Bill offering Spanish nationality to Sephardic Jews goes forward

Not approved yet, but new Justice Minister pledges full support

SPAIN.-A few months ago, the Spanish speaking side of internet got very excited due to the possibility that Spain may start offering citizenship or nationality to those with certain last names, as well as to those who have proof of being descendants of Jewish Spaniards that were thrown out of the country over 500 years ago.

Back then, is was just a proposal, and beyond just having the last name, someone needed to prove that he/she had Sephardic-Jew roots stemming from that expulsion, or any other recent migration out of the country.

But just by being Jewish with Spanish roots isn't enough.

What happened with the bill?

In June, the Council of Ministers (which is similar to a President's cabinet) approved the Nationality Law for Sephardic Jews, which is the first step before its sent to the Chamber of Deputies. Now that the year is close to an end there hasn't been any voting, so it's not a law yet, but a few weeks ago, the new Spanish Minister of Justice took office, Rafael Catalá, replacing Alberto Ruiz Gallardon, the bill's original author.

Catalá appeared before Congress on his first day as Justice Minister, and he briefly addressed the subject of the nationality law for Sephardics, expressing his total support to "the bill regarding the nationality acknowledgement of Sephardics. This is a project that we have intensely worked on along with the Foreign Ministry and other political and social groups. With this law, we want to establish mechanisms that will grant nationality to Sephardics originated from Spain, respecting those who already have it, and wanting reconciliation not just with the Jewish descendants that were expelled from Spain in 1492, but also with our past and our call to being an open and accepting society.

He made clear that the proposal is still not set in stone, and even though there is no date for when it will be submitted to vote in Congress, it will definitely be next year.

If the law were to be approved, there are still some steps outlined the bill's draft, while some Jewish groups and the government have already given hints to how this may proceed:

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"Notaries acquire great relevance in this process, given that they will be the ones in charge of crediting document veracity: the origin of Sephardic last names, knowledge of Ladino (Sephardic Jews' language), birth certificates and marriage license, as well as certificates issued for the sake of crediting the Sephardic Jew condition.

Also, candidates must pass a Spanish language, culture and tradition test by the Cervantes Institute.

Finally, to make the Spanish Nationality petition formal, a 75 euro fee will have to be paid out.

The wait time needed to process a nationality request this way will be of four years (and not of two, renewable to one more year as it was established in the draft) and the candidates will have the right to also keep their origin nationality.

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jose.sanchez@sandiegored.com

zyanya.figueroa@sandiegored.com

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