Obtain a Portuguese passport by yourself, without an attorney

Following the Portuguese Law of Return which was enacted in 2015, the descendants of Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal are eligible to submit an application and obtain a Portuguese European passport. The process for issuing the passport sometimes involves prolonged bureaucratic procedures, but at the end of the day you will be able to receive a highly desirable passport and benefit from the variety of rights in the European Union countries. If you are interested in finding out how to obtain a Portuguese passport by yourself, we outline the entire process, A to Z, in this article.

Our law firm for emigration to Portugal, assists the descendants of Jews expelled from Spain in obtaining a Portuguese passport.

How to obtain a Portuguese passport by yourself, without an attorney

Stage A

Collecting genealogical information and essential documents – during the first stage you will be required to collect information about your family, and build a family tree which will constitute an initial basis for proving your eligibility. After this you will be required to present several documents, inter alia:

A birth certificate in Hebrew and English.
An Extract of Registration from the Population Registry for the parent/grandfather/grandmother.
A photocopy of identity card with the attachment.
A photocopy of your passport.
A document where the candidate explains his Sephardic affinity.
A letter from a rabbi confirming that you are Jewish and your family’s Sephardic background.
Documents from the country of origin of the Sephardic person forming the subject matter of the application you have built (if you do not have these documents, you may use the location service of various law firms or contact them and ask how to progress if it is not possible for you to obtain them).

The first process is considered to be the most complex in the procedure. You are required to show all the necessary documents in order to build a preliminary basis for eligibility. It is important to be very careful at this stage in order not to sully the application and encounter difficulties when resubmitting the application in the future. This is in the event that you will need to amend it if the authorities require you to do so.

Stage B

Receiving a letter of recommendation from the Jewish community in Porto – you should send the Jewish community in Porto all the paperwork setting out the connection between you and the Sephardic relative, together with the family tree you have built.

In addition to these documents, you will be requested to send the Jewish community a donation of approx. 250 euros for each applicant. It takes the community a few days to approve the application. However, sometimes you can receive a reply just a few hours later.

If you are found to be eligible you will be sent a letter of recommendation. The letter constitutes approval for the Portuguese government that the community recognizes you as being eligible to receive a Portuguese passport. You should send the letter to the Portuguese authorities together with the apostille.

Stage C

Sending an application for citizenship to the Portuguese authorities – after you have received the letter of recommendation, and you have been sent approval from the community giving you the go ahead for the official citizenship process; you should provide the following documents:

The letter or recommendation
A photocopy of your passport
A birth certificate + apostille
Police background check + apostille
Marriage certificate + apostille
The Government fee in the sum of approx. 250 euros.

You must file the application to the authorities in Lisbon. Please note that if you were thinking of sending the paperwork by mail, you should know that the procedure will apparently take longer than you thought. On the other hand, you can attend the office in Lisbon in person and deal with the matter much more quickly and effectively. You can avail yourselves of the services of an Israeli attorney if you are having difficulties with the language or the procedure.

Afterwards you will be required to wait an average of two to two and a half years in order to receive the passport. Please note that the Corona outbreak has legitimized the disorder and prolongation of the procedures beyond the standard period.

The documents will be verified by the authorities in charge of approving the application, and they will examine whether all the conditions for granting citizenship have been legally fulfilled and at this point also decide whether or not to grant the citizenship. If no problem arises, the new Portuguese citizen will be registered in the Portuguese Population Register. If you do not have a dubious criminal past you have nothing to worry about.

Stage D

Receiving a birth certificate document – at the end of the process you will receive a document from the Portuguese government which constitutes a birth certificate. The birth certificate should be converted into a passport at the Portuguese Embassy which is located in Tel Aviv.

You should know that the queues at the Embassy are longer than expected and you will have to wait several months for your passport to be issued. But if you were thinking of having your passport issued within a few days you can travel to Portugal and receive it within 3 days. It is better to avail yourselves of the services of an attorney for making appointments and managing the processes if you wish to make things easier for yourselves.

Obtaining Portuguese citizenship with the assistance of a specialist attorney

If you were thinking of issuing the Portuguese passport by yourselves, try and avoid the beginners’ errors which will lead to risks and your application being disqualified by the authorities. During the process it is important to consult with parties who are experienced in the matter of emigration to Portugal.

Many Israelis decide to file the application by themselves, but they are unaware of their unprofessionalism and lack of experience, and as a result they are refused time and time again – which is liable to have an adverse effect on the application and leave a negative imprint.

Therefore we warmly recommend that you use an experienced and professional attorney who will arrange all the paperwork for you properly and submit it in an orderly and effective manner.

Obtaining a Portuguese passport without an attorney – Contact us

Our law firm for emigration to Portugal assists Sephardic descendants in issuing a Portuguese passport. We have already assisted thousands in obtaining the highly desirable European passport, thanks to our solid understanding of the system in Portugal. For additional information you can contact us on the numbers appearing at the bottom of the page.