Portuguese nationality law

Portuguese by origin are:

• The children of a Portuguese mother or father born in Portuguese territory
• The children of a Portuguese mother or father born abroad if the Portuguese parent is there serving the Portuguese State;
• The children of a Portuguese mother or father born abroad if they have their birth registered at the Portuguese civil registry or if they declare that they want to be Portuguese;
• The persons born in Portuguese territory to foreign parents if at least one of the parents was also born in Portugal and resides here, irrespective of title, at the time of birth;
• The persons born in Portuguese territory to foreign parents who are not serving their respective State, if they declare that they want to be Portuguese and provided that one of the parents has legally resided in Portugal for at least two years at the time of the request (There is no age limit for the registration or declaration and it is retroactive to the time of birth. This right is extensive to the next generation only if the previous one completed it before death. No generations can be skipped);
• The persons born in Portuguese territory who do not possess another nationality.
• Persons born abroad with, at least, one Portuguese ascendant in the second degree (grandparent) of the direct line who has not lost this citizenship.

A person aged 18 or over may be naturalised as a Portuguese citizen after 6 years legal residence.[1][2] There is a requirement to have sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and effective links to the national community. Children aged under 18 may acquire Portuguese citizenship by declaration when a parent is naturalised, and future children of such Portuguese nationals will be considered Portuguese citizens by birth. A naturalised Portuguese citizen only starts to be considered Portuguese once the naturalisation process is done. Therefore, nationality acquired through naturalisation is not transmitted to any possible descendants already adult by the time their parents' naturalisation process is finished.

From 2006 until 2015, a person whose grandparent did not lose Portuguese citizenship was exempt from the residence requirement when applying for naturalisation.[3]

As of 29 July 2015, those born outside Portugal who have at least one grandparent of Portuguese nationality, are granted Portuguese citizenship by extension immediately. The new registration procedure replaces the current provision of Article 6, no. 4—according to which a person who was born abroad and is a 2nd generation descendant of a citizen who has not lost his or her citizenship can acquire Portuguese citizenship by naturalisation, without a residence requirement. The amendment still needs to be signed by the President before entering into law.[4]

A child adopted by a Portuguese citizen acquires Portuguese citizenship. The child should be under 18.

A person married to a Portuguese citizen for at least five years may be able to acquire Portuguese citizenship by declaration. No formal residence period in Portugal is necessary however sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and effective ties with the Portuguese community are required.[5]

An amendment to Portugal's 'Law on Nationality' allows descendants of Portuguese Jews who were expelled in the Portuguese Inquisition to become citizens if they 'belong to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin with ties to Portugal.'[6]

The Portuguese parliament passed legislation facilitating the naturalization of descendants of 16th-century Jews who fled because of religious persecution. On that day Portugal became the only country besides Israel enforcing a Jewish Law of Return. Two years later, Spain adopted a similar measure.

The motion, which was submitted by the Socialist and Center Right parties, was read on Thursday 11 April 2013 in parliament and approved unanimously on Friday 12 April 2013 as an amendment to Portugal's "Law on Nationality" (Decree-Law n.º 43/2013). Portuguese nationality law was further amended to this effect by Decree-Law n.º 30-A/2015, which came into effect on 1 March 2015.[7]

The amended law allows descendants of Jews who were expelled in the 16th century to become citizens if they "belong to a Sephardic community of Portuguese origin with ties to Portugal," according to José Oulman Carp, president of Lisbon's Jewish community. The website of the World Jewish Congress says that the Jewish Community of Lisbon is the organization that unites local communal groups of Lisbon and its environs, while the Jewish Community of Oporto is the organization that unites local communal groups of Oporto.

Applicants must be able to prove Sephardic surnames in their family tree. Another factor is "the language spoken at home," a reference which also applies to Ladino (Judeo-Portuguese and/or Judeo-Spanish). Furthermore, applicants must be able to prove an "emotional and traditional connection with the former Portuguese Sephardic Community," commonly established through a letter from an orthodox rabbi confirming Jewish heritage.[8] The amendment also says applicants need not reside in Portugal, an exception to the requirement of six years of consecutive residency in Portugal for any applicant for citizenship.

