Latin Americans are eligible for Spanish citizenship after residing in Spain for only two years.
https://www.identitystrategist.com/latest-updates/one-way-to-get-spanish-citizenship
You can get Spanish citizenship with two years residency
Spain’s approach tolerates dual citizenship. In Spain, this tolerance reaches into centuries of its history as the centre of colonial and religious power.
Spanish nationality law operates on the basis of jus sanguinis (Latin for right of blood). Citizenship is conferred by having one or both parents who already citizens. This contrasts with jus soli (Latin for right of the soil), where citizenship is conferred by where you were born.
It is the Spanish system of jus sanguinis that underpins the specific entitlements of citizens of former Spanish colonies to citizenship. In two years of residency in Spain, citizens of Ibero-American countries (which covers the majority of former Spanish-speaking colonies in South America), Andorra, the Philippines, Equatorial Guinea can apply for citizenship. This is better than the standard residency period of ten years.
Here is a proposal to the King of Spain on behalf the Puerto Rican people:
Rather than become Spanish citizens after two years of residency, Puerto Ricans would be eligible for immediate Spanish citizenship — albeit without the right to vote.
This arrangement would replicate the unusual status of Puerto Ricans within the USA, which confers unique economic advantages but denies certain political rights and powers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_status_of_Puerto_Rico
The political status of Puerto Rico is that of an unincorporated territory of the United States. As such, the island of Puerto Rico is neither a sovereign nation nor a U.S. state. Because of that ambiguity, the territory, as a polity, lacks certain rights but enjoys certain benefits that other polities have or lack. For instance, in contrast to U.S. states, Puerto Rico residents cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections nor can they elect their own senators and representatives to the U.S. Congress. On the other hand, in contrast to U.S. states, only some residents of Puerto Rico are subject to federal income taxes.[a] The political status of the island thus stems from how different Puerto Rico is politically from sovereign nations and from U.S. states.
Puerto Ricans with Spanish passports could legally work within the European Union.
That would presumably solve some economic problems for them.
What would be in it for Spain and Europe?
Europe, with its declining fertility rate, needs immigrants.
For instance, in Spain, the fertility rate is 1.24 births per woman.
That is well below the population replacement rate of 2.1 children per family.
In fact, it is even below the average fertility rate of 1.55 births per woman in the European Union.
Of course, all those Puerto Ricans moving to Europe means fewer Puerto Rican workers and consumers in the USA.
The fertility rate in the USA is 1.7 births per woman, also well below the replacement level.
Indeed, Puerto Rico itself already has its own problems with depopulation.
The purpose of giving limited Spanish citizenship to Puerto Ricans would be to give them employment opportunities, but this would accelerated depopulation of Puerto Rico.
The assumption here, however, is that Puerto Rico is economically doomed because of its peripheral, rural nature.
Puerto Rico is a relatively small island in the Caribbean Sea that is closer to Venezuela than it is to Florida.
How would Puerto Ricans feel about the prospect of limited Spanish citizenship that would open the doors of opportunity to the European Union?
To be honest, what Puerto Ricans want for their collective future remains a mystery.
Politically, it is uncertain what exactly Puerto Ricans want for their island because efforts to gauge their opinions have been so biased.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statehood_movement_in_Puerto_Rico
Although the previous two referendums (November 2012 and June 2017) also had ostensibly pro-statehood outcomes, the New York Times described them as “marred, with ballot language phrased to favor the party in office”.[24] For example, the fourth referendum, held in November 2012, asked voters (1) whether they wanted to maintain the current political status of Puerto Rico and, if not, (2) which alternative status they prefer. Of the fifty-four percent (54.0%) who voted “No” on maintaining the status quo, 61.11% chose statehood, 33.34% chose free association, and 5.55% chose independence.[25][26][27][28] Opponents of statehood argued that these results did not show that a majority of Puerto Rican voters support statehood. The June 2017 referendum was, according to the New York Times, a “flawed election” where the turnout was only 23%, in part because most statehood opponents sat out. 97% of votes cast favored statehood.
The November 2020 referendum, by contrast, was the first to ask voters a simple yes-or-no question: “Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?”. There were 655,505 votes in favor of statehood (52.52%) and 592,671 votes opposed (47.48%). The 55% turnout rate equaled that for the simultaneous 2020 gubernatorial race and the 2016 gubernatorial race.
There does not seem to be any great passion for US statehood on the part of ordinary Puerto Ricans.
According to the internet, the real force for giving statehood to Puerto Rico is liberal white Americans who know little about Puerto Rico or its history.
Like so many of the big reforms proposed by the Democratic Party, Puerto Rican statehood has the bonus of eliminating the Democratic Party’s handicap in the Electoral College.
That might be the ulterior motive.
Also, if you ask Puerto Ricans what it is they want, they don’t tend to think of their desires in political terms.
What Puerto Ricans want above all else is to live in same neighborhood as their parents.
It’s a very culturally conservative rural ideal that one also finds throughout the American heartland, a powerful sentiment that binds people to places that are economically obsolete.
So what can be done for Puerto Rico’s economy?
The policy proposals would be predictable.
- Democrats would call for state investments.
- Republicans would call for tax cuts (and abolishing the Jones Act).
If both of these policies were implemented, it might nevertheless have little benefit for Puerto Rico as a whole — except for the most urbanized sections of Puerto Rico.
These are the most affluent places within San Juan, and are full of non-Puerto Ricans.
Ultimately, rural areas and peripheral places are becoming economically obsolete.
