At the end of the year, 299,732 people received Spanish passports, which is 19% more than in the previous period. The growth occurred against the backdrop of the continuing influx of migrants and Madrid’s more lenient migration policy compared to a number of other European countries, Prian reported.
The largest number of new citizens came from Morocco. Next came citizens of Colombia and Venezuela, while the fourth place was occupied by natives of Honduras.
The structure of naturalization reflects the peculiarities of Spanish legislation. For citizens of most Latin American countries there is a simplified procedure for obtaining citizenship, which allows you to apply after two years of legal residence in the country. For most other foreigners, the minimum period is ten years.
Residence permits for 500,000 illegal aliens
The record number of new citizens coincided with the preparation of a large-scale migrant regularization program initiated by the government of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The authorities expect to grant residence and work permits to about 500,000 foreigners who are in the country without official status.
According to the terms of the program, migrants who entered Spain before the end of last year and can prove continuous residence in the country for a specified period will be able to take advantage of it.
The government claims that the reform will allow to remove hundreds of thousands of workers from the shadow economy and increase revenues to the social security system. At the same time, the initiative remains the subject of intense political debate within the country.
According to INE, the population of Spain is approaching 50 million people. Of these, about 7.3 million, or more than 14%, are foreign nationals.
