I, a US citizen born in Cuba, am trying to get Spanish citizenship through the ?Ley de la Memoria.? When my parents were born in Cuba my grandparents were still Spanish citizens thus making them Spanish as well. I have my birth certificate and my parents birth certificates legalized. I presented those documents to the Spanish Consulate and they told me that I needed to prove that my grandparents were still Spanish when my parents were born by requesting a letter of citizenship for my grandparents in Cuba. I?ve tried to get this through a document retrieval service and they tell me is next to impossible to do this and if the document existed sometimes it can take as much as two years and the Cuban civil registry simple says ?we can?t help you.? If I could prove this somehow my citizenship would be a done deal.

Has anyone gone through this? Any suggestions? I?m running out of time.

Thanks?rbr1!

I had to prove something similar in the US and was able to do it by providing my father’s birth certificate and a certified copy of my grandfather’s citizenship application that showed he was a spanish citizen at the time of application (1961) and my father was born in 1955.  However, your parent’s birth certificates should list the nationality of their parents (your grandparents).  They don’t?

Thanks for the advice and the angle of the application to citizenship.

Yes the original birth certificates of both my parents show that my grandparents were Spanish. It states next to their names “naturales de espa?a. (Naturals of Spain)” But in the Spanish Consulate in new York City which is were I’m submitting papers they requested that I prove it though a “letter of citizenship,” even if it is not legalized.

I just found out from relatives in Cuba that my grandmother became a Cuban citizen in the 1940s so I’m asuming that my grandfather also became a Cuban citizen at that time thus proving that when my father was born, 1915,  my grandparents were still Spanish citizens. I’m waiting for legalized birth certificates of my parents to then present the case again. Thanks for the other angles that will be researched.
rbr1