Category archives: Numbers

Nearly 5,000 people have become citizens of Spain or Portugal following the passing of laws in both countries on the naturalization of descendants of Sephardic Jews.

In Portugal, where a procedure for naturalization under the law went into effect last year, 292 applicants for naturalization have been approved, Catarina Madeira, a spokeswoman for the Portuguese Justice Ministry, told JTA on Wednesday.

Spain has naturalized 4,538 applicants for citizenship by Sephardim since the law went into effect last year. However, only three applicants were granted citizenship based on the actual law, the ABC daily reported Sunday. Others were naturalized by a royal decree and not through the nondiscretionary procedure devised for the law.

According to ABC, the Spanish government in effect blocked the nondiscretionary procedure to avoid mass immigration by an estimated 30 million non-Jewish descendants of Sephardim eligible under the law.

In both countries, the passing of the laws of return for Sephardim was described as an attempt to atone for the state and church-led mass expulsion, dispossession, torture and forced conversion into Christianity of Jews during the Inquisition — a period that began in the 15th century and ended with the disappearance and dispersion of what used to be one of the world’s largest Jewish communities. In both countries, the legislation followed an economic recession that led to high unemployment and vigorous attempts by Lisbon and Madrid to attract wealthy investors, residents and tourists.

Unlike the open-ended law in Portugal, the Spanish law set a three-year window for applications. The Spanish law is also stricter than the Portuguese one, as it requires passing tests attesting to cultural or language ties to Spain by applicants. Spanish authorities are currently processing another some 3,000 applications for naturalization under the law.

Portuguese authorities have approved only 7.5 percent of the 3,838 applications filed since March 2015, Madeira said. A bureaucratic block that had caused delays in the naturalization process was removed in February, she added.

In Portugal and Spain, each application is vetted by the institutions of those countries’ Jewish communities, which make recommendations to the government.

“The difference between the applications approved and those pending owes to the fact that each request for naturalization requires rigorous evaluation of documents,” Madeira said.

New law granting descendants of Jews forced into exile the right to citizenship passes three months ago.

Three months after Portugal passed a law granting descendants of Jews forced into exile centuries ago the right to citizenship, 250 applicants – most from Turkey – have already received official certification that they qualify.
This certification establishes that the applicants have provided sufficient proof of their connection to the Sephardic Portuguese community that existed before the 16th century Inquisition. The Portuguese government has delegated the Jewish communities of Lisbon and Porto with responsibility for vetting certification requests.

According to Portuguese Jewish leaders, 200 certificates have thus far been issued by the Porto community and another 50 by Lisbon. The law took effect in March. Last week, Spain passed a similar law, which will take effect in October. Once candidates receive certification, they are requested to produce documents required of any other candidates applying for citizenship in Portugal. But Jews of Portuguese descent, unlike others applying for Portuguese citizenship, are not required to relocate to the country. Their citizenship applications also go through an expedited process, and rather than wait the usual six-seven years, they will be notified within six months to a year if they have been approved.
Michael Rothwell, a spokesman for the Jewish community of Porto, said 900 applications had been received by their offices in the past three months, and 200 certificates had already been issued, among them 150 to Jews from Turkey. Another 15 certificates had been issued to Israeli Jews, and an identical number to American Jews. The rest, he said, were split among applicants from 15 different countries.
“For many of them, it is a desire to formalize the emotional connection to Portugal they’ve kept in their families for many centuries,” said Rothwell, explaining why these Jews were applying for Portuguese citizenship. “Others, particularly those in Turkey, are thinking about coming to live in Portugal.”
Jose Carp, president of the Jewish community of Lisbon, told Haaretz that he has already received 500 inquiries by mail and by phone from prospective applicants. Of the total number of certificates authorized by the Jewish community of Lisbon, 24 were issued to Israelis, 12 to Brazilians, five to Moroccans, three to Americans, three to Turks, and one each to a Russian, British and South African descendant of Portuguese Jews.
He said that 10 percent of the applications for certification had not yet been approved because important documents were missing.
“The people who have made inquiries have absolutely not been thinking about relocating,” said Carp. “The reason they are doing it is that they would like to have a European Sephardic identity. They’re very proud of it, and this provides a piece of proof that they can transmit to their descendants.”
The Jewish community of Lisbon, he said, is providing certification not only to halakhic Jews but also to descendants of the Sephardic community forced to convert to Christianity (also known as conversos). The Jewish community of Porto, on the other hand, is only providing certification to those who meet the halakhic requirements.