Ok I am a grandchild of a spanish citzen. I know legislation was passed on Jan 9, 2003. This legislation permits children of spanish citizens to immediately become citizens (Even Castro could), and for me as a grandchild to become a spanish citizen after a year of residency.

I am having a horrible time dealing with my consulado to get information about visa issues and what actually constitutes residency. I have family in Madrid I could live with, I would like to study and work on my langugae and grammar (spoke spanish with abuela but it is not great and while I can read, I cant write). There is also the chance of me attentding a graduate studies program in the EU shortly.

Does anyone have any information, links, tips, ideas- anything I really would like to try and figure some of this out ASAP

Thanks for everything in advance!

here you can read about this topic as it was discussed on the board very recently.

I am also a grandchild of 4 Spanish citizens so I am VERY interested in the particulars as well.

Best of luck to you!!

thanks esperanza. I will google the ley and also look at the BOE that Espe3 posted. Good thing I can half way read spanish

the thing I am curious about is the visa. It is a b*tch for USA citizens to get a visa so if I cant get a visa I cant get the citizenship- therefore what is the purpose of the legislation. Per Espe3 I think I more than qualify Abuelo born in Spain to Spanish parents, Abuela born in Brazil to Spanish parents (but moved to Spain as a child). Both left in their teens (Abuelo- I think 13 and Abuela at 18) for the states. Abuelo passed away in 1970 Abuela in 1991.

My thing is that I am getting many conflicted points from the consulado's. The consulado that had jurisdiction told me I was eligible for some "special" visa that would allow me to live and work there. Then I would go there live (prove that I lived there- though they said I wasnt allowed to leave the country AT ALL- which the DC consulado said was false but they told me I had to have a job first). ARGH Spainsh Bureacracy.

Myself I would like to go there potentially as a student. I would be willing to work, actually would like to , but how am I supposed to convince them to hire me if I am not local nor have a visa, and my spanish needs gramatical help (work permits in the EU are SERIOUSLY problematic- they have to prove that there is no one else in the market who can do the job. I have had 3 companies want to hire me in the EU and they have not been able to)

Will keep looking anyone else with anything else? all information highly appreciated!

Listen up folks! I am working toward getting my Spanish Nationality. Once I get it....I will LOOSE my US nationality...(like I realy care..I was just born here...my heart and country is Spain)You can get your nationality instantly if one of your parents is from Spain, and they never became a US national. Thank god my mother didn't. Also, you have to be born prior to 1975 (This is because Franco, did not recognize children born to spanish women outside the spain as spanish citizens) or you never applied for citizenship at any other time.

Now according to the someone my brother spoke to at the consulate.... it was not at the DC consulate...US and Spain really don't communicate on who is a national or not.

e-mail me if you want more info.

Soria...What a disturbing post! You make it sound like being born a U.S. citizen is disgusting or in poor taste. You are lucky to have been born here and should be a bit more grateful. Hope your citizenship is approved and approved quickly!

stinkerbell and soria:

As you may know I'm VERY well informed on this topic! Unfortunately I can't write about it now, but I will try to get on tomorrow and give you the information that you're searching for. Keep in mind though- and it stinks but... a student visa isn't valid for the year of residency- I know... TRUST me I know, but you'll find a way.

Soria, you do have some misinformation- I will clear up tomorrow!

I promise more details later! Until then, stay determined, you're going to need it AND it will help! You'll get there if you REALLY want it!

hi guys,

there really is a tremendous amount of misinformation out there being spewed out by these consulates and the embassy. both of my parents are spanish and i was born in the states. they were both US nationals when i was born. i had absolutely no problem in getting spanish citizenship. i don't see why you are all getting so many conflicting stories.

i was born in 1975 and never spent an entire year in spain. as a matter of fact, the embassy has even granted my DNI and called me 6 mos later to tell me it was here in the US. i never even had to go to spain to pick up my DNI.

my parents did however report my birth to the consulate. so there has always been a record of me as having been born to spaniards but in the US. i don't know but i'm assuming this helped.

look into this and ask ur parents if they reported u..i really think this will help.
also, make sure u have their birth and marriage certificates in hand. i had my parents with me when i went to the embassy. we filled out the paperwork showed them our documents, signed, gave them my fotos, paid 30 dollars and they called me a week later to pick up my passport.

do not shoot urself in the foot so to speak and renounce either citizenship. spain is a visa waiver nation to the states which also means it is not imperative that u renounce ur spanish citizenship if u nationalize here from spain and vice versa.

i really, really hope the consulates get their acts together and at the very least give every one the same guidelines.

please email me if u have any questions at all..it would be my pleasure to help. although it sounds like u guys have it more together than these funcionarios do!!

good luck everyone.

