Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Acquisition of Nationality as Migration Policy

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Demographic Analysis of Latin American Immigrants in Spain

Part of the book series: Applied Demography Series ((ADS,volume 5))

Abstract

Spain is coming to the end of its first wave of mass international migration, with Latin Americans being clearly predominant during this unprecedented period of immigration. During the 2000 s, various incentives and strategies including bilateral labor agreements between Spain and Latin American countries were issued, and represented the government’s strategy to assist and encourage immigration from Latin America, mostly due to the well-established historical ties from Spain’s past as a colonial power in the region as well as its tradition as a country of emigration, particularly to Latin American countries. The range of comprehensive government policies on migration and the existence of a legal framework based on shared cultural traits (such as language and traditions), together with the preferential treatment received under Spanish nationality law (e.g. a reduced 2-year residence requirement to apply for naturalization), have had a measurable effect in the form of growing numbers of immigrants from Latin America. Although the link between demographic and citizenship issues have had very low profiles in the political arena, we argue in this chapter for its importance in shaping the various forms of current international migration, especially with regard to subsequent circular migration and re-migration, in the midst of an economic recession.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    In this study, we use the term “nationality” rather than “citizenship” to indicate the legal relationship between individuals and the state. In the Spanish context, ciudadanía (“citizenship”) has a more restricted meaning than that of nacionalidad (“nationality”).

  2. 2.

    On June 6th, 2014, the Spanish government approved a bill to facilitate the granting of Spanish citizenship to Sephardim through from the reform of Article 23 of the CC (Gobierno de España 2014). With this reform, the granting of Spanish nationality does not require renunciation of their original nationality and also is no longer done on a discretionary basis but rather has come to be considered a right. To acquire nationality, Sephardim must prove their “Sephardic status” and the maintaining of a “special relationship with Spain.” This change demonstrates the pronounced path-dependency of the Spanish law, whose evolution has historically been driven by a post-colonial and ethno-national logic (Martín Pérez and Moreno-Fuentes 2012).

  3. 3.

    The states with which the Spanish state has signed bilateral agreements are Chile (1958), Peru (1959), Paraguay (1959), Guatemala (1961), Nicaragua (1961), Bolivia (1961), Ecuador (1964), Costa Rica (1964), Honduras (1966), the Dominican Republic (1968), Argentina (1969) and Colombia (1978).

  4. 4.

    The intensive citizenship plan, called Project GEN, delegated the processing of cases to the Ministry of Justice, the Colegio de Registradores de la Propiedad, Mercantiles y de Bienes Inmuebles de España (Association of Property, Commercial, and Real Estate Registrars of Spain). The latest figures available for July 1, 2014, indicate that from the beginning of the plan, more than 497,000 cases have been opened, of which more than 455,000 have been decided on (see www.mjusticia.gob.es).

  5. 5.

    The so-called 2005 Normalization permitted the regularization of 578,000 undocumented immigrants. Among Latin Americans, Ecuadorians (127,925), Colombians (50,497) and Bolivians (39,773) were the main groups by number of positive decisions (Finotelli 2011).

  6. 6.

    At present, the Spanish authorities grant nationality to children born in Spain to Argentine, Brazilian, Colombian, Cuban, Peruvian and Uruguayan parents (Álvarez 2010).

  7. 7.

    This information was supplied by the Ministry of Justice to a parliamentary request by a member of Congress, Jon Uñarritu, representing Amaiur. Congreso de los Diputados (2014).

References

  • Álvarez, A. (2008). Nacionalidad de los hijos de extranjeros nacidos en España. Madrid: Ministerio de Trabajo y Asuntos Sociales.

    Google Scholar 

  • Álvarez, A. (2010). Inmigrantes e hijos de inmigrantes nacidos en España: vías de acceso a la nacionalidad española. Revista del Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración, 90, 103–126.

    Google Scholar 

  • Álvarez, A. (2012). Españoles por carta de naturaleza: del privilegio a la reparación de los perjuicios causados. La notaria, 3, 38–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arango, J. (2000). Becoming a country of immigration at the end of the twentieth century: The case of Spain. In R. King, G. Lazaridis, & C. Tzardanidis (Eds.), Eldorado or fortress? Migration in Southern Europe (pp. 253–276). Basingstoke: McMillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ayuso, A., & Sánchez-Montijano, E. (2012). Los costes del rechazo: América Latina y Caribe ante las barreras a la entrada en España y la UE. In Sánchez-Montijano, E., Vaquer-i-Fanés, J., & Viilup, E. (Eds.), La política de visados para el siglo XXI (pp. 159–190). Barcelona: Fundación CIDOB.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bauböck, R. (2010). Studying citizenship constellations. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(5), 847–859.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauböck, R., & Helbling, M. (Eds.). (2011). Which indicators are most useful for comparing citizenship policies? RSCAS Working Paper 2011/54. Resource Document. EUDO Citizenship. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/19015. Accessed 15 Jan 2014.

