Spanish citizenship for Sephardic Jews

Spanish citizenship for Sephardic Jews is one of the main ways to obtain nationality in Spain. It enables you to get citizenship in the country without the need to live in Spain for the usual 10 years that are required for non-EU citizens. With this law, any Sephardic Jew who is a descendant of those who were expelled from Spain in the 15th century can immediately get citizenship. 

Furthermore, another of its main advantages is the fact that it does not require you to renounce to your current citizenship. 

The 3 Requirements for obtaining the Spanish Sephardic Passport 

There are two main steps that you must go through in order to obtain Spanish nationality as a Sephardic jew, plus some additional requirements:

Proof of Sephardic status

First of all, the applicant needs to demonstrate that she actually has a bond with the Spanish community. The proof of Sephardic status will be confirmed through the contribution of the following certifications (you just need to submit one of them):

• Certification from the President of the Jewish community from the birth or the residential area.
• Certification provided by the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain.
• Certification from the Rabbinic authority, a document that must be legally recognized in the residence country.

Regarding the first and the third points, the applicant can include a certification from the President of the Permanent Commission of the Jewish Community Federation in Spain that demonstrates the authority of the Rabbinic authority or the President of the Jewish Community.

Proof of special connection to Spain

Here, you will need to prove sufficient links to Spain. And that basically means demonstrating your Sephardic ancestry.

You can do that by using different probatory means, and again, the regulation lets you choose between:

1. A certification (that must be emitted by a private institution or by a competent agent) of the culture and history of Spain.
2. Knowledge test of the ladino or “haketía” language
3. Proof of the belonging from the applicant in the protected Sephardic families of Spain, or of the direct ancestry of any Spanish citizen.
4. Fulfillment of charitable, cultural or economic activities that go in favor of Spanish institutions or citizens. All those contributions to activities that have the aim to spread and preserve the Sephardic culture will also be sufficient.
5. Any other circumstance that can demonstrate a clear belonging to Spain.

Other requirements

 Finally, there is a set of general requirements any applicant must also meet:

 Personal information

 First of all, you need to identify yourself. Therefore a copy of your passport is the first thing you need to get. Also, the applicant must present a birth certificate, which must be legalized (apostilled) and translated into Spanish.

As with all the other evidentiary documentation, all the foreign documents to be presented must be translated by an official translator. This process is called translating for legal equivalence.

Any other document that attests to your identity will be valid.