Spanish Party Proposes Bill to Grant Citizenship to Former Saharan Residents and Descendants

Podemos’ bill aims to grant "naturalized" Spanish nationality to people born in the Sahara under Spanish sovereignty as well as to their direct descendants, even if they do not have legal residence in Spain. The Sahrawis will have a two-year deadline after the passage of the law to provide proof of their birth in the Sahara by presenting a Spanish identity card, even expired, a birth certificate or any other document issued by the Spanish administration at the time.

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Congress will rule on this very sensitive issue in Spain due to the country’s strong ties with this former colony. The same right has recently been recognized for other groups historically linked to Spain, such as Sephardic Jews, reports La Provincia, noting that nearly 10,000 Sahrawis, according to some sources, could benefit from Spanish nationality if this law were to be adopted.

In the bill, Podemos explains that the Sahrawis studied at Spanish universities, worked in the Spanish administration and army, and even had the right to vote. The party also recalls that a royal decree had defined a series of requirements to be met by natives of the Sahara to obtain Spanish nationality within one year, but the Moroccan occupation had interrupted the realization of this process.

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But the Spanish justice system has already settled this issue in 2020 by refusing nationality to a woman born in the Sahara in 1973. In its ruling, the civil chamber of the Supreme Court ruled that she was not born on national territory at a time when the Sahara was administered from Madrid on the basis of the rules governing the decolonization process. "It is undisputed that the Sahara is a colony and therefore cannot be considered Spain. Those born in Spain were not born on territory that was a Spanish colony," the judge ruled.