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An Update on the Sephardic Citizenship Process

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Spnaish Citizenship

Hello, hello!  This post has been sitting in my drafts for months now, and after receiving a few emails in the last month regarding any updates on my Spanish citizenship, I thought now would be a great time to go ahead and write an update.  You may or may not be interested in this subject, but this post is for anyone in the process of, or hoping to apply for Spanish citizenship due to Sephardic Origin.

For some background, the Spanish government is offering citizenship to anyone that can prove Sephardic roots (meaning that their family was in Spain before the Inquisition).  You do not have to be Jewish, but have to have reasonable ‘proof’ of Sephardic heritage, have to complete a couple tests, and do various other tasks.  Nothing is particularly hard, but the process is LONG.  If you want to read more background, here are posts of interest.

I have been in the application process for over 3 years now.  I began everything in October of 2015, meaning I set up an account on the Ministry of Justice Website, then made plans to take the exams, etc. etc.  I signed my documents with the notary in July of 2017, and heard absolutely nothing until May of 2018.  If you are curious as to how they contacted me, I was sent a physical letter to my home address in Madrid, which I had used on my application and when I signed the documents with my notary.  Nothing was ever updated on my Ministry of Justice portal, so I thank my lucky stars that I received that letter.  I’m not sure what would have happened if I hadn’t been living there!  (edit: the ministry of justice site now says “datos actualizado” as of February of 2018, which is when I got my passport)

The letter told me I needed a new background check and needed to get my birth certificate apostilled, which I wrote about in the last post linked above.  Here is where the fun part came in- there was no specific address indicated on that letter as to where I should take/ send these documents, which led me to go to over 7 different offices here in Madrid, each of which would tell me it was the wrong office.

I was sent all over the city.

I was sent to various offices, waited in long lines, then was told I needed an appointment just to ask a quesiton, would make an appointment, go to my appointment (and still wait in a long line), and then be told it was the wrong office.  No one really had any idea what I was referring to when I said I was applying for citizenship due to Sephardic Origin, even though the law was written in SPAIN.  Based on my Mom’s experience, they were a bit more in-tune in the US.

This went on for awhile until FINALLY, someone knew what I was talking about and made a couple calls for me.  They helped me find the right person and office, so I took my documents there.  This was June 2018.  They told me in order to hand in the documents, I needed an appointment, and there were none available until September 2018… another 3 months away.  I begged for something earlier and was given an appointment on August 29th, 2018.

On August 29th, I went to my appointment, not really knowing what to expect.  I took my (original) FBI background check and (original) apostilled birth certificate.  The guy put some information in the computer, and then gave me a paper with the date of my official appointment to ‘swear allegiance’ to the Spanish King, aka, become a citizen!  This appointment was set for December 13, 2018 (yes, this week!).

As you can see, nothing is fast, and everything is frustrating, BUT it is NOT IMPOSSIBLE!  Perserverance and a slight sense of humor will help you get through, and with a fingers crossed, I will have a brand new passport in less than a month!  

I will update with photos and reflections some time next week.  If you have questions about what I have written or about the process in general, as always, please leave a comment, or better yet- send me an email to tlcohen91@gmail.com

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