European embassies recently reported a significant increase in inquiries from Israeli residents wanting to obtain a European passport or an immigration visa in recent months. "some link it to the judicial overhaul legislation, while others believe the reason to be the high cost of living," one European envoy said. "There are more and more Israeli families requesting passports, queues have been growing to numbers we haven’t seen before. We feel like this has become a phenomenon."
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Among those reporting such an increase in requests are the embassies of France, the Netherlands, Romania, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Italy, and the Baltic state. The matter has been discussed in joint forums of European embassies in Israel.
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Flags representing embassies outside an office building in Ramat Gan
(Photo: Shaul Golan)
The Spanish embassy in Israel confirmed that over the past three years, there has been an increase in applications for Spanish passports due to the country’s new citizenship law that recognizes the rights of Jews of Spanish origin as victims of persecution during the Inquisition. There has been a noticeable increase in requests for relocation visas and digital nomad visas that allow Israeli citizens to live and work in Spain.
"There’s an increase in the number of passport requests, but we aren’t aware of the motivation behind this," the French embassy in Tel Aviv said in response to Ynet's question.