Tag Archives: Spanish Citizenship

Doreen Alhadeff was the first American Jew to receive Spanish citizenship under the country’s right of return law. (Screenshot via YouTube) (JTA) — Doreen Alhadeff was the first American Jew granted Spanish citizenship under Spain’s 2015 law to repatriate Sephardic Jews from around the world. Now she is going to …

Applicants had to prove connections with Spain going back centuries A deadline for Jews living outside Spain to request Spanish nationality has expired with 127,000 applications, most of them from Latin America. Jews living in Mexico top the list, with about 20,000 requests, followed by Jews in Venezuela and Colombia. …

Computer error (illustrative). (photo credit: INGIMAGE) (JTA) — A computer glitch in the government portal of Spain caused thousands of applications for citizenship by Sephardic Jews to be reported approved even though they are still pending. The Spanish Foreign Ministry reported the error in a statement Friday. Under a law passed in …

A record number of Americans whose Jewish ancestors fled the Inquisition are applying for citizenship as an ‘insurance policy’ against a perceived rise in US anti-Semitism Blanca Carrasco on a visit to a Sephardi synagogue in Fez, Morocco. (Courtesy) Sephardi heritage is having a moment. It’s not just progressive firebrand …

Jo Carrillo-Ostrow, right, with her husband and son, is part of a trend of people with Sephardic roots who are thinking of applying for a Spanish passport. PHOTO COURTESY JO CARRILLO-OSTROW In 1492, the ancestors of Jo Carrillo-Ostrow were, according to a family story she heard while growing up Catholic in …

Descendants of Jews who fled the Inquisition will get assistance proving their heritage in their bid for a Spanish or Portuguese passport The organisation representing Britain’s Sephardi Jews this week launched a genealogy service to help descendants of Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition 500 years ago gain Spanish and …

The congregation of the restored Synagogue of Barcelona may soon see some growth. (AP/Manu Fernandes) After expelling them more than five centuries ago, Spain has finally opened the path to citizenship for Sephardic Jews. On June 11, the Spanish parliament passed the Sephardic ancestry law, which will allow thousands of …

Historic neighborhoods, abandoned after the Spanish Inquisition, now starve for tourists — but local entrepreneurs say national support for BDS isn’t helping RIBADAVIA, Spain (JTA) — Overlooking the confluence of two rivers near the Spanish-Portuguese border, this small and picturesque town has more Jewish institutions than some European capitals. In …

This article was written by Dogan Akman[1] and published in Sephardic Horizons, vol. 6, nos. 3-4, Summer-Fall 2016. eSefarad thanks the author Dogan Akman and the Editor of Sephardic Horizons, Judith Roumani for permission to publish this article. “No kale espalder los piezes mas ke la kolça”[2] Sephardic proverb    “The past …

Applications from descendants of Jews expelled centuries ago approved under ‘law of return’ Nearly 5,000 people have become citizens of Spain or Portugal following the passing of laws in both countries on the naturalization of descendants of Sephardic Jews. In Portugal, where a procedure for naturalization under the law went …

A law passed in June 2015 by the Spanish Parliament allows Jewish descendants exiled from Spain five centuries ago to adopt the Spanish nationality. The Spanish Ministry of Justice has received as many as 268 Venezuelan applications for Spanish nationality. The petitions are based on a law enacted by the …

Following new legislation, the first descendants of expelled Jews get Spanish nationality. Wearing the Order of Isabel the Catholic he received a decade ago, Avner Azulay (Tangiers 1936) swore allegiance to the Spanish King and to its Constitution this week, in a ceremony held on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, …