Nearly 1,800 descendants of Sephardic Jews acquired Portuguese nationality in 2017 under a law enacted two years earlier, with another 12.000 still in the application process, officials in Lisbon said.
The tally for last year is six times higher than the total for 2016, during which the application of the law hit bureaucratic snags amid political changes.
The increase in naturalisation under the law, which Portugal passed in 2013 and enacted in 2015 as a form of making amends for the persecution of Jews during the Inquisition that began in the 16th century, comes amid a host of initiatives by the government to strengthen the country’s ties to Jewish audiences and recognition of its Jewish heritage.
A similar push is underway in Spain, which passed a law of return simultaneous to the Portuguese one and which has naturalised more than 5.000 applicants.
