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Seeking Portuguese or Spanish citizenship? Here’s how to go about it
British Jews who have some Sephardic ancestry have a good chance of getting a passport from a country in the Iberian Peninsula
March 28, 2019 15:12
British Jews who have some Sephardic ancestry have a good chance of getting a passport from a country in the Iberian Peninsula
March 28, 2019 15:12Brexit and Labour antisemitism have boosted Jewish interest in gaining EU passports – and the tens of thousands of British Jews who have some Sephardic ancestry have a better chance than most of making the grade.
Spain and Portugal both offer citizenship to descendants of Iberian Sephardim. British uptake has been slow over the last couple of years, but interest is now growing.
Three groups of Jews qualify for citizenship. Those with ancestors, sometimes known as Megorashim, who fled the Iberian Peninsula to Morocco and North Africa before 1492. A second group are the Eastern Sephardim from the Ottoman Empire, including modern Greece and Turkey. The third group are the Western Sephardim, including the Spanish and Portuguese Jews of London.
Of course, Jews are mobile and there are now Sephardic communities on six continents. The once thriving Egyptian Jewish community was largely comprised of Iberian Sephardim.
Assuming you meet their requirements, applying to Portugal is so simple that no lawyer is needed. Spain is a different story. They demand applicants pass a language and citizenship test, use solicitors and notaries, and submit their application before October 2019. For both countries the process is glacially slow, but it works.
Lineage – whether you are Sephardi or Ashkenazi - halachically comes from the father. The lawmakers do not follow halachah and tied themselves in knots trying to define who qualifies for citizenship. Their solution was to ask their local Jewish communities to decide for them. In turn, these local communities asked Sephardic congregations in the applicants’ countries to confirm Sephardic origin.
The S&P Sephardi Community of London require applicants to register on the genealogy page of its website, and then they send information on what to do. Simply speaking, they ask applicants with ancestry in places like London to provide evidence back to a Sephardic ancestor in 1750. Those from the Mediterranean need to trace to around 1850. The difference is because the Mediterranean communities remained endogamous longer.
The requirements are not as challenging as they appear. Britain has birth, marriage and death certificates back to around 1840, and the published Bevis Marks Records go from the 17th Century to around 1900.
For Mediterranean communities it can be more difficult. Out of fear of property claims, the Egyptian government confiscated Jewish records. Turkey has tight data protection laws. The records of some communities were destroyed or lost. In cases of missing documents, the S&P or a genealogist can often help applicants build a case.
Once an applicant has a letter from the S&P they submit their evidence and other documents to Lisbon or Porto synagogues in Portugal or the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain. If approved, the applicant receives a certificate which is taken with other documents to the relevant government for approval. A successful applicant to Portugal receives a Portuguese birth certificate, which is proof of citizenship. Of course, there are charges at each step of the process.
Many Ashkenazi families have traditions of Sephardic ancestry. These should be carefully recorded. Unfortunately, barely a handful can prove the claim. In time, DNA research may open new doors, but it is not yet admissible as evidence. Sephardim with ancestry in Iraq, Iran, Yemen or Toshavi communities of North Africa do not qualify for citizenship unless they can find an Iberian Sephardic ancestor.
Most applicants say they are applying out of curiosity, or a wish to reconnect with a distant past. Others want to create opportunities for their children. Some reference Brexit or antisemitism in the Labour Party.
David Mendoza is a genealogist. He can be contacted at david@sephardicgenealogy.com
