Question
Please help me convince my wife we should live in Spain to obtain Spanish nationality through our Latin American citizenship.
We have 2 young children that can certainly benefit later in life with EU citizenship, right? I’m thinking about reduced tuition and work opportunities! Can anyone elaborate more on these benefits and any others for our children?
Answers
These are the answers of some Facebook group members:
“Free, quality health care”
“It’s only for certain countries and it only lowers the amount of years before you can opt for citizenship. For example, Mexico. You have to have lived in Spain for 2 years with a legal resident status. So first you need to qualify for one of their residencies.”
“In the long term EU citizenship is valuable. But there is a big gap between then and now. Lots of paperwork, lots of money, and lots of time. Kids don’t stay in Spain bc there are no jobs. But EU citizenship would be good for college. Just be sure you are mentally and financially prepared for a lot of roadblocks and delays.”
“Generally speaking, having multiple citizenships can be an extremely useful tool. In the case of an EU citizenship, you have access to easy residence in any EU member state, access to public universities throughout the Union in the same conditions as citizens, and access to consular protection in the diplomatic offices of any member state if yours are inaccessible.
Recall that having natural citizenship from a Latin American country gives you the ability to apply for Spanish citizenship after TWO YEARS of continued, legal residence in the country. Compare this to the ten years required for most everyone else.
By law, you won’t lose your Latin American citizenships, even in the eyes of Spain, once you acquire Spanish citizenship. From the US’s point of view – if you’re American – you’ll continue to be US citizens. There’s no real downside in this regard.”
“Between the time my wife submitted the application and the time she was sworn in was about seven months.
BUT that was with paying extra for the faster processing tramite they have now.
Still, you can submit once you’ve been in Spain for two years, so you could be completely done in three years.
Benefits: kids will solidify their Spanish in a way that you can only get when immersed. (Of course, in the US that isn’t very difficult!)
The Spanish/EU citizenship means free or nearly free college in a bunch of nations.
It means they have a job/economic market in the future that’s something like 30% bigger than the US. They’ve got another place to run to if the shit hits the fan. In Spain it’s easy to live very cheaply and save money. Living in another culture is great for kids’ brains as well as their outlook on life.”
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