Registro De Matricula For Spanish Citizens Living Abroad

[Evangeline Mellon]

Thischapter outlines the social protection policies that Spain has adopted to target Spanish nationals abroad. First, it describes the diaspora infrastructure and the key engagement policies developed in the last years by Spain. Subsequently, the chapter focuses on five social protection policies: unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits, and economic hardship. The findings reveal that Spain has adopted a diaspora strategy that targets different emigrant groups such as exiles of the Civil War and early Francoism and their descendants, Spaniards that emigrated to other European countries during the 1950s and 1960s, and new emigrants that left the country due to the consequences of the financial crisis of 2008. Findings also show that, although Spain has developed a wide array of services to target its diverse diaspora, it still lacks a comprehensive scheme of social protection abroad. Moreover, the results suggest that Spain has adopted a subsidiary social policy strategy abroad that is triggered when the social protection offered by states of reception is lacking.

This chapter examines the social protection services offered by Spain to its nationals abroad. Following the framework of this volume, the chapter outlines first the key engagement policies and diaspora infrastructure established by Spain. Secondly, the chapter focuses on five core social protection policies: unemployment, health care, pensions, family-related benefits, and economic hardship. Although the chapter relies mainly on primary sources (international treaties, laws and regulations), secondary sources are used to complement and clarify the findings. The information included in the chapter reflects the policies in force as of January 2019.

Based on the official statistics provided by the Spanish residence registry (Padrn de espaoles residentes en el extranjero, PERE), a total of 2,482,808 Spanish citizens were permanently residing abroad at the beginning of 2018.Footnote 1 This number is the result of more than one century of emigration that has led to a diverse diaspora made up by differentiated groups. Among others, the descendants of the Spanish exiles of the Civil War and early Francoism which have retained Spanish nationality (Pasetti 2017), Spaniards who emigrated mostly to other countries in Europe during the 1950s and 1960s seeking higher standards of living (Kreienbrink 2009; Snchez Alonso 2010) and new emigrants that moved abroad in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008 (Parella and Petroff 2014; Domingo and Blanes 2015).Footnote 2 This great variation regarding the origins and drivers of the Spanish emigration correlates also with the existence of considerable groups of emigrants in both sides of the Atlantic.Footnote 3

The core of the Spanish diaspora infrastructure is embedded within two ministerial departments. First, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores Unin Europea y Cooperacin), the Directorate General for Spaniards Abroad and Consular and Migratory Affairs (Direccin General de Espaoles en el Exterior y de Asuntos Consulares y Migratorios) is in charge of the protection of Spanish nationals abroad, including the management of emergency situations that involve Spanish emigrants and the supervision of consular services.Footnote 4 Second, within the Ministry of Employment, Migrations and Social Security (Ministerio de Trabajo, Migraciones y Seguridad Social), the State Secretary for Migration (Secretara de Estado de Migraciones) is in charge of developing policies on immigration, immigrant integration, and emigration policy.Footnote 5

Spain has an extensive consular network composed of 179 consular missions distributed in 96 countries (including consular sections in Spanish embassies) and honorary consulates.Footnote 6 Interestingly, as opposed to other countries with an extensive consular network (e.g. Germany), Spain does not have a law on consular protection (Faro and Moraru 2010, p. 464), but rather a series of regulations that define the contours of the services that consular missions ought to provide to Spaniards abroad. Honorary consulates are regulated by the Royal Decree 1390/2007. As this Decree explicitly recognizes, honorary consulates are modeled on the Vienna Convention of 1963. Their general role is to assist and act as delegates of the diplomatic official to whom they report. Honorary consulates need explicit authorization from the Consul that they represent to exercise their competences. Their tasks include, but are not limited to, the legalization of signatures on public documents, the facilitation of the registration in the Spanish Register of Nationals Abroad and the processing of applications for passports.Footnote 7

