This month the equivalent of the Spanish House of Representatives approved the law that will establish the rights and obligations of Spaniards living abroad. It is very interesting that the House has included a section that allows the children of born abroad Spaniards to become citizens of Spain. This includes those that became of legal age and were unable to claim citizenship as minors.

Under the current law, the adult grandchildren of Spanish immigrants, have to reside one year in Spain to become citizens. Many grandchildren see this as discriminatory since their minor siblings do not have to establish the residency to become citizens.

It is important to realize that this new law does not apply to all grandchildren of Spanish immigrants, but only to those grandchildren whose parents were also born Spaniards (outside Spain). How do you know this? If your born-in-Spain grandfather/mother already quit/lost his/her Spanish citizenship when your father/mother was born, then you are not the son/daughter of a born-abroad Spaniard. Even under the new law, you will have to reside one year in Spain to become a Spanish citizen.

I hope that this new law benefits some members of the board. The Senate is scheduled to approve it by the end of the year.

Also, this subject is rather complicated, I hope my message is somewhat understandable.