Portugal's Sephardic-Jewish Citizenship Route Is Now Closed: What to Know

Portugal’s Sephardic-Jewish citizenship route, the naturalization path for descendants of Jews expelled from Portugal in 1496, was added to the nationality law in 2013, became operational in 2015, and closed to new applicants on 19 May 2026, when Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 took effect and revoked the clause of Lei n.º 37/81 that supported it (Art. 6.º, n.º 7). The Comunidade Israelita de Lisboa (CIL), the body that issued the required certificates of Sephardic origin, had already stopped accepting new applications on 4 May 2026. A complete file submitted before the cutoff continues under the old rules; anyone who had not filed can no longer use this route. Spain’s Sephardic-descent law is a separate case: it closed years earlier, on 1 October 2019, under a different statute (Ley 12/2015). For everyone else, naturalization by residency (now 10 years, or 7 for CPLP/EU nationals) and standard visas such as the D7 or D8 are the realistic paths.

Is Portugal’s Sephardic-Jewish Citizenship Route Still Open in 2026?

No. As of 19 May 2026, Portugal no longer accepts new applications for citizenship based on Sephardic Jewish ancestry. The route existed for just over a decade. Introduced by Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2013 and codified as Article 6.º, n.º 7 of the Lei da Nacionalidade (Lei n.º 37/81), it let descendants of Jews expelled or forced to convert during the Portuguese Inquisition apply for citizenship without ever living in Portugal, provided they could document a connection to a historic Portuguese Sephardic community and pass background checks. Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, the broad nationality-law reform published in Diário da República on 18 May 2026 and in force the next day, revoked that clause outright as part of a wider overhaul of naturalization rules.

Older articles, forum posts and some lawyers still describe the route as open. It is not, and any service still marketing new “Portuguese Sephardic citizenship” applications for people who have not already filed is out of date.

What Changed, and When

Portugal tightened the route once before closing it. Under Decreto-Lei n.º 26/2022, in force from 1 September 2022, applicants also had to prove a “genuine connection” to Portugal, such as an inherited stake in Portuguese real estate or in a Portuguese company, or a documented history of regular trips to the country over the applicant’s lifetime, on top of the community-ties certificate. That raised the bar but left the route open.

The 2026 reform closed it. Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 revoked Article 6.º, n.º 7 of Lei n.º 37/81, the clause that made Sephardic descent a basis for naturalization, as part of a much larger nationality-law overhaul. That overhaul also raised the general residency requirement to 10 years (7 for CPLP/EU nationals) and added language, culture and self-sufficiency requirements for everyone applying by residency. The full guide to citizenship by residency covers the rules that now apply to almost every applicant.

If You Already Filed Before the Cutoff

Two separate dates matter here, and people often mix them up:

• 4 May 2026: the date the Comunidade Israelita de Lisboa (CIL), the Jewish community body that issued the certificates of Sephardic origin required for the application, stopped accepting new certification requests. CIL states on its own site that it “will no longer accept applications/submissions from 04 May of 2026 onwards,” while applications received before that date continue to be reviewed.
• 19 May 2026: the date Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 itself entered into force and formally revoked the legal basis for the route. Under the law’s transitional rule (Art. 7.º), naturalization procedures already pending with the Portuguese authorities before this date continue to be decided under the rules in force when they were filed.

In practice, if you had a complete file (CIL certificate plus your naturalization application) lodged with the Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado (IRN) before 19 May 2026, your case should still move forward. If you only had a certificate request in progress with CIL, or had not started at all, there is no way to complete this route now. Confirm the status of a pending file directly with IRN or your lawyer, since this page cannot tell you the state of an individual application.

Portugal vs. Spain: Two Different Closures, Often Confused

Searches and forums on this topic often confuse the two countries. Portugal and Spain both created Sephardic-descent citizenship laws around the same time, as redress for the 1492 (Spain) and 1496 (Portugal) expulsions, and both have since closed them. They closed years apart, under different statutes, with different mechanics:

	Portugal	Spain
Law that created the route	Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2013	Ley 12/2015, de 24 de junio
Route open from	2015 (implementing regulation)	1 October 2015
Residence in the country required	No	No
Deadline for new applications	19 May 2026 (CIL stopped intake 4 May 2026)	1 October 2019 (after a 1-year extension)
How it closed	A later law (Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026) revoked the clause	The original law’s own built-in deadline expired
Pending applications	Decided under the old rules	Processed after the deadline under the same law

Spain’s law always had a built-in expiration date. Ley 12/2015 gave applicants three years from its entry into force to file (until 1 October 2018), extendable once by the Council of Ministers. Spain’s government used that extension, pushing the deadline to 1 October 2019, after which the law simply expired, so Spain needed no separate repeal law. Portugal’s route had no built-in expiration and stayed open for more than a decade until a new law revoked it in 2026.

