An agreement signed by the Ministry of Justice of Cuba and the College of Administrative Managers of Spain on Monday, February 19, could end up accelerating the Spanish nationality procedures for those Cubans who qualify in relation to the requirements of the current Democratic Memory Law, better known as the Grandchildren Law.
According to state journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso, this would allow several Cubans to eventually process document legalization services with specialized law firms in conjunction with administrative managers from Madrid.
The measure was applied to slightly reduce the workload of officials, easing the demand for this service, which is essential to present the Spanish nationality file before the Consulate General of Spain in Havana.
The signed agreements will also allow the Spanish authorities to donate computer equipment to the entities of the Ministry of Justice, this to digitize documents. This technology will allow “accelerating the digitization of the Civil Status Registry books, those in greatest demand in the country.”
Likewise, a group of Cuban lawyers are expected to attend preparation courses in Spain, while those who cannot travel will be able to have access to credentials to receive online courses.
It is important to note that an important advance in consular procedures was made on January 22, when the authorities determined that it did not have to be mandatory to leave the original documents in any of the procedures requested before the Consulate.
“As of 1/22/2024, for all consular procedures, people who wish to do so will be able to keep their original documents. They must attend their appointment with the original documents and legible photocopies of them,” reported the Spanish Consulate in Havana on its social networks.
Grandchildren Law
The regulations came into force in October 2022, and since then, some 22,500 Cubans have obtained dual nationality. With this, the Greater Antilles occupies second place worldwide in terms of beneficiaries of this law, Argentina is the first place, with 33,796 concessions, while Mexico is third place with 13,149 applications.
This law allows descendants of Spaniards who were exiled after the Civil War and during the Franco dictatorship to obtain Spanish nationality, something that was not possible with the previous Historical Memory Law of 2007.
This is a very valuable opportunity for Cubans, since the Spanish passport would allow travel to almost 190 countries without the need for a visa, something impossible with a Cuban passport, one of the weakest in the world.
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