Descendants of Sephardic Jews from around the world now have the right to apply for Portuguese nationality, with all the associated benefits of having a European Union passport. Who is eligible? Portuguese law allows descendants of Jews forced into exile centuries ago to enter and live in Portugal or the Schengen area. Portuguese citizens have free access to all countries in the Schengen area and can participate in free trade, open bank accounts and work or set up companies in any EU country.
Portuguese nationality allows dual nationality, allowing new citizens to retain their previous citizenship and hold an EU passport.
Some benefits of obtaining citizenship:
- Free movement within the European Union.
- Travel, study or work in any of the 28 countries of the European Union.
- Access to European rights (participation in political life, pension, social security, among others).
- It does not require you to renounce your nationality of origin (you maintain the rights of your country of origin or residence).
- As a Portuguese, it is not required to obtain a visa to enter 83 countries.
Requirements to obtain nationality:
- Be of legal age or emancipated according to Portuguese law.
- Not have been convicted of a crime which is punishable by imprisonment for three or more years, according to Portuguese law.
- Demonstrate a Sephardic connection or origin (descending from Sephardic Jews). • Comply with the formal (documentary) requirements in accordance with Portuguese regulations.
Required documents:
- Power of attorney duly apostilled;
- Birth certificate apostilled;
- Marriage Certificate apostilled, in case the person is married;
- Apostilled criminal record certificate. If the person is a foreigner residing in another country, they must provide this document from their country of origin and country of residence. The validity of this document is 6 months in case it does not indicate a specific expiration date; • A simple copy of the complete passport, including even those pages that have not yet been used;
- A simple copy of the identification document from your country of origin;
- Certificate from a Jewish community in Portugal. We will take care of obtaining this document;
- Final report of surname. We will take care of obtaining this document.
Procedure:
Keep in mind that this procedure has three phases that we detail below:
Phase I:
It must be established if the applicant is of Sephardic origin and by means of a preliminary report (Feasibility Study). This takes no more than one (1) week.
Phase II:
the Final Report of Surname is issued and it is entered in order to obtain the Certificate of a Jewish Community in Portugal. This phase takes about four (4) months.
Phase III:
The application for Portuguese nationality is submitted to the Ministry of Justice with all the required documents. This phase takes about two (2) years. Once the final approval resolution has been issued, it is possible that the Portuguese government will request a new Criminal Record Certificate in order to verify that in the course of those two (2) years the person has not been involved in any criminal act.
Phase IV:
Once the final resolution approving nationality has been delivered, the interested party must go to the Portuguese Consulate in their country to process the passport.