Anyone told that “the Sephardic citizenship window closed years ago” was almost certainly hearing about Spain’s 2019 deadline. Portugal’s route stayed open for another six-plus years after Spain’s closed.

Why Portugal Ended the Route

Portuguese officials had signaled for years that the route, meant as historical reparation for a specific 15th- and 16th-century wrong, had drifted from that purpose at scale. Portuguese and international press coverage through the early 2020s, including reporting tied to a Russian oligarch obtaining Portuguese citizenship through the route, focused on application volume, uneven verification of Sephardic descent, and use of the route to reach an EU passport with little real connection to Portugal or Jewish heritage. The 2022 tightening (proof of a genuine connection) was the first response. The 2026 repeal, folded into a broader nationality-law reform that also raised residency requirements across the board, was the second and final one.

The 1496 expulsion and forced conversions are well documented, but the program built around them is closed, and Portuguese law currently has no “prove Sephardic descent” naturalization route.

What About Citizenship by Portuguese Descent?

If you have documented Portuguese ancestry that is not Sephardic-specific, such as a Portuguese-born grandparent, Portugal does have a separate citizenship-by-descent framework. Exactly how that framework applies to grandchildren and great-grandchildren changed under the 2026 reform, and the details have not been independently confirmed against the statute as of this writing, so older articles describing the pre-2026 mechanics are unreliable. If descent through a non-Sephardic Portuguese ancestor might apply to you, get case-specific advice from a Portuguese immigration lawyer.

If You No Longer Qualify: Your Real Options

For nearly everyone who no longer qualifies through Sephardic descent, the practical path to Portugal now runs through ordinary residency and naturalization:

1. Move on a standard visa. The D7 visa (passive income) and D8 visa (remote employment or freelance income) are the two most common routes for non-EU nationals who want to live in Portugal without a local job offer. Both lead to renewable residency and, eventually, citizenship eligibility. This D7 vs. D8 comparison explains how to choose.
2. Naturalize by residency. Once you have held legal residence in Portugal (on a D7, D8, work visa or otherwise) for 10 years (7 years if you are a CPLP or EU national), you can apply for citizenship by naturalization. The full guide to citizenship by residency covers the language and culture test, required documents, costs and timeline under the 2026 rules.
3. Marry a Portuguese citizen. Citizenship through marriage remains available after 3 years of marriage to a Portuguese national, independent of how long you have lived in Portugal.
4. Invest capital. The Golden Visa is a residency-by-investment route that, combined with the standard 10-year (or 7-year) naturalization clock, can still lead to citizenship, though it does not shorten the residency requirement.
5. Check a non-Sephardic descent claim with a lawyer. If you have Portuguese (not specifically Sephardic) ancestry, this may apply, but get individual legal advice.

None of these is as fast as the old Sephardic route could be for someone with strong documentation and no ties to Portugal, but they are the routes that exist in 2026.

Common Points of Confusion

• “I have some Jewish or Sephardic heritage, but no documented Portuguese ties. Can I still apply?” No. The route always required documentation connecting you to a historic Portuguese Sephardic community specifically, not general Sephardic or Jewish heritage, and it is now closed regardless.
• “My relative got citizenship this way in 2023. Can I use the same lawyer to apply now?” No. Their case was filed before the cutoff; a new application today has no legal basis, however strong the documentation or experienced the lawyer.
• “Does this affect Israeli citizens differently?” No. The route was never nationality-specific. It was based on documented Sephardic-Portuguese ancestry, open to applicants of any nationality including Israeli citizens, and its closure applies equally to everyone who had not already filed.
• “If Portugal’s route is closed, is Spain’s still open?” No. Spain’s closed earlier, on 1 October 2019. Neither country currently runs an open Sephardic-descent citizenship program.