What the law said, and what it says now
Article 6.º n.º 7 of the Nationality Act allowed the Government to grant nationality, without residence or language conditions, to descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews who proved a tradition of belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin — surnames, family language, ancestry, memory. The certificate of the Comunidade Israelita de Lisboa or do Porto carried the file; from 2022 a connection to Portugal (ownership, visits) was also required by the Regulation.
Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 repealed n.º 7 (its article 5.º). The republished Act shows “7 — [Revogado.]”. The Ministry of Justice’s own summary: the reform “eliminates the special regime for descendants of Sephardic Jews”.
- 19 May 2026 the repeal took effect; no new Sephardic application is accepted
- Pending files lodged before that date continue under the old rules (art. 7.º n.º 2 of the organic law)
- Tens of thousands of files remain in the IRN's queue; decisions continue to be issued
If your file was lodged before 19 May 2026
Nothing changes in law: the request is examined under the Act and Regulation as they stood, including the community certificate and the connection requirement. The practical work is to keep the file alive — answer every IRN request within the deadline, update expired criminal record certificates when asked, and track the status. See following up a nationality application. Access Portugal takes over pending Sephardic files from applicants whose original adviser has stopped answering.
If you had not filed
The Sephardic route is closed. The routes that remain for a descendant of Portuguese Jews are the general ones:
- Descent: a Portuguese parent (registration), a Portuguese grandparent (declaration with ties and conditions), or a Portuguese great-grandparent after five years of residence. Sephardic families that left Portugal centuries ago rarely have a grandparent who was a Portuguese national under the 1981 Act; a genealogical chain to a Portuguese-born great-grandparent is more common among 20th-century emigrants than among 16th-century exiles.
- Residence: a residence visa (D7, D8, D2, D1, D4), then seven or ten years of legal residence.
- Marriage to a Portuguese citizen: three years.
Spain’s parallel Sephardic law closed in 2019 (with extensions to 2021); neither country offers a comparable route today.
Advertisements promising "Sephardic citizenship" after May 2026 describe a procedure that the registries cannot open. Check the date of your filing receipt: that date, not any later step, decides which law applies.
Questions
My file was lodged in 2023 and is still without decision. Will it be refused because of the new law?
No. Article 7.º n.º 2 of the organic law applies the previous Act to procedures pending on 19 May 2026. Refusals, when they occur, are on the merits of the old requirements (proof of Sephardic origin, connection), not on the repeal.
My parent obtained Portuguese nationality through the Sephardic route. Can I still become Portuguese?
Yes, by descent: minor children of a person who acquires nationality can declare (art. 2.º); adult children born after the parent became Portuguese are Portuguese by origin by registration (art. 1.º c). Children born before the parent's acquisition are not covered by c) — we examine each case.
Can I lodge a new application at a consulate that has not "updated" its procedures?
No. The legal basis no longer exists; a consulate cannot receive a declaration under a repealed provision.
Sources and official references
- Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 — art. 5.º (repeal of art. 6.º n.º 7 of the Nationality Act), art. 7.º n.º 2 (pending procedures under the previous wording) — checked 18.9.2026
- Justiça.gov.pt — new rules in force 19 May 2026: 'elimina o regime especial dos descendentes de judeus sefarditas' — checked 18.9.2026
- Justiça.gov.pt — consultar estado do processo de nacionalidade — checked 18.9.2026