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Ynet and Maariv continue to tell about the changes that are expected to be in the Portuguese citizenship law.
The order signed by the Portuguese president to increase government oversight of citizenship proceedings adds new requirements to prove the connection between the applicants and Portugal. It is estimated that the new regulations will, among other things, require the presentation of documents that prove a real and measurable connection between the applicants and Portugal, for example, physical presence in Portugal over a lifetime, holding a bank account, or owning a business or real estate. All this, in addition to documents that will prove a direct origin from the deportees from the Iberian Peninsula. To date, citizenship can only be obtained on the basis of approval from the Jewish community in Portugal, among other things through the identification of his family through a database of over 40,000 surnames belonging to deportees from Spain and Portugal.
The Foreign Minister announced that the changes in the law will not be retroactive and about 90,000 applications that have already been submitted and approved will continue to be processed, with 80% of them being submitted by Israelis.
Adv. Itay Mor, the president of the Zionist movement “Over the Rainbow Portugal” told Ynet and Maariv:
“The draft for the legal change of the Portuguese citizenship law has been lying on the president’s table for about two months. As published in Portugal this morning, the president signed the draft on 8.3, but the draft has not been published, and it is not at all clear what its final wording is. We are in a period of unpredictable changes, so our recommendation is to apply for citizenship as soon as possible. Despite the closure of the activities of the Jewish community in Porto, requests can be made to the Jewish community of Lisbon which is still open to applicants. Our recommendation is not to wait.”
Read the article from Ynet here and
the article from Maariv here
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