  • Bauböck, R., Ersbøll, E., Groenendijk, K., & Waldrauch, H. (Eds.). (2006). Acquisition and loss of nationality: Comparative analyses-policies and trends in 15 European countries. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bauböck, R., Honohan, I., Huddleston, T., Hutcheson, D., Shaw, J., & Vink, M. P. (2013). Access to citizenship and its impact on integration: European summary and standards.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertoli, S., & Fernández-Huertas Moraga, J. (2013). Multilateral resistance to migration. Journal of Development Economics, 102, 79–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brubaker, R. (1992). Citizenship and nationhood in France and Germany. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carens, J. H. (2004). La integración de los inmigrantes. In G. Aubarell & R. Zapata-Barrero (Eds.), Inmigración y procesos de cambio: Europa y el Mediterráneo en el contexto global (pp. 393–420). Barcelona: Icaria Editorial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cebrián, M. (2009). Los determinantes de los flujos migratorios internacionales: el caso español, 1995–2007. Principios: estudios de economía política, 14, 49–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collyer, M. (Ed.). (2013). Emigration nations: Policies and ideologies of emigrant engagement. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Congreso de los Diputados (2014). Intervenciones Parlamentarias. http://www.congreso.es/portal/page/portal/Congreso/Congreso/Intervenciones. Accessed 25 May 2014.

  • De la Torre, J., & Sanz Lafuente, G. (Eds.). (2008). Migraciones y coyuntura económica del franquismo a la democracia. Zaragoza: Universidad de Zaragoza.

    Google Scholar 

  • Domingo, A., Sabater, A., & Ortega-Rivera, E. (2014). ¿Migración Neohispánica? El impacto de la crisis económica en la emigración española. Empiria. Revista de Metodología de las Ciencias Sociales, 29, 39–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dronkers, J., Vink, M. P. (2012). Explaining access to citizenship in Europe: How citizenship policies affect naturalization rates. European Union Politics, 13(3), 390–412.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dumbrava, C. (2013). External citizenship in EU countries. Ethnic and Racial Studies. doi:10.1080/01419870.2013.826812.

    Google Scholar 

  • Faist, T., & Gerdes, J. (2008). Dual citizenship in an age of mobility. In Migration Policy Group (Ed.), Delivering citizenship (pp. 73–98). Gütersloh: Verlag Bertelsmann Stiftung.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrer, R., & López-Sala, A. (2009). Nuevas dinámicas de gestión de las migraciones en España: el caso de los acuerdos bilaterales de trabajadores con países de origen. Revista del Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración, 80, 119–132.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finotelli, C. (2011). Regularisation of immigrants in Southern Europe: What can be learned from Spain? In Bommes, M. & Sciortino, G. (Eds.), Foggy social structures: Irregular migration, European labour markets and the w elfare state (pp. 189–210). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finotelli, C., & Arango, J. (2011). Regularisation of unauthorised immigrants in Italy and Spain: Determinants and effects. Documents d’anàlisi geogràfica, 57(3), 495–515.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gil Araújo, S. (2010). Políticas migratorias y relaciones bilaterales España-América Latina. Inmigración Latinoamericana en España. El estado de la investigación (pp. 93–118). Barcelona: Fundación CIDOB.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gobierno de España. (2014). Proyecto de Ley en materia de concesión de la nacionalidad española a los sefardíes originarios de España que justifiquen tal condición y su especial vinculación con España, por la que se modifica el artículo 23 del Código Civil y se establece una tasa para determinados procedimientos de adquisición de la nacionalidad española. http://ep00.epimg.net/descargables/2014/06/06/d2568a932335d0680fa9107ee72ef7a6.pdf. Accessed 6 Jun 2014.

  • González-Ferrer, A., & Cortina-Trilla C. (2011). Naturalisation Decisions in Spain. The Importance of Legal Asymmetries. Paper presented at the PAA 2011, Washington. http://paa2011.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=112356. Accessed 20 Nov 2013.

  • Hammar, T. (1990). Democracy and the nation state: Aliens denizens and citizens in a world of international migration. Brookfield: Avebury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebling, M. (2010). Naturalisation politics in Switzerland: explaining rejection rates at local level. In Caponio, T. & Borkert. M (Eds.). The Local Dimension of Migration Policymaking (pp. 33–56). Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howard, M. M. (2009). The politics of citizenship in Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Huddleston, T., & Niessen, J. (2011). Migrant integration policy index III. Brussels: British Council and Migration Policy Group.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izquierdo, A. (Ed.). (2011). La migración de la memoria histórica. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izquierdo, A., & Cornelius, W. A. (Eds.). (2012). Políticas de control migratorio: Estudio comparado de España y EE. UU. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Izquierdo, A., López de Lera, D., & Martínez, R. (2003). The favorites of the twenty-first century: Latin American immigration in Spain. Studi Emigrazione, 149, 98–124.

