Studies show that there has been a continuous decrease in foreigners residing in Madrid over the last few years. This could be due to the fact that the economic crisis and employment situation in Spain has brought immigrants to return to their country of origin. However, a good chunk of immigrants has been taken off this list because they were granted Spanish nationality.
In 2013, 55,072 foreign residents in Madrid were granted Spanish nationality which is 60% more than last year.
Why such an increase?
One reason is because the Ministry of Justice has sped up the processing time for new nationality applications due to the lack of requests thus far. Another reason is due to the fact that many foreigners come to Spain looking for work and apply for a residence and work permit, or an arraigo. In the end, after spending such a significant amount of time in our country, they decide to apply for Spanish nationality.
Foreign residents in our country who typically apply for Spanish nationality come from the following Latin American countries: Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. We also have many applications from immigrants from Morocco.
Translated by: Katherine Pascal