Soria,your post was a little harsh, why do you make it sound like being born in the U.S. is a punishment? I don't believe you have to be more grateful to be an american, after all, THIS IS AMERICA, say what you want. Be who you want, THIS IS AMERICA. This website is about Spain, and people who love Spain.Not about people who hate America. We are thankful that we live in a country that allows us the freedom to travel abroad. THIS IS AMERICA. Good riddance, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

Go Mencey GO!!

Guapetona, how right you are!
Ok, for those of you working on it:
If a parent or both parents were BORN in spain, and are spanish of origin, you can get nationality without the year residency. It does NOT matter if one or both of your parents acquired American nationality or not.

About renouncing. Well... that's another matter entirely. Technically, you have to, but it doesn't mean anything, only to the spaniards. If you were born in the US, one way or another, you'll ALWAYS be an american. This is a long topic, I've simplified it, but keep in mind that both nationalities are your BIRTH right.

Grandparent route... well, the person whose grandparent was born in Brazil, I'd have to know a bit more, but either way, the other grandparent was born in Spain so that qualifies you. Unfortunately, yes, you do have to do the year of residency, student visa does not qualify. The only 'special' kind of visa that I can think of that they may be talking about is that SUPPOSEDLY, if you have a grandparent that was spanish, then you're exempt from the condition of national employment in spain and the ministerio de trabajo HAS to grant you a work visa if you get a company to go that far with you. However, this doesn't really work.

Consualtes/Embassy and misinformation: Each one will give you a slightly different story. Make sure you research as much as you can and know what you're talking about and insist! You HAVE to be persistant, at the point of being a pain in the a$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't rely on what a person TELLS you, get it IN WRITING! Any correspondence you send the consulate they legally have one month to answer you back, or you can file a complaint and the trouble is more than its worth to them, so they'll answer. After getting the run around more than one time, I wrote and funny, all of a sudden, I got cooperation! The pen IS mightier than the sword! (And me, ready to handcuff myself to the consulate door!)

Guapetona, about your parents registering you... yes, this is one reason it was easier, but it SHOULD still be the same for the rest of us... I had a hard time getting them to register me, but finally it was done. As for the rest, the consulate I have to deal with is taking its time and I have to sit and wait.

For those of you with the America vs Spain. I can't speak for the rest of us half and halves... but this is me: I am very proud to be half American and Spanish. However, I identify more with the Spanish culture and yes, would very much like to go home. Many times its felt like being in exile because although it was there, because of misinformation and noncooperative people, I did not have the choice as to where I would be... Having been brought up on both sides, well, I think its difficult for any half and half to be COMPLETELY fine in one place. In spain there are things I miss about the US, but not as much as I do about Spain when I'm in the US- most of which has to do with family... But like I said, those of us who were born in the middle, well its difficult, siblings from that same mix will have different feelings and even pull towards opposite sides (one being 'american' and the other 'spanish') its not easy, just something we have to live with and do the best we can to hopefully make the best out of what it is we get from both cultures and build more bridges over those gaps between sides. Although I am eager to return home, both Spain and the USA will always be my countries- for good AND bad. So please let's not make this into a political debate- that's a whole other thread. Let's also keep in mind that written words doesn't always convey in the best way the feelings or intentions of the author- and that many of us shorten some of our e-mails because of time constraints or being slow typers. I'm just asking that we give the benefit of the doubt and ask before we read into things and start getting all fired up over potentially something very simple.

I hope this helped clear things up!

Espe3, I do not want to get into a USA vs. Spanish Debate either. Vs.(versus) implies one is against the other. I am not. I happen to be married to a Spaniard and have a daughter who is therefore, Half American and Half Spanish. I want to raise her as you obviously have been raised. Proud to be American, Proud to be Spanish. That is all.

I have a question, as some of this info is new to me:

My mother-in-law was born in Spain (or at least her parents were)...so I'm curious if my wife could pull off this citizenship thing, and if so, would I be allowed at least resident status as a spouse?

This would make the jump to employment and residence in Spain much less complicated...any ideas, folks?

I really can't understand why someone would want to get rid of US citizenship. There are so many who would do anything to come here and stay here.

