Hundreds of British Sephardic Jews ask for Portuguese nationality

By TPN/Lusa, in News · 18-07-2016 13:23:00 · 0 Comments



About 300 British Jews who are descendants of Portuguese Sephardim have requested Portuguese nationality since the victory of the Brexit, compared with just five requests in 2015, the Israeli community in Oporto told Efe news agency on Monday.

Since 2015, Portuguese legislation has allowed the decedents of Sephardic Jews who lived in Portugal to ask for Portuguese nationality.

The Spanish news agency Efe said that the possibility of the UK leaving Europe is making many Sephardic Jews try to maintain their rights in the European Union (EU).

“Obviously, the Sephardic Jews who live in the UK are in risk of losing their EU rights and do it is natural that they use the facility that Portuguese law provides them with”, a spokesperson for the Israeli community in Oporto told Efe.

Aspects such as the family tree, knowledge of the language or surnames can be been used to prove origin, although it does not guarantee nationality if the person has not kept any relationship with the Portuguese communities.