From 2015 several hundred Turkish Jews who were able to prove Sephardi ancestry have immigrated to Portugal and acquired citizenship.[9][10][11] Nearly 1,800 descendants of Sephardic Jews acquired Portuguese nationality in 2017.[12] By February 2018, 12,000 applications were in process, and 1,800 applicants had been granted Portuguese citizenship in 2017.[13] By July 2019 there had been about 33,000 applications, of which about a third had already been granted after a long process of verification.[14] As of 2020, Portugal has granted citizenship to about 23,000 people, about 30% of the roughly 76,000 applications submitted since 2015.[15]

Portugal allows dual citizenship. Hence, Portuguese citizens holding or acquiring a foreign citizenship do not lose Portuguese citizenship. Similarly, those becoming Portuguese citizens do not have to renounce their foreign citizenship.

Because Portugal forms part of the European Union, Portuguese citizens are also citizens of the European Union under European Union law and thus enjoy rights of free movement and have the right to vote in elections for the European Parliament.[16] When in a non-EU country where there is no Portuguese embassy, Portuguese citizens have the right to get consular protection from the embassy of any other EU country present in that country.[17][18] Portuguese citizens can live and work in any country within the EU as a result of the right of free movement and residence granted in Article 21 of the EU Treaty.[19]

Special rules exist concerning the acquisition of Portuguese citizenship through connections with Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Portuguese India, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe.

Portugal enacted Decree-Law 308-A/75 of 24 June 1974 to address the issue of losing or retaining Portuguese citizenship by those who had been born or were living in the Portuguese overseas territories which had gained independence. It was assumed that these persons would acquire the citizenship of the new state. The Decree-Law thus merely stipulated that Portuguese citizenship would be retained by those persons who had not been born overseas but were living there. In addition were those who, despite having been born in the territory of the colonies, had maintained a special connection with mainland Portugal by having been long-term residents there. All those not covered by one of the situations which enabled them to keep Portuguese citizenship would lose it ex lege.

All Portuguese citizens are:

• able to vote in political elections upon reaching the age of 18.
• able to run for political office.
• able to vote in referendums.
• able to obtain a Portuguese passport.
• prevented from getting deported from Portugal.

As Portuguese citizens are also European citizens, their rights include:

• the right to live, work and retire in any member state of the European Union, for unlimited period.
• the right to vote in local and European elections in other members states.
• the right to stand in local and European elections in other members states.
• the right to protection by the diplomatic or consular authorities of other member states when in a non-member state, if there are no diplomatic or consular authorities from the citizen's own state.

More information: Citizenship of the European Union

Visa requirements for Portuguese citizens

  Portugal

  Freedom of movement

  Visa not required

  Visa on arrival

  eVisa

  Visa available both on arrival or online

  Visa required prior to arrival

Visa requirements for Portuguese citizens are administrative entry restrictions by the authorities of other states placed on citizens of Portugal. As of February 2018, Portuguese citizens had visa-free or visa on arrival access to 186 countries and territories, ranking the Portuguese passport 4th in terms of travel freedom (tied with American, Austrian, British, Dutch, Luxembourgian, and Norwegian passports) according to the Henley Passport Index.[26]

The Portuguese nationality is ranked twelfth in Nationality Index (QNI). In addition to external factors including travel freedom, the QNI considers internal factors such as peace and stability, economic strength, and human development.[27]

As of May 2015, under the newly approved Portuguese Nationality Act (Article 1, n.1, paragraph d) persons born abroad with, at least, one Portuguese ascendant in the second degree of the direct line who has not lost this citizenship, are Portuguese by origin, provided that they declare that they want to be Portuguese, that they have effective ties with the national community and, once these requirements are met, that are only required to register their birth in any Portuguese civil registry.[4]

In Portuguese nationality law occurred in 2006[28] based on the proposals of deputy Neves Moreira, member of the Democratic Social Party (PSD). Due to these changes, a foreign-born person whose grandparent never lost Portuguese citizenship is now able to request naturalisation without the need to document 6 years residence in Portugal.[29]

Because nationality acquired through naturalisation is not the same as nationality acquired through descent, members of the PSD proposed in 2009 another change in the law. This proposal would have given nationality by origin (descent) rather than by naturalisation to the grandchildren of Portuguese citizens but it was rejected.[30] In 2013, members of the PSD tried to pass a similar measure again[31] but due to the political and economic crisis that engulfed the country, no vote was ever taken on the measure.[32]

• Portuguese Immigration Office (Serviço de Estangeiros e Fronteiras – SEF)
• Portuguese Citizenship Act (unofficial)
• Portuguese Citizenship Application (in Portuguese)
• Portuguese nationality law (unofficial)
• Decree regulating the Portuguese Nationality Law – August 1982 (in Portuguese)
• (Jewish Communities of Portugal)