Anyway - I have a cousin who lives in Madrid, and has done so for more than 25 years. His wife is a Spanish national. His children have dual citizenship. One is an adult and one is 15. They go to the American School and speak perfect Madrid Castillan and Pittsburghese (from their dad!)

I hope to visit Spain next year.

Cali-
First find out if your MIL was born in Spain or her parents. If it was her parents, your wife would have to go the grandparent route-
If THEY were born in spain (only one is fine) then she WOULD be able to apply for citz and yes, you as a result could get residency as a spouse- and eventually with that comes a work permit.
Hope that answers your question.

Menacy-Right O!

Equinepro and Mencey- since I started this thread I am going to respond to your comments to Soria first. Personally I find them out of place. It is those types of comments, which make some americans elsewhere in the world ashamed to be american. In addition they support the impressions of americans as arrogant and ignorant which many believe in other parts of the world. I am an international realations specialist and comments such as yours do embarass me. To be honest I am tired of making up for your actions when I travel to others in their impressions of americans.

Rather than waste time getting into political or cultural debates and making personal attacks, I would prefer to simply keep the comments off this thread. Please keep all posts related to assisiting others on the topic Spanish Citizenship. Please dont attack others for their personal opinons or preferences, simply because they do not converge with your own notions. If you cant be tolerant and add something of relevance to the thread (specifically Spanish citizenship through the new ley) without attacking anyone else, then please say nothing at all.

Guapetona- my situation is completely different than yours. My mother was not eligible for registry and therefore neither was I. So I am applying as a grandchild. There is a disproportionate amount of mis-information floating around and the consulados arent helping. For yourself it would not be near as difficult, for others such as myself, it becomes more of a pain and confusion. Not to mention the pain of trying to find my grandfathers birth certificate from 1903 too (anyone have any tips there short of flying over to Santander? ). I would be in complete enamour if the consulados and embassies could get their act together on this. However I am not holding my breath. Yes I am a stubborn Spaniard, I will be hanging in there to try and get this done (in a short amount of time- grrr, thanks to grad school ).

For all who are reading please note I have no intention of renouncing any citizenship I currently have. Nor, as it has been explained to me, is it required. I myself feel more intune with the Spanish culture. I hope to be able to live in Spain again, and to have the option to raise my children there as I find it to be a preferable environment (my opinon not anyone elses). Citizenship will make my life infinitely easier.

Now Espe3- I do happen to agree with most of what you said in regard to being born in the middle so I am not going to add to that. It also seems like you might be able to help me out with some of the citizenship details and attmepts do go through the process. I will contact you in private. I can give you the complete picture as I am still THOUROUGHLY confused about the visa thing. Just give me one I will set up residence in my cousins apartment and get this overwith please Personally I would rather live there and be exempt from the condition of national employment (as that will be difficult to deal with) and fund myself- which I can (just not to the tune of keeping 75K in a bank acct for a year). Please tell me there is some way to make that work- otherwise life becomes much more of a nightmare! I am also wondering if I am considered exempt what constitutes residency and what will have to be done during the year that I am there. Anyone know that one? Also I do have plans already to go (next month) and handcuff myself to the SF Consulado until they give me my visa or at least some better information! The writing a complaint though is nice- to whom would I send it?

To everyone who has made efforts to give relevant information on the topic I do wish to sincerely thank you. I promise to update and try to return the information of my experience also.

Tinkerbell....blahblahblahblahblahblahblah. First of all the topic is "Spanish Nationality" and my comments pertain to that topic. The topic is not or was not" Only answer if you are able to help me with this spanish nationality question" Don't be ridiculous. If i want to make a comment that pertains to the topic, which it does, or to somebody's reply to the topic, which it does, than I will. I do not care if you are a international relations specialist or, nor do I care if you feel the need to clean up misconceptions of americans. Do you always care this much about what people think of you? If so, you have a lot more messes to clean up than those left by us outspoken americans. And if you had no "international messes" to clean up, well, then, you may just be unemployed. So just thank your lucky stars that there are people like me out there to keep you employed. Also, you say," Please do not attack others for their personal opinions or preferences simply because they do not converge with your own notions To be honest, I am tired of making up for your actions when I travel to others in their impressions of Americans" HYPOCRITE!!!!

Mencey-

Your posts may have been responses to what someone said, but you must be fairly insecure to have to attack others to make yourself feel better or "show" pride in who you are. This board, as I understood it, is intended for people to help others. I found your post to be of no help on the topic and instead to be rude towards another poster.

