Portuguese Citizenship for Descendants of Expellees – What’s New in 2023?
As you may know, in 2015 Portugal passed a law that allows descendants of Jewish expellees from Spain to obtain Portuguese citizenship. Since then, the law has changed back and forth for reasons that we will explain in this article, and as of this writing (2023) there is probably one last opportunity to obtain a Portuguese passport for Sephardic Jews.
What is the legal basis for obtaining citizenship in Portugal?
The Portuguese “Law of Return” was enacted after a similar law was passed in Spain. Both laws were intended to correct the injustice that was caused to the Jewish people when King Fernando and Queen Isabella issued a decree ordering the expulsion of all Jews who were unwilling to convert to Christianity from the territories of the Spanish Kingdom. Many of the Jews who chose to remain faithful to the faith of Moses and Israel and to leave the territories of the Spanish Kingdom immigrated to Portugal. The issue was that due to pressure from the Spanish kingdom, the expulsion was also extended to the territories of Portugal in 1497. The Jews who had chosen to keep their religion, were forced to leave Portugal as well.
In many other articles that have been posted on our office’s website, you can read about the different countries that the Spanish expellees and their descendants immigrated to. This is not only a theoretical matter – descendants of expellees from one of the countries where a Jewish-Sephardic community has been preserved throughout the centuries will be able to prove their Sephardic ancestry very easily.
What are the advantages of a Portuguese passport?
Since Portugal is a member of the European Union, Portuguese citizenship grants its holders all the rights and benefits of a citizen of the European Union, and therefore a Portuguese passport is very valuable.
For example, a Portuguese passport grants entry to the United States without a visa in advance. In addition, European citizenship makes it possible to work in Europe, to open businesses in the continent and to operate financially in Europe with great ease. European citizenship even entitles students to free or low-cost studies, including subsidies for students at leading European universities.
In light of all the above, it is no wonder that many Israelis who are descendants of Spanish expellees, as well as descendants of expellees around the world, flocked to take advantage of the opportunity to apply for Portuguese citizenship.
How is descent from Spanish Jews confirmed?
Since 2015, Portugal has issued hundreds of thousands of citizenships to descendants of Spanish expellees around the world (of which tens of thousands of those applications were submitted by Israeli citizens).
We will take a moment to explain how the authorities in Portugal identify who are the descendants of Spanish expellees who are eligible to receive Portuguese citizenship. The authorities in Portugal have authorized two long-established Jewish communities in Portugal to issue certificates confirming descendants of Spanish expellees. One of these communities is in Porto, the other in Lisbon.
The Jewish community in Porto is an Orthodox Jewish community that observes the Sephardic Jewish Halacha, per the customs in Sephardic Jewish communities and in Sephardic Jewish homes around the world. In the view of the Porto Jewish Community, the injustice of the expulsion of the Spanish Jews should be remedied by the return of Sephardic Jews to the territories of Portugal. In light of this, the Jewish community in Porto issued certificates only to those who were Sephardic Jews themselves or direct descendants of a parent who is a Sephardic Jew (if, for example, only the father is a Sephardic Jew).
The Jewish community in Lisbon, on the other hand, did not differentiate between the current identity of the Spanish expellees and their ancestry (for example, Ashkenazi Jews, or even non-Jews, who have clear evidence linking them to Spanish expellees were recognized by the Jewish community in Lisbon as descendants of Spanish expellees).
Naturally, the aforementioned perceptual differences also affect the investment required to evaluate who is a descendant of Spanish expellees, and the length of the evaluation. Porto’s approach allowed for a quicker evaluation as it is easy to identify modern Sephardic Jews, or their direct descendants.
In light of this, and almost without exception, the vast majority of those who are Sephardic Jews themselves (or direct descendants of a Sephardic Jew) were helped to obtain a certificate attesting to Spanish expellee descent by the Jewish community in Porto.
On the other hand, the Jewish community in Lisbon was contacted in order to obtain a certificate attesting to descendants of Spanish expellees, mainly non-Jewish descendants of Spanish expellees (mostly descendants of Marranos from South American countries).
Is a descendant of Spanish expellees who is not Jewish entitled to a Portuguese passport?
There are quite a few fascinating stories of non-Jewish descendants of Spanish expellees, but naturally the tests required to prove the relationship are numerous and in-depth (for example, the author of the article himself submitted a family tree that includes dozens of generations to the Jewish community in Lisbon, including protocols from the Spanish Inquisition that document investigations of their ancestors who were interrogated due to suspicion that they were secretly preserving their Jewish religion).
The different working methods of the two communities also affected the fees they charged for their services. The Jewish community in Porto charged a fee of 500 euros which was paid to them after granting a certificate declaring that the applicant is a Sephardic Jew and a descendant of Spanish expellees. The Jewish community in Lisbon charged a fee of 500 euros before starting the examination of the documents and the evidence submitted by the applicant.
