balthazar, Baez, Barral, Barrios, Blessed, Benavente, Benitez, Bernal, Bravo, Good, Bermejo
- Cabrera, Calvo, Camacho, Field, Songs, Carrasco, Carrillo, Carvajal, Castellanos
- Delgado, Diego, Diez, Diaz, Duke, Dominguez, Duran, Dorado, Duarte
- Enrique, Enriquez, Mirror, Hope, Espinosa, Escudero, Esteban
- Fajardo, Fernandez, Ferrer, Ferrero, Figueroa, Flores, Fuentes, Fuertes
- Galvez, Garcia, Cat, Garzon, Gil, Gimeno, Gimenez, Gomez, Granado, Gonzalez, Gutierrez
- Haro, Henriquez, Hernandez, Heredia, Holgado, Herrera, Huerta, Hurtado
- Ibanez, Israel, Left
- Jaen, Jimenez, Jimeno, Jorge, Juarez, Julian, Lazaro
- Loyal, Lara, Larios, Leiva, Leon, Lima, Linares, Wolf, Lopez, Lorca, Lorenzo
- Madrid, Madrigal, Macias, Machado, Manuel, Marquez, Marchena, Marcos, Martinez, Marin
- Najera, Navarro, Navas, Grandson, Nunez
- Ocampo, Ochoa, Olives, Olmos, Oliva, Ordonez, Olivares, Orellana, Ortega, Ortiz
- Pacheco, Padilla, Palma, Palomino, Pardo, Paredes, Couple, Parra, Peace, Pascual, Pedraza, Peña, Perez
- Quiros, Burned
- Ramirez, Ramos, Royal, King, Queen, Ribera, Ricardo, Rivero, Robles, Roca, Rivas, Rodriguez, Ruiz, Salgado
- Salinas, Salas, Salazar, Salcedo, Salvador, Sanchez, Sancho, Serra, Serrano, Sierra, Silva
- Talavera, Toledo, Tower, Towers, Wheat, Ubeda, Uria
- Urrutia
- Valero, Valley, Vara, Varela, Vargas, Vazquez, Vega, Velazquez, Vera, Vergara, Villanueva, Vidal
- Zalazar, Zaragoza, Zuniga
Applying for Spanish Citizenship Through the Democratic Memory Law
Naturalisation through the Democratic Memory Law, according to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation can be obtained under the following specifications, among others:
- Being born outside Spain to a mother, father, grandmother or grandfather who were originally Spanish
- Being born outside Spain to parents or grandparents who originally were Spanish but who had lost their nationality as a result of political, religious, ideological, or sexual identity reasons.
- Children born outside Spain to mothers who lost their nationality by marrying internationals.
Democratic Memory Law Valid Until 2025
In a bid to facilitate the process of obtaining citizenship for children and grandchildren of emigrants born outside Spain, in October 2022, Spain introduced the Grandchildren Law.
Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, revealed that from October 2022, until May 2024, more than 226,000 descendants of Spaniards applied for citizenship.
In November 2024, the Spanish Ministry of the Presidency, Justice and Relations, together with the Spanish government issued a decree extending the validity of submission of the applications for acquiring Spanish nationality through the Democratic Memory Law until October 2025.
On November 11, 2024, the Official State Gazette (BOE) published a provision 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.”