Portuguese Citizenship and European Passports to Sephardic Jews who can prove they are of Spain/ Portugal decent Decreto de la Alhambra from the Iberian Peninsula.

Daliah Sklar, Solicitor – DRSI LAW – www.drsi-law.com 

Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the Fifteenth century. This was called  “The Alhambra Decree” (also known as the Edict of Expulsion; Spanish: Decreto de la Alhambra, Edicto de Granada) which  was ordered on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain ordering the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. Any practicing Jews had to leave by the order of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon by July 1492.

The statistics show between 40,000-100,000 had to leave while other amounting to over 250,000 jews converted to Catholicism to avoid expulsion or death. 

Antisemitism in Fifteenth century under the Crown of Aragon

From Seville, anti-Jewish violence extended throughout Andalusia, and then extended to Castile. In August it reached the Crown of Aragon. Murders, looting and fires took place everywhere. Many of the Jews who survived fled, many to the kingdoms of Navarre and of Portugal, France, and North Africa. 

After the massacres of 1391, anti-Jewish measures were intensified: in 1411 Castile ordered that Jews wear a red badge sewn to their clothing.

In the Crown of Aragon the possession of the Talmud was declared unlawful, and the number of synagogues per aljama is limited to one. As a result of the massacres of 1391 and the measures that followed, by 1415 more than half of the Jews of Castile and Aragon had renounced the Mosaic law and had been baptized, including many rabbis and important members of the community. 

Many of them chose to flee to Portugal. At first, King Manuel I of Portugal promised to provide Jews with a safe refuge. But by 1496, he had changed his mind. Manuel also began to expel Jews who refused baptism to Christianity. Some Jews converted and remained in Portugal.

By 1415 scarcely a hundred thousand Jews continued to practice their religion in the crowns of Castile and Aragon. Joseph Perez said, “Spanish Judaism will never recover from this catastrophe.”

Most of the expelled Jews settled in North Africa and in the Ottoman Empire.

See this map to describe the movement. 

The history of the Jews in Portugal reaches back over two thousand years and is directly related to Sephardi history, a Jewish ethnic division that represents communities that originated in the Iberian Peninsula (Portugal and Spain).

Where is the “Iberian Peninsula “ –

In 2015, Portugal enacted the new Decree-Law 30-A/2015. 

This law offers Portuguese citizenship to Sephardic Jews.  After a  look into the history of Sephardic Jews, you shall understand.

Sephardic Jews inhabited the Iberian Peninsula for generations dating back to the Roman Empire. The Iberian Peninsula is the region that covers Spain and Portugal. Jews from this area got the name Sephardim from the Hebrew word for Spain, “Sepharad.”

Many Jews escaped to other regions and countries. Today, their descendants can be found in countries around the world, like Israel.

In 2015, Portugal enacted a new law to correct this moral and historical wrong. This law of Return allows for descendants of Sephardic Jews to become citizens of Portugal.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY?

The law offers Portuguese citizenship and a European passport to all Sephardic Jews. Direct children, grandchildren and even spouses of Sephardic Jews are eligible to apply. 

With a valid European passport, EU citizens are entitled to exercise the right of free movement (meaning they do not need a visa) in the European Economic Area (European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway) and Switzerland. All citizens can live in all 28 countries freely, work freely visa free, study in any country with no limitation of time.

The first stage is to check your eligibility – Please send your full Family name from both parents sides to the following email and within 5 days we shall send you back your eligibility results. 

Please send an email to:  [email protected] 

or call 077-5166-505

Write on your email: “ELIGIBILITY” 

DRSI LAW are a UK & Israeli law firm with over 15 years in Global Immigration citizenship solutions. We are qualified US, UK, Israeli Lawyers and Public notaries. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us. We would be happy to assist you in your application for Portuguese / EUROPEAN citizenship. www.drsi-law.com