Are you Sepharadi? Get the Portuguese passport!
Portuguese Citizenship for Sephardic Jews!
Introduction
By virtue of Decree Law no. 30-A/2015, of 27 February 2015, the Portuguese government approved the process for descendants of Sephardic Jews to obtain Portuguese nationality by naturalisation. Now, all the Sepharadim and their descendants can obtain an European passport. The Portuguese Citizenship for Sephardic Jews it’s now a reality.
As a result, thousands and thousands of Sephardic Jews and their descendants from all over the world are willing to seize this opportunity and apply for Portuguese nationality, and, consequently, European nationality, with all that this implies. Obtaining Portuguese nationality is now a reality for Sepharadim.
Portugal is ranked 9 (of 199) in the Individual Passport Power Rank 2020.
The main benefit of holding a Portuguese passport is being an EU citizen, which allows you to move freely across the 28 countries of the European Union. You will be able to live, work, or simply walk around these countries without any limitation.
You will also be able to travel to other countries without needing cumbersome visas or entry permit.
The process
All you need to know about the Portuguese Citizenship for Sephardic Jews.
Documentation
In order to start the process and obtain the Portuguese citizenship for Sepharadim, we will need you to send the following documents scanned via e-mail (per person):
- Passport (only the first page)
- Birth certificate (no apostille is required)
- Proof of residence (utility bills such as electricity/telephone bills, official certificate, etc.).
- Certificate issued by the Jewish Community of your place of residence, signed by the local Rabbi (an Orthodox Rabbi), indicating your Jewish-Sephardic origin. If you cannot obtain it, we can take care of it with an Orthodox Rabbi we trust.
Once we have these documents, we will submit the formal application before the Jewish Community in Portugal in order to obtain the official certificate confirming that you are Sephardic, the most important document.
If they deny the Sephardic certificate, we will refund the 100% of the money.
Procedure
Once we obtain the certificate from the Jewish Community in Portugal, we will contact you for you to send us the documents indicated below in order to submit them before the Portuguese General Register Office (Conservatória dos Registos Centrais):
- Full copy of your Passport
- Your apostilled birth certificate (valid for no more than six months).
- Your apostilled criminal record check issued in your place of origin and residence (valid for no more than three months).
- Power of attorney granted to our firm (we would indicate you the necessary details in due course)
You do not need to have the documents ready now, only once we confirm that we have obtained the certificate of Sephardic origin from the Jewish Community in Portugal.
Once we receive the said documents, we will submit them to the Portuguese authorities. We will then send you proof of the submission and the application code. After submitting the documents, we will have to await the official notification from the Portuguese Register Office confirming that you are granted the nationality. You may make it official before the Portuguese consulate corresponding to your place of residence.
You will not need to travel to Portugal nor carry out any process other than those indicated herein. Our firm will perform this process directly, along with our fellow attorneys in Portugal.
The lawyers
Cohen & Cohen is a law firm based in Madrid, Spain. For many years, we have been helping thousands of Sephardic Jews from around the world to obtain their European nationality (Spanish and Portuguese).
We provide comprehensive legal assistance services, made to order, dealing with the whole process thoroughly from A to Z:
- Verifying the documents prior to proceeding with their submission.
- Obtaining the certificate of Sephardic origin from the Jewish Community in Portugal.
- Certificates, authentications and translations.
- Shipping and submitting the documents in Portugal.
- Regularly monitoring the process and informing our clients about the status of their application.
- Providing assistance to make the nationality official before Portuguese authorities.
Click here to read the most frequentley asked questions about the Portuguese Citizenship for Sephardic Jews and feel free to ask us: despacho@cohenycohen.es
If you’re Sephardic, don’t miss the oportunity to obtain an European passport!