Supreme Court Denies Spanish Citizenship to Western Sahara-Born Applicants

"Western Sahara cannot be considered as Spain [...]. In other words, those born in a territory during the period when it was a Spanish colony were not born in Spain," the country’s highest court has hammered home.

The judges of the first chamber have thus dismissed the claim of a woman residing in Ibiza who was seeking Spanish nationality at the age of 36. In her application, this woman born in Agwanit in 1973 argues that she is the daughter of parents born in the Sahara and of Spanish nationality. Similarly, the civil registry of Ibiza and the General Directorate of Registries rejected her application. For the judges, "those born in a territory during the period when the Sahara was a Spanish colony" are not eligible.

The judges also recall that the Supreme Court has "recognized" since 2007 "the state of statelessness of persons born in Western Sahara before decolonization and whose circumstances are similar to those of the applicant." However, the EFE agency recalled in 2017 that 12,000 to 15,000 people born in Western Sahara before 1975 had acquired Spanish nationality.