The change in the proposed law on nationality and family reunification for foreigners in Portugal has been postponed until October.
Chega said on Wednesday that the government intends to postpone the final approval of the revision of the nationality law until October, prioritising the process to remedy the unconstitutionalities pointed out by the Constitutional Court in the law on foreigners. Speaking to journalists, according to Lusa agency, Rita Matias said that regarding foreigners’ and nationality laws, “the government has defined a working methodology to deal with these issues at two different times.”
Currently, the law requires five years of legal residence in Portugal for a foreigner to apply for nationality through naturalization. The proposed law requires restrictive access to citizenship with long waiting time for foreigners…
- 7 years for citizens of Portuguese-speaking countries; 10 years for other immigrants.
- Adherence to cultural and linguistic integration;
- Transfer of citizenship to children and spouses
- Inadmissability of citizenship to criminals.
Since 2012, the Golden Visa program has attracted approximately €8 billion in foreign direct investment to Portugal. In 13 years, approximately 33,000 residency permits were granted through golden visas , representing less than 0.3% of the Portuguese resident population.
Those who have already filed nationality application are unaffected by these changes, but those who are preparing or havent considered applying, must urgently move forward, before the new law comes into effect.
