Soy finalmente un español

Well today is Tuesday 16 January 2007 and it is my first day as an official Spaniard!!!!

The last six months have proved extremely frustrating as i have tried to take out my citizenship with Spain. The initial problems were with the Spanish embassy here in Australia. I actually live in Canberra where most embassies are located so I can only imagine the trouble for those people not in Canberra with ease of access to the embassy.

The issues started in the middle of 2006 when I made many phone calls to try and ascertain whether I qualified for citizenship or not. My mother is a full-blood Spaniard and my reading of the website said I could indeed do this. The fact that I am 28 and mum never 'registered' me as her child with the Spanish authorities became the big issue so Mum ended up applying for a 'Libros de Familia' or family book which was the first step in me becoming Spanish.

The problems continued however and I was soon faced with what appeared to be a no-brainer of a decision. The Spanish authorities require new citizens to sign a form renouncing their current citizenship. so basically I had to choose Spanish or Australian. I don't care what nationality you offer me, I am never giving up my citizenship to the greatest country on the planet.

So progress was halted while i tried to contact the Department of Immigration to find a policy on such forms. In typical government agency style (I should know given the almost 4 year stint in a gov dept which I'm about to finish) I was passed from person to person, area to area, real people to recorded messages and you get the picture. No one wanted to give me a straight answer as to what happens if I sign that form!!!!

I decided to elevate this issue to the top. Rather than continue with the Department of Immigration I decided that I had had enough of their procrastinating and rang the Immigration Minister's office direct. And wouldn't you know it, within 24 hours I had confirmation that my signature on that Spanish form has no legal standing in Australia and I can keep both passports/citizenships. The fact that they also told me that the USA require new citizens to sign a similar form makes me think that there is definitely a policy that is easily accessible within the Department and that I just copped the public service at its absolute worst.

So with all the legal issues sorted I went back to the embassy and filled out the forms just before Xmas. Now mum had warned me that the embassy is much like actual life in Spain in as much as they are only open short hours and have a close down i the middle of the day for siestas. I had visions of this process dragging on and on and on.....

Imagine my surprise when Josefina from the embassy called on January 2nd to arrange an interview with the ambassador (he endorses new citizens pending how the interview goers). As I can only speak the bare minimum Spanish (sad I know, and if i have one regret from childhood it is not learning Spanish) I took Mum in with me to be the translator. The interview went really well (mainly in English but also a decent amount of Spanish) and the ambassador signed off on the papers. When leaving his office Josefina told me that considering I don't speak Spanish, the ambassador was nowhere near as hard on me as he usually is with non-Spanish speakers. I think taking Mum with me sealed the deal.

So yesterday arrives and I get a call and my passport is ready for collection!!!!

So as of the 16th January I am officially a dual citizen of Australia and Spain.