Portugal changes the law on obtaining Jewish citizenship

The Portuguese Foreign Minister, Augusto Santos Silva, has stated that the Portuguese Nationality Law will be amended on the basis of Sephardic origin.

According to this law, Russian businessman Roman Abramovich received Portuguese citizenship, and the Portuguese Prosecutor’s Office is currently investigating this matter.

Last week, the judicial police arrested the rabbi of the Jewish community in Porto, who issued a certificate to Abramovich about his origin.

The law stipulates that citizenship be issued upon return to descendants of Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal at the end of the fifteenth century.

Now the requirement for a real connection with Portugal will be introduced. The Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed that the change in the law will not have a retroactive effect, which means that Abramovich will not lose the acquired citizenship.

The fact that the Russian billionaire received a Portuguese passport became known in December 2021. It was reported that the businessman, naturalized under the citizenship law, identified himself as a descendant of people from the Sephardic Jewish community.

 

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