How do you know that you are eligible to apply in July 2026?
There are only two ways to confirm.
Which confirmation of these two above have you got?
14 days stay (per each 2 years) requirement pertains to ARI renewals only.
Your CdT or future citizenship application are unaffected.
Thanks for sharing your experience. May I ask whether your dependent is a minor? If so, can a minor apply for citizenship before the parent gets one?
No. My dependent is an adult.
Under my research, a minor is not allowed to apply citizenship before his parents get one.
Thank you! That’s what I thought. Thank you for confirming and good luck with your process!
Hey! Thanks for posting this. What are you thinking the timeline of seeing whether your citizenship is approved? Also I know it’s Portugal so timeline could be anything😂
Thanks for your question. I think the result of my citizenship will come out in 3-5 years. However, I am considering an option to take IRN to the court if waiting time reaches 1 year mark…let’s see how things develop next year.
after checking the process online today, a minor info was updated…Detail is written on the first post of this thread.
When preparing the notarized translations, did you make a “simple copy” or a “notarized copy” of the original document?
AIMA accepts a “simple copy” (or maybe they just don’t pay attention), but I am not sure about IRN.
My criminal records (US and UK) were firstly apostiled/legalized by the UK US authorities. Then the documents were translated from english to portuguese language by a local notary office in Lisbon (tradução certificada).
My birth certificate was apostiled/legalized by the portuguese embassy. Since it is already in portuguese language, it was ready to go without needing any translation.
So you supplied your original documents physically to the translator, correct?
No. The notary office asked me to send them scan copy of original documents. Then they translated based on the scan copies. Then they stamped the translation and the copies together and sent it to me by post (of course you can pick up the documents in person in their office). I finally brought everything to IRN and IRN’s officer did not complain anything.
Awesome, thanks for clarifying.
That’s the same process I used for AIMA, and it means the translation is stapled together with a ‘simple copy’ of the original (‘fotocópia simples’).
Which saves on posting the physical original documents back and forth..
Would you care to elaborate as to why you chose the in-person path instead of the postal application? What are the cons of the postal one? Both save on the legal fees apparently and less hassle with the postal by not chasing the IRN appointments.
I have already explained it in my first post. Doing in person, you receive the process number (to track online) immediately in some IRNs. Sending application by post, you will receive email of confirmation with process number anytime between 2 weeks to 8 months (because IRN staffs need to input your application in the system and issue a process number). Hence doing in person is a safest way. In addition to that, when doing in person IRN staff often scheme over the documents and identify strange things. If he/she does not agree with sth of documents, then obviously we must re-prepare the docs. But if he/she is OK with it, then at least we know that we pass the Step 0. In my opinion, the Yes of IRN’s staff at the submission stage is even better than lawer’s check.
Sending application by post is not bad at all. However, if you live full time in Portugal or happen to be in Portugal, then why not doing it in person to get the process code right away? Chasing the IRN appointment is not difficult because we can always secure by Siga 2.5-3 months in advance. I actually secured several IRN appointments before preparing the docs because I received my CdT 3.5 months before the starting date of applying for citizenship (which is written on CdT) . Once I had the IRN’s appointment 3 month ahead, then I started right away preparing docs. And my docs were ready in 2 months.
Ok, that’s fair enough, thanks.
IRN appointments are only available 3 months ahead, and if someone wants a combined slot for the whole family the availability becomes more scarce.
Anyways, do you happen to know as to what date IRN considers as ‘the date of submission’ in case of postal application? Is it the date of posting by applicant, the date of postal receipt by IRN, or the date when IRN staff open the envelope and create the case (which you suggest can be 0.5 to 8 months?)?
From what I observe, it is pretty random. It depends entirely on an individual irn staff who inputs document in the system. It can be anything but it can’t be earlier than the date that IRN receives the envelope.
Personally I would not put the whole family in one single IRN. Different IRNs have different speeds to process the citizenship applications. Therefore i prefer to split into at least 2 different IRNs. By doing at, the whole family will not be stuck in one IRN.
Thank you so much for the DIY tutorial and congrats on reaching the 5 years mark!
I would like to ask if you have any examples of people applying in IRNs further away from lisbon, as I remember reading some time ago a lawyer opinion - the most “trustworthy” source, I know - about the further you apply the faster it would be as it will be less congested, do you happen to have any idea about that?
From what I see, Braga is faster. But it is true for applicants in 2023 or before 2023. Now they are all slow. The IRN in smaller town can be faster but also can be extremely slow due to lacking of staffs. Example: IRN Evora has zero staff for long time and they have no idea how to solve the problem. IRN Amadora was closed this year and then all applicantions were forwarded to Lisbon….It is a mess…I expect that processing time will continue increasing to 4-5 years.