Parliament today approved changes to the regime for granting nationality to descendants of Sephardic Jews, which include validation of the link to Portugal by an evaluation or naturalization commission after three years of residence in national territory.
At issue was the replacement text presented by the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, which brought together legislative initiatives from PS, PSD, IL, BE, Livre and PAN on various aspects of the Nationality Law.
The diploma was approved in a final overall vote with the votes of PS, IL, BE, PAN and Livre, and the abstentions of PSD and three socialist deputies, with Chega and PCP voting against. In the special vote that preceded this vote, all the PSD proposals were rejected.
According to the text approved today, the “certification of the demonstration of a tradition of belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin based on proven objective requirements of connection to Portugal (…) is subject to final approval by an evaluation commission appointed by the member of the government responsible for the area of Justice”.
The commission is made up of “representatives of the relevant departments, researchers or lecturers at higher education institutions in Sephardic studies and representatives of Portuguese Jewish communities”.
Among the changes is also the suspension of the procedure for acquiring nationality when the applicant is the target of “restrictive measures approved by the United Nations or the European Union”, after the disclosure of cases of Russian tycoons subject to sanctions for the war in Ukraine who sought to obtain Portuguese nationality under this regime.
The government can grant nationality to descendants of Sephardic Jews who demonstrate “a tradition of belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin, based on proven objective requirements of connection to Portugal, namely surnames, family language, direct or collateral descent” and who have resided in Portugal for at least three years, instead of the usual five.
In addition to issues relating to the regime for descendants of Sephardic Jews, the changes to the nationality law include the elimination of the age limit on access to nationality through membership, with the PSD and IL seeing their proposals to this effect approved with the votes of the Social Democrats and Liberals, but also the PAN and Livre, benefiting from the abstention of the PS.
While previously nationality could only be obtained if the affiliation was recognized up to the age of 18, now the affiliation established at the age of majority also allows Portuguese nationality to be obtained under certain conditions, namely when the affiliation occurs after legal proceedings, and the attribution of nationality must be requested within three years of the decision becoming final.
PS extends rules for Sephardic Jews until the end of 2024 and creates evaluation commission
Letter from CIP/CJP to the President of the Portuguese Republic
