The Ministry of Justice, issued on June 19^th, a note communicating the extension of such term so that those applicants of Spanish nationality through Law 12/2015, of June 24^th, who did not count with the accreditation of having passed Instituto Cervantes’ exams, could present the results of such tests within one year from the start of their application. The deadline to submit other documents is extended by three months.

Law 12/2015, of June 24^th, regarding the granting of Spanish nationality to the descendants of Judeo-Spanish citizens, establishes in its First Additional Provision that the interested parties should formalize their application within three years of the entry into force of the Law: October 1^st, 2015 pursuant to its Sixth Final Provision. Such deadline was extended for a 1-year term contemplated in the same law by decision of the Council of Ministers dated March 9^th, 2018, so the deadline for submitting applications will end on October 1^st, 2019.

For the acquisition of Spanish nationality through this via, article 1.5 of Law 12/2015 provides that the accreditation of the special relationship with Spain shall require the passing of two exams elaborated and managed by Instituto Cervantes. The first test shall certify a basic knowledge of the Spanish language (A2-Level or higher), of the Common European Framework of Reference for the languages ​​of the Council of Europe, in order to obtain DELE (a diploma of knowledge of Spanish as a foreign language). In the second test the knowledge of Spain’s Constitution and of the Spanish social and cultural reality shall be evaluated. Both exams shall be designed and managed by Instituto Cervantes’ delegations. Individuals over 70 years-old, minors under 18 and persons whose legal capacity has been modified by Court are exempt from both exams while national applicants from countries and territories in which Spanish is the official language are exempt from the language test.

Within the last months, the Dirección General de los Registros y del Notariado has been aware of the difficulty that many applicants outside of Spain are experiencing in accessing these tests since Instituto Cervantes does not count with available exam dates until several months after October 1^st, 2019, deadline for submission of citizenship applications.

For this reason, the Ministry of Justice informs that applications for citizenship may be submitted under Law 12/2015, of June 24^th, by Sephardic Jews with Spanish origin who do not count with the accreditation of having taken Instituto Cervantes’ exams, having this requirement to be met as soon as possible. The correction term shall be one year, which may be extended or reduced as the dates for the exams at Instituto Cervantes become available and published on the website of the Ministry of Justice.

In the event of not counting with other documents required by Law, when filing the application, the reason for not being able to provide them shall be alleged, what should be remedied within 3 months.

Alejandro de Vicente Rojas

Larrauri & Martí Abogados

Obtaining spanish nationality for jewish descendants