Hi everyone 😊

I recently heard about the Ley Memoria granting Spanish citizenship to grandchildren of Spanish exiles and I’ve been having difficulty obtaining the necessary documents to prove my grandfather left Spain or arrived in Cuba during the specified time period.

I hope you guys can help and share your experiences with me.

Here’s my situation:

My grandfather was born in Asturias, Spain and fought on the Republics side
during the Spanish Civil war. He left Spain immediately after Franco won the
war and migrated to Cuba. There, he later met my grandmother and they
married in 1957. My mother was born in 1958 in Cuba. I have my mother’s
Cuban birth certificate in my possession but I discovered that it needs the
MINREX stamp. Is there any way to get a Hague apostille from the US instead? I went to Cuba City Hall and it costs $500 to get the stamp from Cuba.

Also, my grandfather was not a big part of my mother’s life as he and my
grandmother soon divorced so we have very limited information about him (still trying to find his birthdate!). We
believe that he became a Cuban citizen before he met my grandmother so he would most likely
have a certificate of naturalization in Cuba. However, when I contacted Cuba
City Hall, Rob told me that acquiring those certificates takes 12-18
months and they don’t do it anymore. He said I could ask for a waiver (not
sure how to do this). Has anyone used a waiver before?

I’m getting pretty anxious because I only recently discovered the Ley
Memoria and I have until December 27th to submit the application. I’m
worried I won’t have the documents proving that my grandfather was an exile
in time. Do you know if Spain keeps records of exiles
that left after the Civil War ended? Since I can’t get the naturalization
certificate in time, I don’t know how else to prove he was an exile.

We also have my grandmother’s divorce papers laying around somewhere (I
believe they are from Cuba, but not too sure as we are still looking for
them). I don’t know if this would help as not sure if it shows that he was
from Spain or what date he arrived in Cuba.

One more question: I was looking at the Spanish ministry of justice site and there’s an online form that you can fill out
in order to obtain a Spanish birth certificate. I will be doing this but it’s asking me for my road name, number (km) etc as though
they want a Spanish address. I live in Miami though. Can I still use the online form? Do they deliver certificates to US addresses? Does anyone know how long it takes to receive the certificate?

My mother said that while she was in college in Miami, the school asked for his personal information and social security. Do you think the school would still have those records even though they are about 30 years old?

This is what I know about him - his full name, birth place, mother’s name, father’s name, approximate time frame he left Spain/arrived in Cuba, he fought on the republics side during the war and left afterward (and some other minor details.)

Any information you can provide on what I should do would be extremely helpful. I apologize for
asking so many questions, I’m just very anxious and I want to have
everything I need before the deadline. I’m not familiar with the process. Do you guys think I have a chance to
get my citizenship?

I look forward to hearing from you all. Thank you again and I really hope you
can share your experiences with me.

Sincerely,

Amanda

Also, do you think I could obtain any US government records showing his migration history? Like from Spain, to Cuba, to America?

Thank you!! Please help!!

My grandfather was born in Asturias, Spain and fought on the Republics side
during the Spanish Civil war. He left Spain immediately after Franco won the
war and migrated to Cuba. There, he later met my grandmother and they
married in 1957. My mother was born in 1958 in Cuba. I have my mother’s
Cuban birth certificate in my possession but I discovered that it needs the
MINREX stamp. Is there any way to get a Hague apostille from the US instead? I went to Cuba City Hall and it costs $500 to get the stamp from Cuba.

you will need your mothers birth certificate to document your connection to your grandfather, try reading some of the posts here on this issue as they have mentioned who to contact.

I’m getting pretty anxious because I only recently discovered the Ley
Memoria and I have until December 27th to submit the application. I’m
worried I won’t have the documents proving that my grandfather was an exile
in time. Do you know if Spain keeps records of exiles
that left after the Civil War ended? Since I can’t get the naturalization
certificate in time, I don’t know how else to prove he was an exile.

best thing would be to contact the consulate, they may register your request even if you have not collected all requirements and condition your citizenship upon submission of missing documents

We also have my grandmother’s divorce papers laying around somewhere (I
believe they are from Cuba, but not too sure as we are still looking for
them). I don’t know if this would help as not sure if it shows that he was
from Spain or what date he arrived in Cuba.

the consulate provides the requirements to prove this situation

One more question: I was looking at the Spanish ministry of justice site and there’s an online form that you can fill out
in order to obtain a Spanish birth certificate. I will be doing this but it’s asking me for my road name, number (km) etc as though
they want a Spanish address. I live in Miami though. Can I still use the online form? Do they deliver certificates to US addresses? Does anyone know how long it takes to receive the certificate?

ask the spanish consulate in usa if you can get this thru them

My mother said that while she was in college in Miami, the school asked for his personal information and social security. Do you think the school would still have those records even though they are about 30 years old?

all info that you can get hold of is always important

This is what I know about him - his full name, birth place, mother’s name, father’s name, approximate time frame he left Spain/arrived in Cuba, he fought on the republics side during the war and left afterward (and some other minor details.)

if you are in the usa try contacting the spanish consulate on this matter.

