Query about Spanish citizenship

[rknbono]

My wife's father is Spanish and he moved to the Philippines in the '30s because of the Spanish Civil War. He eventually met a Filipina, got married, applied for Philippine citizenship and then settled here permanently till his death.

My wife was born in the '50s after her father secured his Philippine citizenship naturalization papers. Thus, following existing laws at that time, she was born as a naturalized Filipino.

Can she apply for Spanish citizenship automatically now or will she be subjected to the 2 year residency rule? What about our children?

Thank you.

[Patricia]

Dear Sir,

In the event she was applyimg for citizenship due to her Philipinian nationality, she would need to have had legal residency in Spain for two years.

In the event she applies for citizenship due to the fact that her father was Spanish by origin, she will only need to have one year of legal residency before applying for the citizenship.

Your children will need to have held legal residency in Spain for two years before applying for their Spanish citizenship.

Regards,

[rknbono]

Thank you for your feedback.

I recently heard of a ruling that, if a Spanish citizen fled the country due to the civil war at that time (i.e. 1930's), and resided in a different country, all of his direct descendants up to the third (?) degree will be exempted from the two (2) year residency requirement when applying for Spanish citizenship. In my case above, this ruling impacts my wife as well as our children.

I would like to verify/confirm that there is such a ruling.

Thank you.

[Patricia]

Dear Sir,

Yes, that is right.

In the event that your wife could submit proof of the fact that her father left the country due to political reasons and was able to provide with the required documentation by the Ley de Memoria Historica, she ,as well as her children would be able to apply for citizenship through that assumption.

Regards,