Regardless this thread was about people trying to work out intricacies of a legislation in relation to OBTAINING Spanish citizenship/nationality (go back take a look at the OP that is ALL it is about, not about broad nationality issues). You said NOTHING relevant to that topic or what anyone else said except to attack someone else for expressing their position/opinon that goes contrary to being a I LOVE AMERICA, ITS THE BEST point of view. If you are going to say "THIS IS AMERICA" and you can "say what you want"- but attack others for saying things which indicate not wanting to be american or not being grateful enough. Well, I find that to be abhorrent and weak. Those freedoms extend even to those who say things you find abominable or else they are not true freedoms. I personally have no qualms about standing up to such bullies.

I dont care what people, let alone you, think of me. There would be enough to keep me employed till my dying day with out you making matters dramatically worse (or in your terms "keeping me employed"). I respectfully decline to "thank my lucky stars for people like you". Even with my "cares" I am still cleaning up 90% american messes to 10% other nationalities.

As to the name calling ("hypocrite" etc). I have a 3 year old niece with more tact, intellect and diplomacy than you are currently exhibiting and I refuse to lower myself to that level. If you want to read something into what I have written which is not there, there is nothing I can do about that. Personally I would prefer to be an adult and keep it off thread. Honestly this is not worth any more of my time, thought or key strokes.

To anyone else who has applicable experience or information on Ley 36-2002 in response to eligiblity for Spanish Citizenship/Nationalidad for children and (for my case/interest especially as) grandchildren of Spaniards- I hope we are able to change the tone and return experience and information for others to be able access on this new legislation and process. To those who have posted on the topic and have provided references and information I sincerely thank you for you time, thoughts and experiences.

Look, Tinkerbell and to anyone else I may have offended with my remarks...I apologize. The end.

I have a few questions. I hope to stay in Spain for a few years after I retire (7 years from now)before I go gaga and have to live in a La-La-Land Home, here in Florida.

What will I need to do that? Do I need a special Visa? Will the U.S. allow me to live there without coming back every year? Can I buy a house or piso in Spain? Will that ownership allow me to have residency? Or, does the $75,000 have to be cash in a bank?

Thank you!

Booklady, it is a possibility, but you have to give some more information.

For retirement, yes, you can purchase a home in Spain-No, simply owning a property there does not give you automatic residency. Yes you can go there without having to return yearly- you'll get a special visa, it will give you permission to reside in spain, but you won't be able to work. The $75,000. yes, in cash, in an account(but its for a different visa, not the one you'll be applying for) as far for retiring, for the most part I believe that all you have to do is show proof of income (your retirement fund) and medical insurance. Retirement is a bit different, I'd request the information from the Embassy or a Consulate. You're familiar with Miami, but since its just information, if you can get it from somewhere else, I'd do that- we all know how useful Miami can be. It won't hurt to start getting some info now, you can also get much of the information off of the NY consulates website- it gives you a variety of visas and explains the conditions and what will be necessary for each one.

Let me know if you need anything else!

Thanks Espe3,

All I want is to live in Spain for a few years as a retired person. There is so much to see that it would take me a few years to see it. That special visa may be what I need, since I will have my pension and I will not need to work.

Now, I have to decide where to live that is reasonable, and close to a good transportation hub!

You know about Miami! I am still waiting for a brochure that I ordered in November, 2001! They're too busy, I guess. But I will contact New York instead.
Thanks,

Espe3: MIL is US-born, but Aitatxi is Spanish-Basque, so we could go that route. We have boatloads of family that never loaded the boat, so have a good family network still in Spain, too.

As for me, I'm fine being a US citizen, and never would consider renouncing my citizenship...I'm not sure that was the original intent of this thread. I do consider, on a daily basis, my options for living/working in Spain, though. The opportunity to have my cake and eat it too sounds delicious...

My wife even said that she'd dual if it meant an extra opportunity. Anyone familiar with the reciprocity/dual-citizenship policies of the US and Spain? I understand that Spain doesn't mind, but the US does. Is that so?

Cali, write me in private I'll explain. There is no dual citizenship... it takes some explaining... and who is Ataixi?

And booklady, no, they're NOT too busy! They're too 'busy' sitting around with their thumbs up you know where! The only thing that keeps them busy is not doing their work and then looking for excuses to explain why they don't do anything!

How big is the risk I am taking by going to Spain to work at an English summer camp under the table for two months?
Am I putting myself at risk of being arrested?
I am a little nervous but I really want to live in Spain, the only way I can afford it is to work. Somebody please help a hopeless American
Amanda