In a gesture of reconciliation, Spain and Portugal in 2015 passed bills inviting the descendants of Sephardic Jews – expelled 500 years earlier – to acquire citizenship. Applicants are to ascertain their Sephardic heritage through family trees, evidence of belonging to a religious community, language skills and/or retained links with the homeland. This article explores applicants’ motivations to request citizenship and the ways in which legal provisions, religious associations, and the migration industry become gatekeepers of and (re)shape what it means to be Sephardic. Based on interviews with applicants and other actors involved, the article discusses how states, religious associations, applicants themselves and businesses facilitate and define the process towards citizenship. It also points to how the repatriation laws have spurred identification with – but also alienation from – Spain and Portugal, by making it possible to gain an attractive EU passport, while encouraging the revisiting of a painful past.

为了和解，西班牙和葡萄牙于 2015 年通过法案，邀请 500 年前被驱逐的西班牙裔犹太人后裔获得公民身份。申请人将通过家谱、属于宗教社区的证据、语言技能和/或与祖国的保留联系来确定他们的西班牙血统。本文探讨了申请人申请公民身份的动机，以及法律规定、宗教协会和移民行业如何成为守门人并（重新）塑造成为西班牙人的意义。基于对申请人和其他相关参与者的采访，本文讨论了国家、宗教协会、申请人本身和企业如何促进和定义公民身份的过程。