The representative of the Israeli community of Lisbon, José Rua, proposed in parliament on Tuesday to include a criterion of knowledge of the Portuguese language when granting citizenship to the descendants of Sephardic Jews.
The person responsible for granting Portuguese citizenship in Lisbon spoke before the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, which is discussing changes to the Nationality Law.
Heard as part of the PSD request regarding the acquisition of Portuguese nationality through the naturalization of the descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews, José Rua supported a stricter law preventing exploitation and advocated, in changing the law, the exclusion of two provisions that would be unconstitutional and do not demonstrate any emotional connection with Portugal on the part of the applicants, such as regular presence in Portugal.
The inclusion of the Portuguese language criterion, to the detriment of applicants who have lived in Portugal for at least three years, was welcomed by MP Paula Cardoso of the PSD, but Pedro Delgado Alves of the PS believed that place of residence was one of the most important relevant criteria.
“We understand the inclusion of the criterion of knowledge of the language, but this proves a connection with the language, not a connection with Portugal,” defended the Socialist MP.
José Rua later clarified that the Israeli community in Lisbon is not against the residency criterion, but argues that there must be other alternatives since the emotional connection to the country occurs in different ways.
Amendments to the Citizenship Law were generally approved in October last year.
Granting Portuguese citizenship to the descendants of Sephardi Jews allowed Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich to gain Portuguese citizenship, an issue that has sparked controversy.
The committee meeting today also heard from the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA), Luis Filipe Goes Pinheiro, and the President of the Institute of Registers and Notaries in discussing the topic of changes in legislation (IRN), Filomena Rosa.
Filomena Rosa told MPs (the PSD and Chega said they saw no urgency in changing the law) that Portuguese citizenship was in high demand and asked for caution in changing the law so as not to encourage its use in the future.
Filomena Rosa also reported that 400 registrars and 70 registrars were hired.
Goes Pinheiro found that the number of unsolved problems is about 350 thousand, and this figure could reach 600 thousand in 2024, and this problem cannot be solved by simply strengthening human resources.
The solution involves a digital transformation that will produce results within a year and a half, meaning that, he admitted, people will have to wait quite a long time for the result of their residence permit application.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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