Rabat – For the third year in a row, Moroccans remain the foreign community that received the most Spanish citizenships in 2018, making up 16.7% of Spain’s newest citizens. Around 15,398 Moroccans became Spanish citizens last year, according to the Spanish National Institute of Statistics.
Moroccans received more than three quarters of the Spanish citizenships granted to African immigrants. Immigrants of African nationalities received 20,478 Spanish citizenships in 2018.
The Spanish institute denied rumors accusing Spanish authorities of giving Moroccans preferential treatment in decision making. The organization affirmed that all applicants for Spanish citizenship need to pass a test in language, culture, and politics.
The number of Moroccans with dual-nationality living in Spain reached 238,000 people. However, the number of Moroccans living illegally in Spain is even larger, estimated at 250,000.
In 2017, Spanish authorities granted citizenship to 17,082 Moroccans, representing 25.7% of all naturalized immigrants during that year. In 2016, about 28,505 Moroccans received a Spanish citizenship.
The Spanish institute justifies the decline in the number of naturalized Moroccans in recent years with the large amount of applications from South American immigrants. A significant number of immigrants from Latin America flee their countries because of socio-political crises and travel to Spain because of their shared language.
In 2017, Spanish authorities naturalized 7,307 immigrants from Ecuador, 6,124 Bolivians, and 5,647 Colombians.
Spain naturalizes thousands of immigrants every year, in an effort to curb the aging of its population that threatens pension funds.
