It finally happened! After months of political back-and-forth, Constitutional Court reviews, and widespread speculation about whether it would ever reach the finish line, Portugal’s revised Nationality Law is now a done deal. President António José Seguro promulgated the legislation on May 3, which officially ended the uncertainty that had hung over foreign nationals, immigration lawyers, and pending applicants across the country.
Although Seguro finally signed the bill into law, the signing was not exactly enthusiastic. Seguro made it clear in his statement on the presidency’s website that he had reservations about the process even as he put his name on the document. He argued that a law of this significance, one that the legal system classifies as having “reinforced value,” deserved broader political consensus than it received. However, Seguro’s hands were essentially tied because, with a two-thirds parliamentary majority behind the legislation, a veto would have accomplished very little. Thus, it was expected that Seguro would sign the bill as a two-thirds majority in Parliament would override any veto.
How We Got Here
The road to this version of the law was long and winding. An earlier version was sent to the Constitutional Court for preventive review, which declared four provisions unconstitutional, three of them unanimously. Lawmakers revised those provisions and passed a second version on April 1, with 152 votes in favor and 64 against. The governing Social Democratic Party (PSD) passed it alongside Chega, IL, and CDS-PP, over objections from the Socialist Party, Livre, PCP, Bloco de Esquerda, and PAN.
The Socialist Party chose not to request another round of constitutional review for the revised Nationality Law itself, though it did submit the companion criminal penalty decree for review. The president also declined to refer any provisions of the Nationality Law to the Constitutional Court before signing.
The law now heads to the Diário da República for publication. Once the law is published, it will take effect. This is expected within five working days, and the law will take effect the day after publication in the Diário da República.
What Changes Now
The most significant practical change is the extension of time it will take to obtain citizenship. Under the previous law, five years of legal residence qualified most foreign nationals to apply for Portuguese citizenship. Now, that number officially doubles to ten years for citizens of countries outside the European Union. For nationals from EU member states and citizens of CPLP nations, including Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde, and others, the length of time now increases to seven years.
That would be substantial enough on its own, but there is another change that is important to keep in mind. Under a 2024 amendment, the residency clock had been allowed to start when an applicant submitted their request for a residence permit, a protection designed to insulate people from bureaucratic slowdowns at the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA). The new law reverses that. The clock now starts only when AIMA actually issues the permit/residence card.
Given that AIMA has routinely taken two to three years to process permit applications, legal professionals now estimate the actual timeline for many applicants could stretch to somewhere between nine and thirteen years. Seguro appeared to be aware of this issue when he signed the law, as he noted in his statement the importance of ensuring that “the counting of legally fixed timelines for obtaining nationality is not affected by the slowness of the state.” That language carries no binding legal force, but it may influence how courts interpret disputes that arise from processing delays.
Children Born in Portugal Face New Hurdles
Under the previous framework, a child born in Portugal automatically qualified for Portuguese citizenship if one parent had been residing in the country for at least one year, regardless of that parent’s legal status. The revised law restricts that right significantly. Now, one parent must have been legally residing in Portugal for at least five years before the child can claim citizenship by birth.
Seguro addressed this directly in his signing statement. He emphasized that stricter criteria does not prevent the indispensable humanitarian protection and the desirable integration of children and minors born in Portugal. He called on future governments to give special attention to protecting children in this category especially with regard to access to health care and education under existing law. Whether that aspiration translates into durable policy remains to be seen.
What Was Eliminated
Two specific pathways to Portuguese nationality that had existed for years are now gone. The program allowing descendants of Sephardic Jews to claim Portuguese nationality, introduced in 2015, has now been eliminated. In addition, the regime that applied to people born in former Portuguese overseas territories that became independent, who remained in Portugal, and their children born on Portuguese soil has also now been abolished. Both programs were designed to address gaps left by the 1975 nationality framework.
One Part of the Nationality Law Is Still Unresolved
Seguro signed only one of the two decrees that arrived on his desk after the April 1 vote. A separate measure that would have amended the Penal Code to create loss of nationality as an accessory criminal penalty is still suspended, pending a Constitutional Court ruling. The court had already struck down a similar provision when it reviewed the first version of the legislation. Whether the revised formulation survives is still an open question.
For investors who came through the Golden Visa program, the news is more limited in scope than some feared. Permanent residency after five years remains unchanged. The new timelines apply specifically to citizenship and not to residency status itself.
Here’s a “Final Thoughts” section to close out the article:
Final Thoughts
Portugal’s revised Nationality Law represents one of the most significant shifts in the country’s immigration framework in decades. For those already in the process of building a life here, the changes are extremely frustrating, especially given the difficulty in dealing with AIMA, but not unexpected. Longer wait times, a residency clock that now depends on the pace of a notoriously slow bureaucracy, and the elimination of long-standing pathways mean that the road to Portuguese citizenship just got considerably longer and more uncertain for a lot of people.
That said, it is worth keeping a few things in mind. Permanent residency remains unaffected, which means that those who arrived through the Golden Visa program or other routes are not losing ground on that front. What happens next depends on two things: how quickly the law is published in the Diário da República and how the Constitutional Court rules on the loss of nationality provision. Both are worth watching closely.
