Portuguese Citizenship Law in force since the 11th of November after publication in the official journal.

Among the main changes are:

– process of granting nationality to grandchildren of Portuguese citizens simplified. Knowledge of the Portuguese language will be enough to prove the connection to the Portuguese community.
– The State is now also forbidden to oppose the acquisition of the nationality of a spouse or partner of a Portuguese citizen when the marriage or union has lasted for more than 6 years.
– Citizens of the former colonies who, having been born Portuguese, did not retain nationality because they did not meet the criteria, can now become naturalized as Portuguese citizens. As long as they have remained residing and continue to reside in Portugal, regardless of title. However, the requirement of not being sentenced to prison for more than 3 years, for a crime that would also be punishable in Portuguese territory, is maintained.
– Children born in Portuguese territory are granted nationality when one of their parents was residing here at birth, regardless of title, for more than 1 year. This term was previously 2 years.

All these changes have entered into force today.
However, the Regulation Decree has not yet been amended.
The Government has 90 days to do so.

However, the last amendment to the Nationality Law dates from 2018, when the Regulation Decree remains unchanged since 2017!
I guess we will see whether or not, under these conditions, the Registry will hinder the application of these amendments to new or pending cases.
Because, if there are changes that do not leave much doubt in their immediate application, others do not.

We go into more detail on these changes in a series of articles published here (via marriage or de facto union changes) and here (via grandchildren changes).

The team,