Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on March 14, 2022

We request that the above-mentioned procedures listed below are duly complied with. These procedures do not dispense with the careful reading of the procedures described below:

By Decree-Law, it is mandatory to hold a certificate issued by the Portuguese Jewish Communities - duly registered locally under the status of religious legal entities, that is, the Jewish Communities of Lisbon (CIL) and of Porto (CIP).

The Jewish Community of Lisbon has made available:

The burden of proof rests on the applicant, who must provide as much evidence as possible, of all kinds, showing direct or collateral progenyand the tradition of belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin. In fact, since a very large number of Spanish Jews migrated to Portugal when they were expelled from Spain, proving Spanish ancestry from families known to have lived in Portugal is also acceptable. Please note that our internal Experts Committee verifies the information provided but does not run genealogical studies itself.

Administrative documents

Means of proof

Applicants are expected to provide different means of proof and it is understood that they will not be the same in each particular case and some people wont be able to provide all of them:

The Jewish Community of Lisbon informs:

We propose this model bellow - A genealogical description with the direct ancestors in text .(download)

Model B Genealogical Description PT EN.doc

All the above may be presented in Portuguese, Spanish, French or English.

All the applications and attached documents/means of proof are kept in our records for future reference and a list of all issued certificates is sent monthly to the Portuguese Ministry of Justice.

See below the complete list of documents to be presented (end of page)

Donations

Please check with our Customer Service information about donations to do this process. These donations will be used in the development and maintenance of our services and activities which guarantee the continuation of culture and traditions in our jewish community, as well as in the Portuguese society in general, through several solidarity programs with whom the community contributes.

Our Customer Service Staff does a pre-analysis withoutcommitment of any advance donation or final approval obligation. We hereby, clarify that, a first opinion by e-mail is not binding.

On the other hand, the power of the final decision whether it is an approval or a request for more documents that corroborates your sephardic origins is solely taken by theCommission of Analysis.

Also, we inform you that, in case of no approval, the donations given are not refundable, without prejudice of the process come to be analyzed again through presentation of additional documents.

Bank details

IBAN: PT 50 0007 0006 0025 6930 0064 8

SWIFT/BIC: BESCPTPL

Owner: Comunidade Israelita de Lisboa (CIL)

Bank: Novo Banco

Agency: Marqus de Pombal (Lisboa - Portugal)

Account nr. : 0062 5693 0006

or by PAYPAL

Contact

E -mails:

New applicants and general information - click here

For ongoing processes click here

Phones:+351 213 931 130 (Portuguese/English)

PUBLIC ATTENDANCE: Monday to Thursday from 10am to 1pm | 2pm to 5 pm.

Friday: 9am to 1pm.

Closed on Shabbat, Jewish Holidays and Portuguese Bank Holidays

The application should be presented to the Portuguese Central Registry Office (Conservatria dos Registos Centrais) in Lisbon and the Jewish Community of Lisbon has no involvement in the decision or even in the process.

However the law does state that the following documents should be presented, including their translation into Portuguese, duly certified by the Portuguese consulate at the country of origin or residence and bearing the Hague Convention Apostille:

The Portuguese Central Registry Office charges a non-refundable and pre-paid 250 fee per applicant.

You may obtain further and accurate information at the nearest Portuguese Consulate.

Contact

Conservatriados Registos CentraisRua Rodrigo da Fonseca, 1981099-003 LisboaE-mail:registos.centrais@irn.mj.pt

Phone: (+351) 213 817 600Fax: (+351) 213 817 698

Upon the granting of nationality, the Central Registry Office shall issue and mail to the applicants address a Portuguese birth certificate. Portuguese ID documents, such as passports, may then be issued by the nearest Portuguese Consulate.

Do I have to come to Portugal in person? Do I have to reside in Portugal? Do I have to speak Portuguese?

The answer to all the above questions is no. You may be represented by a third party in your application and you neither have to come or reside in Portugal nor to speak Portuguese.

Does my family name have to be in the list of Sephardic names?

No. There are indeed some family names which are commonly accepted to belong to descendants of Portuguese Jewish families but your family name may have changed along the years. In such case, please provide proof of your genealogical relation despite the name change.

Do I have to hire the services of a lawyer?

There is no such requirement concerning the issuing of Jewish Community of Lisbons certification and our community has neither a special partnership with any law office nor shall recommend any specific one. We receive daily applications both from individuals and law firms. However, regarding the stage of preparation and submission of the applications to the Portuguese authorities, you may find that the services of an experienced and qualified lawyer will proof to be quite useful.

Can I file a family application? Can my spouse be granted nationality as well?

Each member of the family, including the children, should file the application separately although, for the purpose of the certification issued by our community (step 1 above), having already checked the documentation of a member of the same family does make it easier to check the documentation. Spouses may apply later for citizenship through the Portuguese Central Registry Office, not under this law amendment or its provisions but as any foreign spouse of a Portuguese citizen.

Did anyone get the Portuguese nationality yet? How long does it take?

Since March 2015, several thousands of foreign citizens were granted Portuguese nationality under this law amendment and only a very small number were refused, mostly due to legal and technical reasons or lack of documentation. The process itself is not complicated but it does take time for the documentation to be gathered, duly translated and certified, and obviously thoroughly verified by all the parties involved. Altogether, there are thousands of pending applications and the applicant must be patient and wait for a nationality assignment process to take place beyond 18 months. The certification period of the Jewish Community of Lisbon varies and will depend on the quality and organization of the documentation with which the process is submitted by the applicant and the degree of complexity of the respective process.

Application Form Model B - example List of documents

The rest is here:

Lisbon Jewish Community - cilisboa.org

Category: Sephardic
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