Amendments in the Portuguese Nationality Law 2024

On January 5th, 2024, the Portuguese Parliament approved significant amendments to the Nationality Law, awaiting the President’s promulgation and subsequent publication. These modifications provide new opportunities for obtaining Portuguese citizenship.

WHAT HAS CHANGED?

A) Descendants of Sephardic Jews:

Despite speculations regarding the ending of acquisition of nationality for descendants of Sephardic Jews, the current reality suggests that we will not witness its end at least for the time being.

Below, we highlight the key aspects of the approved changes:

      A.1) The Parliament approved changes outline specific and cumulative requirements for granting nationality through naturalization, with a waiver of the legal residence requirement in Portugal for 5 years and proficiency in the Portuguese language.

These requirements are:

• Demonstration of a tradition of belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin, based on objective criteria such as surnames, familiar language, direct or collateral descent;

     A.2) Legal residence in Portuguese territory for at least three years, continuously or intermittently2. The certification of the demonstration of tradition of belonging to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin based on proven objective criteria linking to Portugal is subject to final approval by an evaluation committee.

B) Effects of the establishment of affiliation:

This change addresses an important aspect of personal identity and opens new paths for those affected by the belated establishment of affiliation in their pursuit of citizenship.

Before the amendment approved by Parliament and considering that this change will get in force soon, only the establishment of affiliation during minority had effects in terms of Portuguese nationality.

With the new wording of the law, establishment of affiliation in adulthood is allowed to have effects on nationality, provided that:

• It occurs following a judicial process or when it is the subject of recognition in a court action, after the final sentence, without prejudice to what is established regarding the review of foreign decisions;
• It is requested within the three years following the final decision.

C) Counting of the legal Residence Time:

The changes redefine the commencement date of the 5-year residence period for citizenship, beginning from the date of application submission. This includes the time spent in the residence approval process.

In other words, for the purpose of counting of the legal residence time, the period begins from the moment the application for temporary residence is requested, provided it is eventually approved.

This is arguably the change with the most significant impact on this legislation, given the well-known and substantial delay in the process of granting residence permits in the Immigration Services in Portugal. It also demonstrates the government’s recognition of the harm caused to applicants by the extended processing times.

It is important to note that the wording of the law, by mentioning “residence title,” may lead to divergent interpretations. It is because “residence title” instead of “residence permit” represent different concepts and stages in the foreigner regularization procedure.

This interpretation would allow considering that the 5-year countdown for the nationality application under Article 6(1) would begin only with the payment of the fee for the issuance of the residence title, which, in practical terms, would not bring significant practical utility.

Therefore, we believe that the legislator was referring to the moment of the residence permit application and not the title itself.

The current legislation stipulates that the application for a residence permit can be submitted by the interested party or their legal representative and must be submitted to AIMA, I.P. [new name of the Immigration Services], without prejudice to what is established in special regimes [Bilateral or Multilateral Agreements, International Conventions, Mobility Agreements, or Protocols and Memoranda of Understanding concluded between Portugal and Third States].

A) Expression of interest

In the context of an Expression of Interest process (also called MI), we consider that the relevant moment would be the submission of this MI, done online on a platform designated for this purpose. This interpretation is supported by the literal provision of the law, which associates the submission of an Expression of Interest with the application for a residence permit, as can be observed in Article 81(6) of Law No. 23/2007 of July 4, in its current wording, as well as in Articles 88(2) and 89(2) of the same law.

B) Golden Visa

Despite also being an online procedure on an official platform, it has a distinct component compared to Expression of interest processes.

This program involves an online “Application” phase, followed by an Admission Notification and, subsequently, a Scheduling Notification at the Immigration Service. This process culminates in a physical visit, during which the applicant “completes” their request to obtain a residence permit.

Our interpretation, aligned with the corrective purpose of the recent amendments, suggests that the relevant moment to start the 5-year countdown is with the payment of the analysis fee when submitting the Golden Visa application online.

C) Residence visa (“D” programs)

Finally, following the literal interpretation of this rule, the waiting period for a visa and the corresponding appointment in the context of residence visas would be excluded.

This is because the application for a temporary residence permit is made in person during the appointment at the Immigration Services in Portugal, not when applying for a visa at a Consulate or VFS Global.

DISCLAIMER:

The information provided in this text does not constitute the provision of personalized legal advice, nor does it take into account any specific case; please contact us for additional clarifications.

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