Over 30000 people received the Luxembourg passport over a span of ten years. Luxembourg is among the most desirable citizenships to have.  Copyright (c) 2021 AS photostudio/Shutterstock. No use without permission.

Over 30000 people received the Luxembourg passport over a span of ten years. Luxembourg is among the most desirable citizenships to have.  Copyright (c) 2021 AS photostudio/Shutterstock. No use without permission.

Over the span of ten years, 31,151 people re-claimed Luxembourg nationality thanks to a temporary law that allowed descendants to apply for citizenship, minister of justice Sam Tanson (Déi Gréng) said in answer to a parliamentary question on Wednesday.

Fred Keup (ADR) had requested information from Tanson not only on the number of people granted the nationality in the 10 year-period that the law applied, but also the number of refusals and the potential future number of requests, were the law to be voted in again. This question comes after Sven Clement (Pirate Party) requested a renewal of the bid. Tanson has previously said that it

The citizenship recovery procedure was organised in two steps. The first required candidates to request a certificate proving a link to a Luxembourger born after 1 January 1900. 48,052 people participated in the first step, 480 were refused a certificate, Tanson said.

31,151 people passed the second step of the recovery, while 23 were rejected, mainly for failing to provide a criminal record with their documentation. Most requests came from France, Belgium, Brazil, the United States and Germany.

Tanson added, in her official response, that a study on the potential amount of future requests was not planned, meaning it is now known how many people could potentially benefit if the law was extended.

The law is currently not in effect anymore, however, anyone who passed the first step before 31 December 2018 can still complete the second step until 31 December 2022, a deadline that was extended because of the pandemic as it requires applicants to sign paperwork in person in Luxembourg.