    Google Scholar 

  • Janoski, T. (2010). The ironies of citizenship: Naturalization and integration in industrialized countries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Joppke, C. (2003). Citizenship between de-and re-ethnicization. European Journal of Sociology, 44(3), 429–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joppke, C. (2005). Selecting by origin: Ethnic migration in the liberal state. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Bras, H. (2012). L’invention de l’immigré. París: Éditions de l’aube.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martín Pérez, A., & Moreno-Fuentes, F. J. (2012). Migration and citizenship law in Spain: Path-dependency and policy change in a recent country of immigration. International Migration Review, 46(2), 625–655.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mateos, P. (2014). Ciudadanía múltiple y migración: Perspectivas latinoamericanas. México: CIDE- CIESAS.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mateos, P., & Durand, J. (2012). Residence vs. ancestry in acquisition of Spanish citizenship: A netnography approach. Migraciones Internacionales, 6(4), 9–46.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ortega-Rivera, E., Domingo, A., & Sabater, A. (in press). La emigración española en tiempos de crisis y austeridad. Scripta Nova. Revista Electrónica de Geografía y Ciencias Sociales.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palazón-Ferrando, S. (2009). Reanudación, apogeo y crisis de la emigración exterior española (1946–1995). Ería. Revista cuatrimestral de Geografía, 45, 37–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Recaño, J., & Domingo, A. (2005). Factores sociodemográficos y territoriales de la inmigración irregular en España. Paper presented at XXV International Population Conference, Tours, France. http://www.academia.edu/download/30294598/iussp2005s50533.pdf. Accessed 20 Jan 2014.

  • Reichel, D. (2011). Do legal regulations hinder naturalisation? Citizenship policies and naturalisation rates in Europe. RSCAS Working Paper 2011/51. Resource document. EUDO Citizenship. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/18734. Accessed 15 Jan 2014.

  • Rubio, R. (2006). Spain. In R. Bauböck, E. Ersbøll, K. Groenendijk, & H. Waldrauch (Eds.), Acquisition and loss of nationality: Comparative analyses-policies and trends in 15 European countries. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sánchez Alonso, B. (1995). Las causas de la emigración española, 1880–1930. Madrid Alianza Editorial.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solanes, A. (2010). Un balance tras 25 años de leyes de extranjería en España: 1985–2010. Revista del Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración, 90, 77–101.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tjaden, J., & Sánchez-Montijano, E. (2013). El acceso a la ciudadanía y sus efectos sobre la integración de inmigrantes. Bruselas: MPG.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vink, M. P., & Bauböck, R. (2013). Citizenship configurations: Analysing the multiple purposes of citizenship regimes in Europe. Comparative European Politics, 11(5), 621–648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vink, M. P., Prokic-Breuer, T., & Dronkers, J. (2013). Immigrant naturalization in the context of institutional diversity: Policy matters, but to whom? International Migration Review, 51(5), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vono, D. (2010). ¿Preferidos y favorecidos? El proceso de asentamiento de la po-blación latinoamericana en España. PhD Dissertation, Bellaterra: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wallace, S. (2010). Naturalisation policies in Europe: Exploring patterns of inclusion and exclusion. Resource document. EUDO Citizenship Observatory. http://eudo-citizenship.eu/docs/7-Naturalisation%20Policies%20in%20Europe.pdf. Accessed 10 Dec 2013.

  • Weil, P. (2001). Access to citizenship: A comparison of twenty-five nationality laws. In T. A. Aleinikoff & D. Klusmeyer (Eds.), Citizenship today: Global perspectives and practices (pp. 17–35). Washington, DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was funded as Project CSO2011–24501of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Andreu Domingo & Enrique Ortega-Rivera

Authors
  1. Andreu Domingo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Enrique Ortega-Rivera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andreu Domingo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Demographic Studies, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Andreu Domingo

  2. School of Geography & Geosciences, St. Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom

    Albert Sabater

  3. Centre for Demographic Studies, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Richard R. Verdugo

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Domingo, A., Ortega-Rivera, E. (2015). Acquisition of Nationality as Migration Policy. In: Domingo, A., Sabater, A., Verdugo, R. (eds) Demographic Analysis of Latin American Immigrants in Spain. Applied Demography Series, vol 5. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12361-5_2

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation