The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, took stock, during his visit to the Consulate General in Mexico, of the expansion and digitalisation of the entire consular network. He also took the opportunity to share the latest data and initiatives launched following the passing of the Law on Democratic Memory.
“This is a fine example of how our foreign policy improves the lives and daily routines of millions of Spaniards,” Albares emphasised. During his speech, in which he thanked the staff at the Consulate General in Mexico and across the entire consular network for their efforts, the minister outlined the redeployment of resources abroad. He highlighted the digital transformation of the consulates through the Consular Digitalisation Plan (to which €115 million has been allocated from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan) with new tools such as the Electronic Portal, the Consular Citizen Folder and the Unified Processing Desk, which will improve the efficiency of all consular offices. All of this, he emphasised, already enables Spanish nationals to carry out numerous consular procedures online, such as registering with the consulate, booking appointments or paying fees, thereby simplifying the process and reducing waiting times.
This digitalisation also allows for the issuance of digital consular certificates to Spanish nationals living abroad free of charge, without the need to visit the consular office. Furthermore, in 2025 the roll-out of DICIREG, the new single electronic Civil Registry system for the whole of Spain, was completed.
Increase in overseas staff numbers
The Foreign minister has also highlighted the increase in the recruitment of staff abroad, with 2,300 staff members from 2023 (around 700 in 2026, 43% more than the previous year). “This is an unprecedented increase,” he stressed, whilst also highlighting the rise in remuneration for staff recruited abroad, which has risen by between 2.5% and 3.5% annually over the last four years.
New Consulates General and contact centres
Minister Albares highlighted the creation of new Consulates General in Camagüey and Bangalore to ensure better support for Spanish nationals and businesses, joining the Consulates General in Manchester and Chengdu, as well as the diplomatic outposts in Iceland, Chad, Georgia, Armenia, Montenegro, Moldova and Uzbekistan established in recent years.
Albares also announced that in the coming months the process will begin to establish a consular contact centre to centrally handle all enquiries relating to emergency situations received by consular offices.
Law on Democratic Memory
The Minister highlighted the efforts made to respond to the more than 2.45 million people who expressed an interest in applying for Spanish nationality. As of 31 March 2026, more than 1.2 million applications have already been received in person at consular offices, 545,000 have been approved and 306,500 entries have been made in the Consular Civil Register.
These figures are far higher than the number of applications processed under the Historical Memory Law between 2008 and 2024, with much shorter processing times: in four years (between October 2022 and March 2026), more than double the number of applications have been received.
The Consulate General in Mexico is the fifth to have received the most applications (almost 100,000), whilst the Consulates in Argentina have processed the highest number of cases under this Law.
The Minister also highlighted the close collaboration with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Civil Service to bolster staffing levels at the offices with the heaviest workloads. The Consulates General in Córdoba, Rosario, Mendoza, Bahía Blanca, Santiago de Chile and Montevideo have been reinforced, as their workload has increased following the passing of the Law.
The Foreign Ministry has made a great effort to assist all those interested in applying for Spanish nationality under this Law, a demand from the Spanish community as a measure of redress for those who suffered exile, to which the Foreign Ministry has responded swiftly and decisively.
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