Hello there! My first post here (I did read the rules so I hope this is alright!)
I’m a dual US-EU citizen. My EU Citizenship is from a country that’s let’s say, is moving in a certain direction that is potentially dangerous to my family and I. Thus, we’re looking for other options. I’ve held a CRUE in Portugal (Penamacor) since last year, and it’s been great (I travel across the EU for my sales job, and when I’m at a home base, I can do admin work and hang out). Getting the CRUE was fairly straightforward - I didn’t submit a NIF.
I love Portugal. I want to spend more time there, and may retire there eventually. At the very least I’ll start transitioning my life away from the regime I’m currently in, over to Portugal. So, for the long term, I’m curious—have any fellow EU citizens here gone through the citizenship process after 5 years on CRUE alone? I could easily pass the language test. How strict are they about presence? I know that since the 2024 Nationality Reforms happened, there’s been more focus on the “effective connection” rule, but is that the case for EU citizens, especially given our travel rights? Like I said, I’m a road warrior, and spend 50+% of my time in various EU countries for work, so I want to make sure I’m compliant. We have a little apartment in Penamacor, but some months there probably isn’t any utility or internet activity at all. Just trying to figure it all out.
Thanks for any insights you may have! I’d also take any good Portuguese attorney recommendations that could maybe help me through some of this. Obrigado!