Spanish citizenship through a grandparent in 2026: what still works after the grandchildren’s law closed

Spain’s grandchildren’s law, the Democratic Memory Law, stopped taking new applications at 23:59 local time on 22 October 2025. If you filed or requested an appointment by then, your file is still being decided. If you didn’t, a Spanish grandparent alone no longer makes you Spanish from abroad: you need a parent who was Spanish when you were born, or you can naturalise after just one year of legal residence in Spain.

The short answer

• You applied under the Democratic Memory Law in time: wait for the consulate. Your file will be decided under that law, in order of submission, however long it takes.
• Your parent was Spanish when you were born: you are Spanish by origin already (Civil Code article 17.1(a)). You register your birth; you don’t apply for citizenship.
• Your parent can still become Spanish and you’re a minor: if you are under 18 when your parent becomes Spanish, you can opt too, normally until age 20.
• Everyone else with an originally Spanish grandparent: one year of legal, continuous residence in Spain, then apply for nationality by residence (article 22.2(f)).

When did the Spanish grandchildren’s law close?

Law 20/2022 of 19 October, on Democratic Memory, took effect on 21 October 2022. Its additional provision 8 let people born outside Spain whose parent or grandparent was originally Spanish and had lost or renounced Spanish nationality because of exile opt for Spanish nationality. It also covered children born abroad to Spanish women who lost their nationality by marrying a foreigner before the 1978 Constitution, and adult children of people recognised as Spanish of origin under this law or the 2007 Historical Memory Law.

The law gave two years and allowed the Council of Ministers to extend that by one year. The Council of Ministers approved that single extension on 9 July 2024. Spanish consulates then announced the final cut-off: appointment requests closed at 23:59 local time on 22 October 2025, and nothing filed after that can be accepted. The law doesn’t provide for a second extension, and the BOE consolidated text of the provision is unchanged as of 24 October 2026.

So “new grandchildren’s law spanish citizenship” searches mostly turn up old articles from 2022. There is no open grandchildren’s route in 2026. Proposals to amend the law have been reported in the Spanish press, but until something is passed and published in the BOE it doesn’t change anything for you.

If you filed in time: what happens to your application

Applications made in time stay valid even if they’re decided years later. The Ministry of Justice’s instruction on this law (Instruction of 25 October 2022, amended on 5 November 2024) says:

• Late appointments are fine if the request was on time. If you requested an appointment through the consulate’s online system before the deadline and got the electronically signed receipt (with a CSV verification code), you can hand in your documents in person afterwards, on the date you’re given. Bring that receipt with your originals.
• The consulate can formalise your declaration after the deadline. The registry officer can authenticate the declaration even after the deadline, as long as it was presented within it.
• Missing documents must be supplied within 30 calendar days of a formal request from the registry.
• A refusal comes with a formal notice, and you can appeal to the Directorate General for Legal Certainty and Public Faith (DGSJFP) of the Ministry of Justice.

The Consulate General in Los Angeles warned that both appointments and decisions would be delayed by the volume of applications, which are processed by filing date. Some consulates are years behind. In its October 2026 bulletin, the Consulate General in Buenos Aires said it was still working on Democratic Memory Law files handed in at the consulate during September 2023.

How to check the status of your application

Ask the consulate where you filed. We couldn’t find a single national online tracker for these files, and consulates contact applicants by email at the address given in the application. Keep that inbox working and check your spam folder. Buenos Aires asks applicants not to send documents unless the consulate has requested them: unrequested documents won’t be added to the file. Files can be closed as abandoned (desistimiento) if a request isn’t answered in time.

After approval: the oath, registration and your passport

The option is declared, and the oath or promise of loyalty to the King and obedience to the Constitution and laws is made, before the officer of the civil registry, which for applicants abroad is the consular registry. Under Civil Code article 23, applicants aged 14 and over must swear or promise; the Democratic Memory Law option does not require you to renounce your current nationality. The final step is the entry in the Spanish Civil Registry: your birth is registered as a Spaniard’s.

Once your birth is registered you can get a Spanish birth certificate, register with your consulate (matrícula consular) and apply for a Spanish passport. The Ministry of Justice instruction treats this nationality as Spanish of origin acquired later: it has effect from the date you acquire it, not from your birth.

What a grandchild can still do now

1. Check whether you’re already Spanish through your parent

Under article 17.1(a) of the Civil Code, anyone born to a Spanish father or mother is Spanish by origin, wherever they were born. So the real question is not about your grandparent but about your parent: was your parent Spanish on the day you were born?

That is often the case when your grandparent was still Spanish when your parent was born and nobody in the line lost Spanish nationality before the next child arrived. Your parent then registers their own birth in the Spanish Civil Registry, and you register yours. There’s no application for citizenship because the law says you already have it.

Watch for article 24.3. If you and your Spanish parent were both born abroad and you hold the nationality of the country you live in, you lose Spanish nationality unless you declare, within three years of turning 18, that you want to keep it. The same applies to your parent if they were born abroad to a Spanish parent also born abroad. Older versions of the Civil Code had different loss rules, so if births in your line span several decades, ask the consulate to confirm how each one is treated. The Spain citizenship by descent guide explains these traps.

