I didn’t get any email, I haven’t received any emails yet through the entire process tbh - I guess my Lawyer is receiving them or receives all communications through the channel. As of now, this is what I can see.
1 Like
I’m keen to see what will happen when the law is promulgated.
In short, prior to discussions on nationality law, the backlog in Porto was 24 months, and with every coming month, we would see approvals from the next month in que.
Since December 2025 , we have seen numerous October 2023 applications getting approved. 5 full months have passed and we are still are where we are - no sign of November approvals.. Trying to explain this with increased number of applications or staff shortage don’t really explain the sudden change in the approval trend; on top there are several people who were told by IRN stuff that things are on pause.
For my specific case my lawyers were told on March that, my case from Nov 2023 has all the approvals, including the one from AIMA but most likely I would get the final approval between May and June.
The timing coincides perfectly with the new nationality law coming into force.
By the way, for those people who keep articulating aah this is the new normal, I kindly ask them to do the math.
There is now a backlog of 30 months, if each month would take 5 to 6 months to be proceeded (as they keep saying this the new normal); a new application will get approved in 30 months + 30 x 5 = 180 months; that is 15 years on its own.. Obviously I don’t expect this to be the case.
Given that all pending cases are now secure - as the new law specifically provides clarification and assurance on this - I hope that starting from this week, we start seeing approvals of November and December 2023 cases; as legally there shouldn’t be anything keeping them pending.
Once the new nationality law comes into the force, I expect the pending 2023 cases including November and December cases to be approved in batches and hopefully things will speed up for all those who are waiting for.
3 Likes
Given the 4+ month wait for “Finalizado” in this recent post above - and 6-7 month wait in this post - my experience the past couple days seems unreal, no?
- 24 de abril de 2026 10:08 - Submissão Online [by lawyer, obv.]
- 24th 10:12 - número de submissão ___ [Em Pagamento]
- 24th 17:11 - número de submissão IRN-xxxxx/2026 [Submetido]
- 25th 19:51 - número de submissão IRN-xxxxx/2026 [Verificado]
- 25th 21:01 - número de submissão IRN-xxxxx/2026 [Finalizado]
Our lawyer wonders if the Civil Office got instructions to finalise the preliminary stage faster due to the new law being imminent, or perhaps they just improved the system.
The paranoid may also wonder if the IRN is now looking to sweep for ‘early applications’ that are easy to reject 
Note none of the emails so far have intimated where the file was sent (I wasn’t expecting them to, but other posts above suggested I might). The status update emails come from ‘no-reply’ at the IRN. The Submissão email came from ‘rcentrais.contabilidade’ which doesn’t suggest a location either.
2 Likes
My application at IRN is showing the same timeline and current status (Submetido).
Hard to know what it all means. I received a número de submissão when we applied back in October. I think at the next stage you receive a código de consulta and a process number (which is different to the número de submissão). Did you receive those yet?
Not yet, but it hasn’t been a full (weekday) working day since the submission yet. I’m shocked at what I’ve already received so quickly… and of course suspicious given other applicants’ experiences 
1 Like
I strongly suspect IRN does things ‘in batches’ hence one may wait 6 months while another a few days. So they have a batch of incoming files and once they reach some quantity it gets all processed. It’s like AIMA with their bio invites..
1 Like
When the online system started back in 2023, people reported one week turnaround to Finalizado. So I would not pay too much attention to it, it’s just an online file processing thing. Your actual process will have 4 more looong stages..
1 Like
I already explained earlier why it is not possible to ‘sweep’.
So no worries there.
1 Like
Right, but it’s not yet clear that timeline is unusual. I also got the submission number in 24 hours after applying last October, but I’m still waiting for the process number and access code. If you get those quickly, that will be shocking (and good for you!). I have seen one November application on here get those this week, and others like mine from October still waiting, so it seems quite random.
Is it normal that the status of my application changes from “verificad” to finalizado in just two days. Is that normal timeline
Is it normal that the status of my application changes from “verificad” to finalizado in just two days? Any one received the second email that fast
This seems odd since so many from applications from December to April just received process numbers all at once. If you applied September that would be an outlier. Maybe your lawyer received the codes but forgot to notify you?
Yes, it is normal, mine was the same, going from ‘verificado’ to ‘finalizado’ in a couple of days. But note that this is just the preliminary phase which is finalizado, the real 2-3 year wait begins now. You should get a process number and a tracking number which you can use to check the status of the application.
When do you get after the finalize email?
My lawyer emailed me with the codes about an hour after I posted that, so perhaps you’re right 
And my process number is 2026/22XXX which seems like it was issued earlier than others who received them a few weeks ago.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t read that any of the April applicants have actually received process numbers and codes, just submission numbers and ‘finalizado’ emails. The only people who have confirmed codes are those with late 2025 submissions. But if IRN is doing this in batches, they might get them soon.
2 Likes
Drew , who I think is in this forum, applied March 9 and already received process number. I know one from January who already received process number.
There was a big approval dump last week of everyone who applied approx Sept 2025 to March 2026.
Keep in mind that (AFAIK) IRN cannot “see” the applications until they get uploaded to its systems and the process number is assigned. It will be interesting to see how they handle them once they review, which could be some time that is 12 months from now.
Interesting. My lawyer said that they were told by an IRN official that this initial document scan is actually done by AI!! So who knows why it took so long. Maybe the tech failed. Maybe they were waiting for more clarity on the changes to the law. We will never know.
I believe you’re referring to this (that I posted earlier), quoted from someone who works at the IRN?
1 Like
More goss from people who work at the IRN 
Nationality applications take years to even begin to be processed, says IRN union.
April 29, 2026
…from the president of the Union of Registry and Notary Workers (STRN), Arménio Maximino, in an interview with DN Brasil.It is estimated that approximately 600,000 applications are under review. The application submission platform, launched in October 2024, allowed lawyers and solicitors to complete the procedure online . However, this does not necessarily mean greater speed.
According to the union, the “little ball” indicating stage one does not mean that the process has begun to move forward . This is because the guideline is to analyze requests in chronological order, and there are still thousands of paper-based processes stalled. “These [online] processes cannot overtake those that have been on paper for the longest time,” emphasises Paulo Jorge Gonçalves, vice-president of STRN.
Besides the lack of staff, the union claims there is insufficient investment in technology. Union leaders emphasise that they are not against the use of technology—quite the opposite. “We have Windows XP to work with. We wish we had artificial intelligence tools. We are not against it, quite the contrary,” Maximino emphasises.
3 Likes