Spanish Repatriation for Sephardic Jews: Returning to Spain 525 Years after Alhambra
Learn how to take advantage of the Spanish law restoring citizenship to Jews and non-Jews with Sephardic Jewish ancestry. Because of the breadth of the law and the ambiguities of 525 years of conversions, intermarriage, and migration, many more people can qualify for an EU passport and a new life.
The Diaspora and the Spanish Inquisition"In Fourteen Hundred and Ninety-two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue," but leaving the ports of Spain both with him and separately were hundreds of thousands of Spaniards ejected from their country by anti-Semitism. As a result of a series of pograms and religious persecution around 1391, perhaps half of the vibrant, Jewish communities of Spain had converted to Catholicism. Having conquered the Moors and unified Spain, but unable to stop these converts from returning to their Jewish roots, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand issued the Alhambra Decree in 1492 requiring all remaining Jews to sell their lands and dwellings and depart Spain on four months notice. Among the famous exiles were Maimonades and tens of thousands who had refused to convert to Catholicism and were given four months to liquidate their possessions accrued over generations and leave Spain. The unfortunate ones moved to Portugal, where they were forcibly converted a few years later. Many disbursed around the Mediterranean Sea, to North Africa, and, if they were lucky, into the Ottoman Empire, which welcomed them throughout Ottoman influenced territories as far away as Hungary and Romania in Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and, even, back to Western Europe. According to Chabad, many migrated to Ashkenazi countries where they adopted Ashkenazi customs. http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/2435008/jewish/Expulsion.htm. The Alhambra Decree was not formally revoked until 1968, though the Spanish Constitution confirmed the right to religious freedom and began the process of disestablishment of the Church in 1978. The King of Spain, Felipe VI, as a Constitutional monarch similar to England, recognizes the evil of the past half-millennium, and has offered reparations in the form of dual citizenship in both Spain and the entire European Union (EU).
What are Sephardic Jews?According to the Spanish decree, Sephardic is synonymous with being of Spanish origin. The word Sephardi originates from the Hebrew word for Spain, Sepharad. In a very oversimplified definition, a Sephardi is a member of the occidental branch of European Jews that originally settled in the Iberian Peninsula, and who were expelled in the 15th century and then settled in the Balkans, the Levant, England, the Netherlands, the Americas, and the Caribbean. It is fairly obvious to historians that it is next to impossible to prove Sephardic origins. The Spanish decree accommodates the genetic ambiguities of over 520 years. The decree isn't limited to Jews, since many more Sephardic Jews became conversos than were banished. The decree isn't limited to paternal or maternal lineal descent. DNA tests are useless, and they are inadmissible. National original is useless. For example, Mr. Sternberg's great grandfather was Romanian, and the family assumption was that they were Eastern European Ashkenazi Jews. Further research showed that the Ashkenazi Jews didn't overtake the pre-existing Jewish population of Romania until after World War I, where they moved into three major cities. Prior to World War I, Jewish immigration to Romania came predominantly from the Ottoman Empire and moved to both cities and rural villages. The Sternberg's all lived in a small rural town in Transylvania on significant tracts of land fifty years before the Ashkenazi immigration. That finally solved the mystery of why the Sternberg's never spoke Yiddish and added rice to the rolled cabbage they traditionally made for Seder! Whether you were raised to believe you are Sephardic or Ashkenazic, and even if, like former Secretary of State Madeline Albright, you weren't raised to be a Jew, you probably qualify for this program. Indeed, since the Spanish program depends on Sephardic self-identification and rabbinic review, Romaniotes, who lived in Rome and Greece since at least 1000 CE, but who call themselves Sephardic Jews and attend Sephardic Synagogues can probably prove their Sephardic origin.
The Benefits of Spanish and EU CitizenshipA Spanish passport is considered to be the second most powerful passport in the world -- after only Germany and Sweden. https://www.passportindex.org/byRank.php. Becoming a dual citizen of the US and the European Union (EU) allows clients to retire dining on fine wines and cuisines along the coastline at Costa Brava, Costa Dorada, Costa del Sol, Islas Baleares or the mountains of the Pyrenees or the Sierra Nevada, where you can ski in winter and sail in summer without having to travel long distances, play the many golf courses, and enjoy plenty of opportunities to live well and enjoy life. Using that passport, Spain can be a perfect basecamp for exploring the Old World and Africa. Spain has a universal free public health system, and it is one of the most advanced in the world. Everything from cancer treatment to a broken leg to the common cold have zero cost to the patient. Medicines are subsidized by the State. For example, a monthly prescription of blood pressure pills has a final cost to the patient of .16 cents, and for retirees, medicines are almost free of charge. Basic education is free and universities are economical. You or your children or grandchildren could study medicine or law in one of the best universities in the world for a thousand euros a year. It is a country where you live well because of Spain's cultural approach to life. It is easy to enjoy life in a European country where you can walk everywhere without regard for your safety. While the number of years of contribution for the state pension system are under review, and new immigrants are unlikely to qualify for a pension, it is apparent that Spain is seeking to provide a form of reparations for the grave injustices of the past, but that door appears to be open for only a few years.
How it is DoneSpanish immigration law is tricky, as with most developed countries. Proof of permanent residency for two years is useless to Americans seeking dual citizenship or expatriot citizenship in Europe. Under the new Sephardic immigration program, applicants must: 1) prove their Sephardic background; 2) demonstrate a special connection to Spain. As we've discussed, proving Sephardic ancestry in 1492 might be either too easy or too hard. The Spanish chose to make it easy. A certificate of a rabbi in your home country will suffice if the Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain endorses the authority of the persons and entities issuing the certificates and once those certificates are duly legalized, officially translated to Spanish, and apostilled according to the Hague Convention. Before the certificate is filed, it is reviewed by the equivalent of a notary public in Spain. The law firm involved will know that the application should be granted before filing it. Once the application is in order, the applicant needs to pass a very basic Spanish language test if they come from a country where the official language is not Spanish and a test regarding Spain's Constitution, history, and culture. Both tests require 60% (15) correct on 25 three-choice and true-false closed ended questions, and you can register to re-take them a second time with no additional fee. But, there is a rub, because the new law provides for applications for a limited time, and the program has shown some significant popularity, perhaps because both the baby-boomers and the investors have read in Forbes about the friendly welcoming environment and the great buys in Spain. While most Spanish law firms are requiring open-ended retainer agreements with no guarantees, shop around: fixed fees and terms in which the final fees aren't paid unless the application is approved can be found.