The more convenient working method of the Porto Jewish community allowed the Israeli attorneys who handled the matter to collect payment from clients only after receiving the certificate from the Jewish community in Porto (an easy, convenient and fair arrangement for potential Israeli clients as well as Sephardic Jews living outside of Israel).
It should be noted that the Portuguese Citizenship Law does not restrict the Portuguese authorities in receiving a recommendation for the purpose of recognizing descendants of Spanish expellees. However, the authorities chose to rely almost exclusively on recommendations issued by one of the two Jewish communities mentioned above.
What changed in 2022 in terms of obtaining a Portuguese passport?
In March 2022, following pressure from the Socialist Party in Portugal, regulations were established that restrict the possibility of obtaining Portuguese citizenship for descendants of Spanish expellees, such that applicants must prove a connection to Portugal (beyond being descendants of Spanish expellees).
There are several reasons behind these regulations, some of them political (for instance, Roman Abramovich, the Jewish-Ukrainian billionaire, received Portuguese citizenship as a descendant of Spanish expellees, which brought up many questions), the fact that most of the new citizens did not move their residence to Portugal at all, and the fact that a very large number of citizenships were granted up to that time (with the maximum projected number of citizenships unclear). Either way, as of September 2022, almost all the companies and law firms that dealt with the issue stopped providing the service of submitting new applications for Portuguese citizenship.
In addition, and as a result of some suspicions that arose towards the Jewish community in Porto (after the community’s recommendation regarding Roman Abramovich) and as of March, the Jewish community in Porto announced that it would stop issuing certificates affirming Spanish expellee origin.
Therefore, in practice, all the companies and offices that relied on the recommendations of the Jewish community in Porto stopped accepting new applications for Portuguese citizenship as of March 2022. The offices that also worked with the Jewish community in Lisbon continued to provide legal services for submitting applications for Portuguese citizenship until September 2022 (when the restrictive regulations entered into force).
Despite all of the above, there was still one window left at this time to obtain a Portuguese passport – for the spouses and children of those who have already received the passport, whether as descendants of expellees or for some other reason. For the most part, families submit the applications together, but at this point family members who have not yet submitted the application should hurry, lest a further revision of Portuguese laws make it more difficult for citizens’ family members to obtain citizenship.
How has the Portuguese Citizenship Law changed?
In light of the new regulations restricting the possibility of obtaining a passport for Jews of Sephardic origin, administrative petitions are being filed in Portugal against the restrictive regulations, claiming that these regulations are unconstitutional. The Supreme Court of Portugal is expected (according to the forecast of Portuguese legal experts) to determine that the new regulations are unconstitutional and it is legally necessary to introduce any restrictions by amending Portugal’s citizenship law.
In April 2023, as a result of the above legal proceedings, the government in Portugal submitted a bill which, among other things, updates the law with the restrictions on granting citizenship to descendants of Spanish expellees.
This action indicates that the government itself understands the problematic nature of the regulations that entered into force in September 2022 (not via legislation).
If the bill is passed, the restrictive provisions will take effect at some point in 2024.
Is it still possible for descendants of expellees to obtain a Portuguese passport?
It seems that there is a last chance to submit applications for Portuguese citizenship for descendants of Spanish expellees until the law comes into force. If the court does cancel the regulations, then all the applications submitted until the updates to the citizenship law come into force will be examined in accordance with the original legal provisions, which are more lenient (while there is a risk that the court will not cancel the regulations).
Furthermore, and at about the same time, the Jewish community in Porto agreed to issue certificates of Spanish expellee descent to anyone who applied for Portuguese citizenship until September 2022 (remember, as of March 2022, the Jewish community in Porto stopped issuing certificates of descent).
Therefore, as of today, it is possible to apply for Portuguese citizenship, and to apply for a recommendation from the Jewish community in Lisbon.
As for the Jewish community in Porto, and since their authority is in any case limited to recognizing the descendants of Spanish expellees (and not to granting Portuguese citizenship), we hope that it will once again issue certificates attesting to Spanish expellee descent (since, as explained above, the working method of the Porto Jewish community is more convenient for eligible Sephardic Jews and their direct descendants).
Also, and as explained, an application file for Portuguese citizenship can be opened with the Portuguese authorities even without a certificate of descent from one of the Jewish communities (although applicants are expected to complete the recommendation later on, similarly to the way other documents can be completed later in the process).
The law office Decker, Pex, Levi will continue to submit applications for Portuguese citizenship on behalf of clients who can prove their descent from Sephardi Jews while, of course, explaining to them the risk that the restrictive regulations may not be canceled.
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:מאמרים מומלצים