Only 3,843 Sephardi Jews have obtained Spanish citizenship based on a 2015 law intended to redress the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, according to El País. So far, an additional 5,682 applications are still pending, and the deadline for new applications expired last March. The Spanish government does not intend to extend the deadline.
So, not exactly a redress of the expulsion of an estimated 160,000 Jews. On the other hand, considering the registration fee of roughly $5,700, then the 9,525 heirs of the expelled Jews have already earned the Spanish crown a nice bit of income: $54,292,500 to be exact.
Besides the cash, applicants had to appear before a public notary, pass a Spanish language examination, and get tested on their knowledge of Spanish politics and culture.
“A Sephardic Jew who speaks Ladino understands modern Spanish perfectly, but will flunk the language test because the differences in the written language are very significant,” Karen Gerson Sarhon, coordinator of the Sephardi Center in Istanbul, told El País.
Is that a perfect scheme or what?
According to a unique Spanish legislation, starting November 2012 and ending in March 2018, Sephardi Jews had the right to automatic Spanish nationality without the requirement of residence in Spain. While their citizenship was being processed, Sephardi Jews were entitled to the consular protection of the Kingdom of Spain, making Spain unique among European nations in granting automatic citizenship to the descendants of expelled Jews.
But perhaps, once the great nations of Germany, Poland, France, and England realize there’s a buck to be made on Jews, they, too, would come up with one-time offers at $5,000 or so per Jewish skull.
No, wait, the skulls come later.