A Jewish community certificate: first step to a Portuguese citizenship

Is a recommendation letter from the Jewish community in Porto or Lisbon enough to acquire Portuguese citizenship? A recommendation is currently a mandatory first step on the path to acquiring citizenship for descendants of Sephardic Jews, but the bureaucratic process still take several years after this point. Furthermore, following the recent scandal, the government of Portugal may choose a different authority to veto the descent of prospective applicants.

Our emigration law office specializes in helping the descendants of Spanish and Portuguese Jews prove their ancestry so as to obtain a Portuguese passport. In this article, we will explain how a Jewish community certification can help you in obtaining status as a Portuguese citizenship, and what other steps are required to complete the process.

Jewish community certificate

Have you received a letter of recommendation from one of the Jewish Communities in Portugal, whether Porto or Lisbon? We can help you turn that letter into a Portuguese citizenship.

Many have received their letter from the Jewish Community, but have not gone through the legal hurdles of processing their application for citizenship. Some even erroneously think that having obtain a recommendation letter, they already have citizenship. That is not the case.

Vetting as a first step in the application process

Petition to one of the Jewish Communities (Lisbon or Porto) is just the first stage of the process. The Portuguese government place authority upon them to vet applicants and certify them based on historical documentation as descendants of Sephardic Jews. Once recognition is obtained, the task of granting the status of a Portuguese citizen falls to the government of Portugal. And while the Jewish Communities were delegated governmental authority for the purpose of recognizing applicants as descended from Jews, they are otherwise unconnected to the government.

Upcoming changes to the Portuguese citizenship recommendation process

In just a matter of weeks (as of 01.04.22) these letters may no longer be valid. After Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich had obtained a recommendation for Portuguese citizenship, the community Rabbi was arrested for charges of corruption, and the process of ascertaining who has Sephardic roots will be removed from the purview of the Jewish communities in Portugal in the near future. The new process will be announced by September 2022, and the Jewish community will not issue new recommendations after 30.04.22.

So it is time to get your application in to the Portuguese government now, while the process is understood and well navigated, and your chances of receiving the necessary recommendation can be easily evaluated.

What happens once you receive the Jewish community certificate?

Receipt of citizenship — a birth registration form in Portuguese — currently takes anywhere from 24 to 29 months. Once you have citizenship you can request your passport. But you will not be able to request a passport with a letter from the Jewish Community alone.

Nevertheless, while this letter from the Jewish Community does not mean you hold citizenship, it is absolutely crucial to the citizenship application process. With this letter, we can apply and get the clock started on the 24-29 month wait for citizenship.

Contact us for help in obtaining a European passport

If you have one of these letters, but have not gone further than that, reach out to us now. We can handle the bureaucratic side of the process and get your application submitted to the government before it’s too late.