Alarm status / Covid-19
Justice extends until September 2021 the deadline for correcting errors in the process of acquiring nationality for Sephardim."
- The measure is adopted in view of the cancellation of sociocultural knowledge exams at the Cervantes Institute and the impossibility of traveling to Spain to appear before a notary due to the state of alarm.
May 14, 2020. The General Director of Legal Security and Public Faith, Sofía Puente, has issued a resolution extending the deadline for rectifying errors in the process of granting nationality to Sephardics originating in Spain until September 1, 2021. The decision, which affects candidates who have submitted their applications on time, is adopted due to the impossibility for the applicants to take the exam on constitutional and socio-cultural knowledge of Spain, as the Cervantes Institute has cancelled the exams, and due to the restrictions to travel to Spain to appear before a notary due to the declaration of the state of alarm for the containment of the Covid-19.
On September 9, the Directorate General, which reports to the Ministry of Justice, established a one-year deadline for rectification from the date of the application, which could in no case be submitted after October 1, 2019. This period for rectification was scheduled to end on September 1, 2020 for the last files submitted. With the new resolution, it is extended until September 1, 2021 with the provision that this term may be subsequently revised depending on the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact on administrative activity.
The process for the application for nationality for Sephardim regulated in Law 12/2015 closed last October 1 with 132,226 applications. In the month of September alone, around 72,000 were registered, mostly from Latin American countries. The Ministry undertook to process them even if they had not been accompanied by the certificates attesting to the candidate's Sephardic status or had not passed the constitutional and socio-cultural knowledge exam, giving an additional period of one year to complete these formalities, a period that is now extended for another year. The procedure also requires the interested parties residing abroad to appear in person before a notary appointed in Spain, who will certify their Sephardic origin by means of a deed. Subsequently, the General Directorate of the Registries and Notaries will resolve within a maximum period of one year, declaring, if applicable, that the application is accepted. Finally, the applicant will have to carry out the act of oath or promise in the Spanish Consulate that corresponds to its place of residence. The condition of Sephardic originating from Spain and the accreditation of its special bond with our country are extraordinary circumstances that justify the concession of the Spanish nationality by letter of nature. In the case of this group, it exempts them from the need of residence in Spain and does not require the renunciation of their nationality of origin.
Below you can watch the replay of our webinar Portuguese Nationality for Sephardim in which we solve some doubts about this type of nationality.
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