Thank you very much! Your help is greatly appreciated 😊

So, do you think the electronic request form on the ministry of justice site is not intended for people who reside in the USA?

Thank you again 😊

The electronic request form didn’t work for me.  They said it would take 2 weeks and that was 3 months ago.  I was able to have a friend near my grandparent’s old village go to the town hall and retrieve my grandfather’s birth certificate there.  Surprisingly, that caused me the least troubles of the entire process.  I was able to do it, and have an appointment for my spanish passport next month, but the entire ordeal took about a year and a half start to finish.  Good luck.

Hi,

Wow, a year and a half that’s such a long time! I’m sorry to hear that

Thank you so much for getting back to me about the ministry—I’ve been waiting to hear back from the electronic headquarters for forever!

Do you think it would be beneficial to call the actual civil registry where my grandfather was born (Villaviciosa) or will they not answer? Unfortunately I don’t know anyone currently living in Spain. I think all my relatives left a long time ago—What would you recommend for me? Do you know of any certificate retrieval services in Spain that I could contact? I would pay anyone that would be willing to retrieve this for me.

Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you again so much 😊

Amanda

Yes, it’s been a crazy hassle of a process, but it’s basically done and I couldn’t be happier.  Once I have my passport it will be well worth the wait.

It can’t hurt to contact the civil registry in Villaviciosa.  I’d offer to help but I just noticed that it’s almost 6 hours from me so it would be quite the drive… sorry.  :(  Something that I can recommend is contacting the spanish consulate and ask if they might know of any document retrieval services… or maybe someone at the consulate knows someone that can do that for you.  I was unable to get their help getting a spanish birth certificate, but that’s how I got my father’s birth certificate from Venezuela… by contacting the Venezuelan consulate and begging for their help.  Fortunately, a very helpful guy there put me in touch with someone at a university and after a few days of emailing back and forth, I found someone that could get the document for me.  Maybe checking into services like that in Gijon or Santander might work, too.  Considering they’re bigger cities, they might have more options available to help you.

Thank you so much, you’ve been really helpful!!!! 😊

I will definitely try that!!!

I just have one more question—What documents did you need to show for them to begin the passport process? Like did they give you a hard time with the ones you already had?

I’m just wondering because I need to prove my grandfather was an exile. So far I am going to show:

1- my grandfather’s birth certificate (hopefully i find it!)
2- my mother’s birth certificate (in the process of getting legalized in Cuba)
3- my mother’s half sister’s birth certificate (As proof of children born in another country between 1936-1955) - to prove exile status

I’m thinking they might ask for my grandfather’s marriage papers since my grandmother divorced him

thank you again for all your help. i really appreciate it!!!

Amanda

My application package consisted of:

-2 copies of the application
-My passport
-My long form birth certificate
-My mother’s long form birth certificate
-My father’s literal (long form) birth certificate from Venezuela (with the apostille)
-My grandfather’s literal (long form) birth certificate from Spain.  (This didn’t need the apostille because it’s a legal document from Spain.  Spainish and US documents don’t need the apostille.
-A certified copy of my grandfather’s naturalization AND citizenship applications (this proved that he was in the country in 1951-1955).  However, they didn’t take this to include with my application.  The woman said they wouldn’t need it.  However, this was not the case… read on.  😊

After several months, they contacted me to come in for my second interview and told me to bring my grandfather’s death certificate along with all of the original documents that I had made copies of for my application.  They compare the submitted copies with the originals again… not sure exactly why.  But don’t forget them!  I also decided to bring the naturalization & citizenship applications again… just in case.  And low and behold, they didn’t ask for the death certificate when I was there, but they wanted something that would prove my grandfather was Spanish at the time of my father’s birth.  Like I mentioned, the applications showed that he applied for citizenship in 1961 and that he arrived in the US in 1951.  Once she compared my father’s birth certificate to these documents, she said that the applications were sufficient to prove this.  Like I mentioned, I got them certified so maybe this helped.  After she compared the rest of the documents to the originals, she helped me fill out the civil registry form for my spanish birth certificate.  After 2 more months, my spanish birth certificate arrived with instructions on applying for my spanish passport…. which I’ve got an appointment for next month.

My dealings with the Spanish consulate took 10 months, but I couldn’t even start that process until I tracked down my father’s birth certificate from Venezuela.  That took 6 months and unlimited patience.

Good luck!!