Clarification – these original studies are misleading. Persons with an Ibero-American background are eligible for Spanish citizenship in a 1- to 2-year process versus the normal 5-year process. Thus, this is an accelerated citizenship – but they must still qualify under other citizenship rules, obtain visas to live and work in Spain, and move to Spain for at least 2 years. It is not an automatic citizenship in Spain, as many of these studies and news reports are misleading!
More than 70 million Latino-Americans can claim Spanish citizenship. Spanish nationality laws provide Ibero-Americans with a simplified naturalization procedure. This also extends to other nationals whose country has a historical link to Spain, including Filipinos and Sephardic Jews. Millions of Mexicans, Cubans, Brazilians, Puerto Ricans, and others living in the US can claim their Spanish citizenship by ancestry even if they can’t trace an actual Spanish ancestor in their bloodline. And unlike other European citizenship by ancestry programs, the document retrieval process is not exhaustive
GlobalRCG
More:
- Those with a Spanish grandparent born in Spain can apply for citizenship after one year of legal residence in the country.
- Nationals from certain countries and persons of Sephardic origin can apply for citizenship after two years of residence in Spain. These countries include Andorra, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
Basically, those from Ibero-American countries – which is most of central and South America plus Mexico – plus Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Equatorial Guinea in Africa- are eligible for accelerated citizenship in Spain. This means one can obtain citizenship in 1-2 years instead of the usual 5 years. Contrary to news reports, having ancestry from South America, etc, does not grant you immediate citizenship in Spain – but it does accelerate the process, if you qualify with all other requirements.
GlobalRCG believes that up to 40% of the U.S. population is eligible for residency/citizenship in the EU, in large part due to Spain’s Ibero-American immigration program (but that is misleading as it accelerates but does not provide citizenship). That estimate of 40% does not include other Americans who may have immigration eligibility in other non-EU countries (for example, my wife is eligible for right of descent citizenship in Canada).
Incredibly, 50% or more of the U.S. population may possess unique immigration privileges.
UPDATE: These folks claim that 128 million Americans could get quick EU citizenship. That comes to 38.7% of Americans, which is on par with the 40% estimate, above. But again, they are glossing over some of the details. It’s still not going to be a simple or fast process.
Americans (and citizens of other countries) of Jewish ancestry, whose families were forced to leave Germany before and during WW2, are also eligible for German citizenship today: For some American Jews, a path to German citizenship opens options their ancestors never had | CNN