2. Get your parent recognised first, then see what that does for you

Article 20.1(b) of the Civil Code lets anyone whose father or mother was originally Spanish and born in Spain opt for Spanish nationality, and article 20.3 says that option has no age limit. So if your grandparent was born in Spain as a Spaniard, your parent can still opt today, even if your grandparent lost Spanish nationality before your parent was born.

The catch is what it does for you:

• If you’re under 18 when your parent becomes Spanish, you’re under the parental authority of a Spaniard and can opt under article 20.1(a). The deadline is age 20 (or two years after you come of age, if your own country’s law sets majority later).
• If you’re an adult, you get nothing directly. A parent who opts is Spanish, but not “originally Spanish”, so you can’t use article 20.1(b) through them. The Democratic Memory Law route that let adult children follow a parent has closed with the rest of the law.

Nationality by option is acquired, not of origin. Under article 23 it requires the oath (from age 14), a declaration renouncing your previous nationality unless you’re a national of an Ibero-American country, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal, and registration in the Civil Registry. See dual citizenship by descent for what that means in practice.

3. Live in Spain for one year and naturalise

This is the route most grandchildren have left. Article 22.2(f) of the Civil Code says one year of residence is enough for anyone born outside Spain whose father, mother, grandfather or grandmother was originally Spanish. The normal period is ten years. The residence must be legal, continuous and immediately before you apply, so you first need a visa or residence permit that lets you live in Spain.

What else the Ministry of Justice asks for:

• Two exams from the Instituto Cervantes: the CCSE test on the Constitution and Spanish society, and the DELE Spanish exam at level A2 or higher. Nationals of Spanish-speaking countries are exempt from the DELE, and under-18s are exempt from both (Order JUS/1625/2016). See language requirements.
• Good civic conduct and sufficient integration in Spanish society (article 22.4).
• A fee of €104.05, as listed by the Ministry of Justice, which can change with the state budget.
• An online application through the Ministry of Justice’s electronic office (sede.mjusticia.gob.es).

Once granted, you have 180 days from notification to take the oath and complete the other article 23 requirements, or the grant lapses (article 21.4). The Ministry lets you do this at a Civil Registry or before a notary. US, Canadian and Australian citizens must also make the renunciation declaration.

4. Two years if you’re a national of a Latin American country

Article 22.1 cuts the residence period to two years for nationals of origin of Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea or Portugal. If your grandparent was originally Spanish, the one-year rule is shorter anyway. The two-year rule matters for relatives whose Spanish ancestor can’t be documented as originally Spanish, and it doesn’t help a US, Canadian or Australian citizen unless they also hold one of those nationalities from birth.

5. Carta de naturaleza: the exceptional route

Article 21.1 lets the government grant nationality by royal decree when exceptional circumstances apply. It’s entirely discretionary, there is no set test and it’s rare. Spanish ancestry on its own is not an exceptional circumstance, so don’t plan around it.

Routes that are closed

• Democratic Memory Law (Law 20/2022): closed at 23:59 local time on 22 October 2025.
• Historical Memory Law (Law 52/2007): its option for grandchildren of exiles was a time-limited window that ended years ago; Law 20/2022 replaced it.
• Sephardic law (Law 12/2015): three years from 1 October 2015, extended by one year to 1 October 2019. The law still allows the Council of Ministers to grant nationality to Sephardic applicants for exceptional circumstances or humanitarian reasons, but there is no open application window.

Documents you’ll need for any route

Every route starts with your grandparent’s Spanish birth certificate. Ask for a certificación literal (a full copy), which you can request from the Ministry of Justice. Then you need the birth (and, where names changed, marriage) certificates linking each generation to you. Foreign documents need an apostille and an official translation into Spanish. Start with our documents checklist, the apostille guide and certified translations.

If you’re weighing Spain against other countries that do accept grandchildren from abroad, see citizenship through grandparents.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Law 20/2022, of 19 October, on Democratic Memory (BOE consolidated text) (additional provision 8)
• Instruction of 25 October 2022 of the DGSJFP on the option under additional provision 8 (BOE, consolidated) and the amending Instruction of 5 November 2024
• Spanish Civil Code, articles 17–26 (BOE)
• Consulate General of Spain in Los Angeles: end of the Democratic Memory Law filing period and Consulate General in London notice
• Consulate General of Spain in Buenos Aires: bulletin, October 2026 (processing position and document requests)
• Consulate General of Spain in Bogotá: one-year extension approved on 9 July 2024
• Order JUS/1625/2016 on nationality by residence (BOE) and Ministry of Justice: nationality by residence (fee, oath at a registry or notary)
• Law 12/2015 on Sephardic Jews of Spanish origin (BOE) and the 2018 extension to 1 October 2019

Checked against these sources on 24 October 2026. Processing positions and fees change; confirm with your Spanish consulate or the Ministry of Justice before you act.