The President of the Portuguese Republic signed and promulgated the new law amending the Portuguese citizenship regime increasing the residence period to 10 years for Non-EU and 7 years for CPLP nationals, bringing years of uncertainty to the end. This means that the new law is expected to be published in the coming days in the gazette and to enter into force on the day following its publication.
Amended Changes
the new law introduces several changes that may impact your cases, the main ones being the following:
- Applications for citizenship will only become possible after 7 or 10 years of legal residence, depending on whether the applicants are nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries or third countries, respectively;
- The starting point for calculating the above-mentioned period will be the date of issuance of the first residence card;
- No transitional period or grandfathering provision has been included for ongoing residence processes;
- No special provisions or protection provided to golden visa holders.
- The rule allowing the waiting period following the residence application to be counted for citizenship purposes has been revoked.
After the law enters into force, the Government will have 90 days to issue the updated Regulation. The purpose of the Regulation is to clarify certain concepts set out in the law and to develop, specify, and operationalize it, enabling its practical application.
Therefore, for those who are still collecting the documents required to submit a citizenship application, only a few days remain.
