Does the Spanish Government allow American Citizens with Spanish ancestry a lesser time to live in Spain versus the 10 years required to live there?

El Cid,
That depends on a couple of things.
1)What country you're coming from.
2.)The degree of ancestry you're talking about. The closer the relation the better your chances, but you have to give more information!

1. I'm from the US, South Texas to be exact.

2. My great-grandfather on my mother's side fought in the Spanish-American War for Spain; he was Puerto-Rican. Two of my great-great grandparents on my mother's side were from Andalucía.
My father's direct ancestors were of the Spanish higher class that had received a land-grant from the Spanish Royalty in the 16th Century to settle in Nueva España. I believe I have found a way to locate a copy of it. Just recently, I was told by my paternal grandmother (my father's mother) that my paternal grandfather's grandparents were also from Spain, but I don't know which region they were from. I need to research more in the future.
The rest of my ancestors are from other regions of Spain, most likely from Extremadura and Andalucía; they left Spain in the early stages of Castilian and/or Spanish colonization towards Mexico and Puerto Rico.

EDIT:By the way, my last names are "De La Garza Colón".

You are thinking of Spain's Ley 36/2002, which you can find through Google. To get a break in terms of required residency period, I think you need to have a Spanish grandparent - no more removed than that - and come from a Latin American country, Ecuatorial Guinea or a couple of other places, or be a Sephardic Jew, the last being one of the most poetically fair things I have encountered recently.

El Cid, sorry to tell you, but the lineage is too distant. Here's the scoop.

Including the most recent changes, at the very most, if one of your GRANDparents (no greats allowed) were from Spain (Spanish of origin- their parents have to have been born there for them to be of origin also even if the children weren't born there-yes they do differentiate from those who were born there and those who weren't but were spanish because their parents were) then you only have to leave there legally as a resident for 1 year and then you can apply for spanish nationality. To reside legally:
1)you start a business, but you need $100,000. in capitol for the business,
2)live independently, but for this option you have to have a bank account with $75,000.- that's also untouchable so the money you actually live on, is extra,
3)or you marry a spaniard and live there for a year than you can apply.

As far as having to be latin american decent- that's changed with the latest alteration of the Civil Code (and its about time! Not all of the spaniards who immigrated went to latin america! :p ) If you want more details or to read it yourself, go to www.boe.es (boletin oficial del estado) and do a search using 'codigo civil' for subject and when the results come up, it'll be the changes of the codigo civil related to Nacionalidad. Also, you can find information on the Spanish Consulates website in your area. It will say something like "information regarding the new reform of the civil code- or in relation to new changes concerning nationality". Keep us posted!

On closer reading of Ley 36, I see Espe3 is right. The way I understand it, if you have a Spanish grandparent, you only need to reside in Spain a year, regardless of where you come from. Citizens of Latin America, Equatorial Guinea, Andorra, Sephardics, etc. need only two years regardless of closeness of Spanish ancestry. In either case, El Cid, you will probably have to wait quite a bit to get citizenship after you move to Spain, if you are lucky enough to achieve the latter.

Thanks for the help you two, I really appreciate it. It really cleared up a lot of doubts I had before. However, I wouldn't mind living in Spain for 10 years or so. A nation that has an endless supply of Sangría is good enough for me. :p

The hardest part is getting to live there legally. The majority of immigrants that have gone there in the past few years have gone to Spain and have stayed illegally- even the south americans. Up until now they have had a lot of luck as the Spanish government has given illegals many breaks to make their situation legal.

However, especially with the new changes and the situation of immigration in Europe and in Spain, it is becoming harder to become legal after the fact. If you want to go, be ready for it to take time, and start investigating possibilities now.

Good luck!

My wife is from Ecuador, and after three years here finally got her resident status. Because she has hers, I will be able to get mine this August. It is possible to live here illegally, so many do, and I have never heard of anyone who didn't commit a crime being deported. Especially if you are from the USA. I return every 6 months for school registration, so my passport has entry stamps twice per year, and that might help. My point being that it is not that chancy, and eventually you can get your residency permit if you are here long enough.

Martin,
Take into consideration that your wife is now able to get legal residency and that means then you by proxy.

Yes, you can go illegally, that's not hard, but it is if you're by yourself, and have yourself to depend on for means of support- El cid may have money and doesn't have to worry about an unreliable job for food etc.

Also, yes, as an american, chances they won't give him the boot- but I wouldn't recommend going illegally to anyone, as its a big risk- and can turn out a number of ways...Americans also don't like people coming into the US illegally- with little care as to where the person comes from..., so put the shoe on the other foot!

And american or not, its still illegal, and it still doesn't justify it!