Portuguese Nationality Regulation amended, granting Portuguese nationality through naturalization to the descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Portugal at the end of the XV century
The recent Decree-Law No. 30-A / 2015, dated 27/2/2015, amended the Portuguese Nationality Regulation, granting Portuguese nationality through naturalization to the descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Portugal at the end of the XV century.
The presence of the Sephardic community in the Iberian Peninsula is ancient, preceding even the formation of the Iberian Catholic kingdoms.
By the XV century, Jewish communities began to be persecuted by the Inquisition in Spain and were finally expelled via the Edict of Alhambra (1492). Many from this community then took refuge in Portugal. However, Portuguese King Manuel, who initially had enacted a law that guaranteed protection to Jews, determined in 1496 the expulsion of all Sephardic Jews (also known as Marranos) that did not convert to Catholicism. Thus, many Sephardic Jews were expelled from Portugal in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, settling in countries like the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Turkey, as well as in parts of North Africa and later in American territories, including Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and the United States (USA).
Throughout the duration of the Inquisition, many of Portuguese Jews, as well as Jews converted to Catholicism, fled Portugal, establishing themselves mainly in the Mediterranean basin (Gibraltar, Morocco, South of France, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria), Northern Europe (London, Nantes, Paris, Antwerp, Brussels, Rotterdam and Amsterdam), Brazil, Antilles and the US, creating highly reputed and well established communities, notable synagogues such as the Portuguese Synagogue in Amsterdam, the Synagogue Shearith Israel in New York, the Bevis Marks Synagogue in London, the Touro Synagogue in Newport (Rhode Island – USA), the Portuguese Synagogue of Montreal and the Synagogue Tzur Israel in Recife.
Despite the persecution and expulsion from their ancestral territory, many Sephardic Jews of Portuguese origin and their descendants kept not only the Portuguese language, but also the traditional rites of the ancient Jewish worship in Portugal, preserving, over generations, their family names, objects and documents proving their Portuguese origin, along with a strong memorial relationship that leads them to identify themselves as “Portuguese Jews “or ”Jews of the Portuguese Nation”.
In a first step to make up for what it is currently recognized as an historical mistake, the Portuguese Parliament voted unanimously for the symbolic repeal of the 1496 Jews’ expulsion decree, during the “Evocative Session of the 500th anniversary of the Expulsion of the Jews from Portugal”, in December 1996, sponsored by the then-President Jorge Sampaio.
In 2013, the Portuguese Parliament approved the amendment to the Portuguese Nationality Law (Law No. 37/81), granting descendants, in direct or collateral line, of Sephardic Jews expelled from Portugal the right to acquire Portuguese nationality through naturalization, exempting those individuals from some of therequirements applying to other applicants (residence and/or knowledge of the Portuguese language). For this amendment to be enacted further legislative action was necessary, now approved by Decree-Law no. 30-A/2015.
Requirements
In accordance with Decree-Law No. 30-A / 2015, the Government may grant Portuguese nationality through naturalization to the descendants of Sephardic Jews, provided the indivduals meet the following requirements:
a) Are adult or emancipated in the face of Portuguese law;
b) Have not been convicted (with the conviction upheld) of committing a crime punishable, under Portuguese law, with a maximum prison sentence equal to or exceeding three years.
The applicant must indicate and demonstrate the circumstances that determine the connection to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin, in particular surnames, family language, direct descendants or family relationship in the collateral line of common parent from the Sephardic community of Portuguese origin.
Required Documents
The application must be accompanied by the following documents:
a) Certificate of birth registration;
b) Identification document;
c) Criminal record certificates issued by the competent Portuguese authorities, the authorities of the country of the applicant’s nationality and the countries where the applicant resided (both currently and in the past);
d) Certificate issued by a Portuguese-based Jewish community, recognised under Portuguese Law at the date of entry into force of the Decree-Law, attesting the applicant’s belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin, such belonging consisting, namely, in the applicant’s surname, family language, genealogy, and family memory.
In the absence of the certificate referred to in paragraph d) above, and to demonstrate the direct descendance or family relationship in the collateral line of common parent from a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin and tradition of belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin, the following evidence may also accepted:
a) Authenticated document issued by the Jewish community to which the applicant belongs, stating the use by the same of Portuguese expressions in Jewish rites or the use of ladino, as spoken within such community;
b) Authenticated documentary records, such as synagogues and Jewish cemeteries records, as well as residence permits, property deeds, wills and other evidence of family connection of the applicant, by way of direct descent or family relationship in the collateral line of the common parent from a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin.
In case of doubt regarding the foreign documentary evidence produced by the applicant, the Government member in charge of granting the naturalization may ask for an opinion from the abovementioned Portuguese-based Jewish community.
For more information please visit the Nationality section
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