Citizenship for Spanish exiles

Spain may be about to start an immigration crackdown affecting thousands of legal migrants from the Americas, yet a new law will help others in Latin America.

Under the country’s Law of Historical Memory, Spanish citizenship will be granted to the thousands of families who fled the country during the Spanish civil war and the Franco dictatorship. An estimated 300,000 in Argentina alone will be eligible for the program along with the decedents of thousands who escaped political persecution and resettled in countries like Uruguay, Chile, and Venezuela.

The application process begins today though some Cubans have lined up early:

In Havana, hundreds of people have been standing in line since Thursday outside the Spanish Embassy to obtain the necessary application forms.

Estimates indicate that some 200,000 Cubans on the island could be eligible for Spanish citizenship.

In South Florida, where about 1.3 million naturalized U.S. citizens of Hispanic origin reside, Santiago Cabañas, Spanish Consul General in Miami, said he believes that thousands may petition for citizenship, especially among the Cuban and Venezuelan communities.

Image- Guardian UK (“Refugees from Spain's civil war: their descendants can now apply for Spanish citizenship. Photograph: Getty Images.”)
Online Sources- BBC News, The Telegraph, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, The Latin Americanist