The Portuguese government will soon restrict the granting of citizenship to Jews whose families have been deported from the country from the 15th century onwards, in a move that is expected to reduce the number of Israelis eligible for a Portuguese passport; This was reported today (Wednesday) by the media in the country. According to an order passed by the government, which will take effect soon, the Portuguese authorities will be able to demand proof of “actual affiliation with Portugal”, beyond a family name linked to Portuguese Jewry in the past.
The approval of the new order has already taken place in recent weeks, and it was even approved by the president on March 9, but according to reports, it will only be published today or tomorrow in Reshumot. It was conducted in parallel with an investigation by the newspaper “Publico” regarding suspicions of irregularities and criminal offenses regarding the issuance of Portuguese citizenship to the oligarch Roman Abramovitch, by the rabbi of the community in Porto, Daniel Litvak. The Jewish communities in Porto and Lisbon are involved in the process of obtaining citizenship because they must provide documents proving the connection between the family applicants and the surnames of Jews who lived in Portugal and were expelled from it, or who were forced to convert to Christianity. The investigation against Litvak is still ongoing.
Tens of thousands of Israelis, according to estimates, have already issued or are in the process of issuing a Portuguese passport based on a law passed in the country in 2015, which allows this. In recent months, media criticism and public opinion have turned against the sweeping use of a law that allows many Jews to obtain citizenship, including Abramovich. The new regulation does not make it possible to deny retroactive citizenship to the person who received it, but requires that from now on any connection between the applicant and Portugal be proven. It is not clear what the required context is, how it will be estimated and what the authorities’ policy will be regarding the adoption of the new criterion. According to Publico, the new regulation “will drastically reduce the number of people eligible for Portuguese citizenship”.