of consecutive residency in Portugal for any applicant for citizenship. From 2015 several hundred Turkish Jews who were able to prove Sephardi ancestry have immigrated to Portugal and acquired citizenship. Nearly 1,800 descendants of Sephardic Jews acquired Portuguese nationality in 2017. By February 2018, 12,000 applications were in process, and 1,800 applicants had been granted Portuguese citizenship in 2017. By July 2019 there had been about 33,000 applications, of which about a third had already been granted after a long process of verification. By November 2020 Portugal had granted citizenship to about 23,000 people, about 30% of the roughly 76,000 applications submitted since 2015; the number was stated as 56,685 granted, with 80,102 pending, at the end of January 2022.As of January 2023, the number of pending cases was reported to be over 300,000. After some notorious cases where it was reported that people without a valid claim had been granted citizenship, with falsification of documents and other misdeeds, the Portuguese government on 9 March 2022 implemented a decree-law to increase scrutiny of candidates, who will have to prove an "effective connection with Portugal". Among cases being investigated was that of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, although it was not expected that changes would be retroactive for people already granted citizenship. Dual citizenship Portugal allows dual citizenship. Hence, Portuguese citizens holding or acquiring a foreign citizenship do not lose Portuguese citizenship. Similarly, those becoming Portuguese citizens do not have to renounce their foreign citizenship. Citizenship of the European Union Because Portugal forms part of the European Union, Portuguese citizens are also citizens of the European Union under European Union law and thus enjoy rights of free movement and have the right to vote in elections for the European Parliament. When in a non-EU country where there is no Portuguese embassy, Portuguese citizens have the right to get consular protection from the embassy of any other EU country present in that country. Portuguese citizens can live and work in any country within the EU as a result of the right of free movement and residence granted in Article 21 of the EU Treaty. Former territories of Portugal Special rules exist concerning the acquisition of Portuguese citizenship through connections with Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Goa, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Macau and São Tomé and Príncipe. Portugal enacted Decree-Law 308-A/75 of 24 June 1974 to address the issue of losing or retaining Portuguese citizenship by