Spain has also created emigrant consultative bodies. The consultation is allocated at two levels: at the consulate level through the Councils of Spanish Residents Abroad (Consejos de Residentes Espaoles en el Extranjero) and at a national level with the General Council of Spanish Citizens Abroad (Consejo General de la Ciudadana Espaola en el Exterior). The Councils of Spanish Residents Abroad have as their main function to advise the director of the consular mission on issues that concern the Spanish community residing in the consular demarcation. However, the consul does not have to consult the Councils prior to taking his/her decisions. The Councils are made up of 7, 11, or 15 members, depending on the size of the Spanish community residing in the consular demarcation. The members are directly elected for a period of 4 years by Spanish citizens officially registered as residents in the consular demarcation, and meetings are held in assemblies in the consular demarcation.Footnote 8 The General Council of Spanish Citizens Abroad was established by Law 40/2006. It is placed at the national level and consults directly with the Government on issues that affect Spanish residents abroad. It can request studies, make proposals and recommendations, and must be informed in advance about legislation that will affect the civil rights, labor rights, social protection, education, and culture of Spanish nationals abroad. However, their recommendations are not legally binding. The Council is composed of one president (appointed by Minister and ratified by the majority of the Council), two vice-presidents (representatives of different offices of the Ministry), one secretary (Director General of Emigration Affairs), and up to 43 Council members elected by the Councils of Spanish Residents Abroad. The Council meets in assembly at least once a year (the president can call for extraordinary meetings) and in specific committees.Footnote 9

At the sub-national level, regional Governments tend to focus on immigration issues, rather than engagement policies. This is reflected also in their infrastructure, since most of them only have administration units dedicated to the integration of immigrants and only some Autonomous Communities (Comunidades Autonnomas) have a specific department for emigrant issues (see, for instance, the Secretary of emigration of the Galician Government or the Directorate General for Emigration and Development Cooperation in Asturias).

Based on Art. 2 of the Royal Decree 3425/2000, Spaniards abroad must register in the Consular Register (Registro de Matrcula Cosular).Footnote 12 Nonetheless, not complying with this obligation does not impair the right to consular protection that corresponds to all Spaniards abroad. To register, it is necessary to visit personally the consular office, show proof of residence abroad, proof of identity and Spanish nationality, fill out a form, and provide a photo. Once the registration has been completed, the applicant loses his/her residence in Spain and officially becomes a resident abroad. Registration as residents abroad limits the access to some social policies in Spain such as unemployment benefits or guaranteed minimum resources. Although registration is mandatory, it is common that Spanish emigrants only register when it becomes necessary for accessing consular services such as the renewal of a passport or voting from abroad in homeland elections. The registration is conducted by the Consular Office in coordination with the National Statistics Institute.Footnote 13 Moreover, Spanish nationals abroad can renew and apply for a Spanish passport. The passport must be requested in person at the consular office. Diplomatic and consular missions are competent to issue passports in coordination with the Ministry of Interior.Footnote 14 However, the National Identification Document (Documento Nacional de Identidad, DNI), the most common identification document used in Spain, can only be renewed or issued in Spain. To do so, Spanish nationals abroad must have a certificate issued by the Consular Civil Registry that shows proof of their residence abroad. With this certificate, the applicant has to travel back to Spain and appear before the National Police Force, the office in charge of issuing the document.

Spanish nationals abroad can vote in national and regional elections (including elections for national upper and lower houses, regional legislative chambers, and national and regional referendums), as well as European Parliament elections held in Spain.Footnote 15 To be eligible, nationals abroad must be 18 years old and be registered in the electoral roll of external voters. The registration in the electoral roll is automatic (it is done with the registration as a resident abroad). However, nationals abroad must apply each election cycle in order to cast their ballot. This extra bureaucratic step was introduced in 2011 and has fostered many protests from non-resident Spaniards who claimed that this measure is limiting their right to vote.Footnote 16 External voters can cast the ballot in person in consulates, or make use of postal voting. Representation is assimilated, external votes are counted as part of the in-country electoral district where the external voter lived before emigration or in that with which he/she has a biographical connection. Moreover, Spanish nationals abroad can run as candidates if they are included in a list proposed by a party in one of the electoral districts into which Spain (or the given region) is divided.

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