The proposal, not yet approved by Spain's legislature, is a reparation for the 1492 expulsion of Spain's Jews, removes some onerous existing requirements that include the need for applicants to renounce their current citizenship.
The NYT reports that
Leon Amiras, chairman of an association for immigrants to Israel from Latin America, Spain and Portugal, said this week that he planned to apply for Spanish citizenship and that many families had books or documents allowing them to trace and prove their ancestry. When his own grandmother and great-grandmother left Izmir, in Turkey, for Argentina, they were issued an identity document that was certified by the Spanish consul there at the time. …
The Justice Ministry of Spain said this week that it had no estimate of how many Sephardic Jews might be eligible for Spanish citizenship. So far, the ministry has registered 3,000 applications, but a spokeswoman said that number should now increase. …
In what appeared to be a reciprocal gesture, Natan Sharansky, chairman of the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel, estimated this week that there were millions of descendants worldwide of conversos, Jews who converted to Catholicism under duress in medieval Spain, including hundreds of thousands who are exploring ways of returning to their Jewish roots. “The state of Israel must ease the way for their return,” said Mr. Sharansky, who spent years in Soviet prisons for his human rights activities before arriving in Israel.Grant of Spanish nationality will give the new citizens the right to move freely and work in any other country of the European Union.
Detail of course matters. A statement on the website of Spain's embassy in Canberra states -
The Spanish Council of Ministers approved a Draft Bill that simplifies considerably the administrative procedure of concession of the Spanish nationality to Sephardic Jews, whose ancestors were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula more than five centuries ago.
The Draft Bill must still follow the appropriate parliamentary procedure.
The Draft Bill modifies the Civil Code, and will simplify the matter of proof of the condition of Sephardic Jew but furthermore, will not require that applicants give up their current citizenship.
Those who wish to apply will have two years to do so after parliamentary approval. The Council of Ministers will be able to extend this period for another year.
The alternative requirements established by the Draft Bill as sufficient proof for Sephardic Jews are:
- A certificate from the competent rabbinic authorities legally recognised in their place of residence
- Family surnames or family language (Ladino)
- A certificate from the Spanish Federation of Jewish Communities confirming that the applicant is a Sephardic Jew
- The inclusion of the name of the applicant or his/her direct descendants in the lists of Jewish families protected by Spain
- Link or relationship of the applicant to a person or family as mentioned above
Although there are Sephardic communities in the five continents, and some of them keep alive the usage of the Spanish language spoken in the XV century, Ladino, it is expected that the proposed legal reform may have greater impact in Israel, given that it is estimated than more than 3.5 million, half of their population, is of Sephardic ancestry.
As pointed out by Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, Spanish Minister of Justice and driving force behind this initiative “after their forced expulsion, many Sephardic Jews kept and passed on from generation to generation the keys of their houses left behind in Spain. .… five centuries later, the door is reopened.”The Spanish proposal is more generous that 'investor citizenship' (ius pecuniae) regimes elsewhere in Europe, Australia and other jurisdictions.
Malta is meanwhile attracting criticism within the EU over its move to a privately-managed fast-tracked, no-strings-attached Maltese citizenship offer. Pay 650,000 euros and you are in, with very few questions asked in a 'drive-by' citizenship program that will presumably be emulated in other parts of the world. New citizenship plus a couple of shelf companies in Tuvalu, Kiribati or the Caymans while you wait?
