Moroccan Immigrants Lead in Spanish Citizenship Grants in Aragon Region

In 2016, 4,847 people obtained Spanish nationality in Aragon, 44% more than in 2015. In 2017, an administrative problem forced thousands of immigrants to wait longer than expected. But in 2018 and 2019, the figures did not recover due to the tightening observed in the process, and also the "great blockage", as recognized on June 16 in the Senate by the Minister of Justice, Juan Carlos Campo, in charge of processing Spanish nationality applications by residence.

As indicated on the website of the Ministry of Justice, ten years of continuous legal residence in Spain are sufficient to obtain nationality. This period is reduced to five years for those who have obtained refugee status, two years for those from Ibero-American countries, Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea, Portugal or people of Sephardic origin.

Any applicant for Spanish nationality must apply for it, accompanied by the required documents including the diplomas of the Cervantes Institute, the test of constitutional and sociocultural knowledge and the test of knowledge in Spanish and a receipt of 102 euros, constituting the examination and file processing fees.

Regarding the age groups, 501 children under 10 and 498 adults aged 35 to 45 obtained Spanish nationality. Most of them are of Moroccan origin.

210 residents of the Aragon community, Nicaraguan nationals, including 165 women, also obtained nationality last year. They are followed by those from Colombia (150), the Dominican Republic (128), Romania (118), Ecuador (113) and Algeria (102).