no i think they’re trying to say you’re gonna be subjected to old law as long as the date of submission of the application on the online platform < new law’s publication date
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This is fantastic news! Earlier, IRN used to consider the end of the pre-verification stage (finalizado) and the start of the verification stage (submetido) as the “start date”, which is problematic because that happens 6-8 months after the initial application is submitted online. (See Ana Rita Gil’s op-ed on dn.pt, here) So those of us who submitted just a few days or a few weeks before the promulgation of diploma A of the nationality law amendment were worried that we wouldn’t be grandfathered, due to this 6-8 month lag to be considered “submetido”. Now, IRN is committed to using that initial online submission date, so we are grandfathered!
Now, the next question is, will the contagem de tempo be calculated at the “em analise” stage and not the at the very initial online submission date? Hopefully, yes, otherwise all our early application will be considered deficient for not having 5yrs on the contagem de tempo…
…. even if we are a few months short of the required 5 years at the time of online submission?
This IRN notice protects the “submission date” for old-law/new-law purposes
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There are 2 separate problems. One is “is our application grandfathered under the old laws?”. The other is “do we satisfy the 5yr residency under the old laws?”
For the “is our application grandfathered under the old laws?” question, the answer is YES! So long as we submit the application online before the new law is in effect, we are grandfathered.
For the “do we satisfy the 5yrs residency under the old law?” question, it depends on when the contagem de tempo is calculated. If it’s calculated during “em analise” then it’s like 8-24 months after the initial online subsmission. If it’s calculated as of the online submission date, it will show less than 5yrs for all of us early filers. And then it’s a question of whether they allow curing it through waiting.
So the decision tree is like this..
Path A: contagem de tempo is calculated during “em analise”, so there’s an extra 8-24 months of time after online submission, so hopefully those of us who are close to 5yrs will be seen as more than 5yrs.
Path A.1: great, we’re grandfathered due to online submission date, and we’re satisfactorily passing the contagem de tempo. So we will eventually get granted naturalization.
Path B: contagem de tempo is calculated at much earlier stage, like from the online submission date
Path B.1: no curing is allowed, and if we fail the contagem de tempo, the application is immediately rejected.
Path B.2: there is curing allowed, and a new contagem de tempo will be generated later during “em analise” similar to A.1 and so there’s a chance to still pass it.
So, of those 3 paths, A.1 and B.2 are fine! B.1 means we are S.O.L. and then maybe we file lawsuits and pound our fists up at the sky with clenched teeth.
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What is ‘curing’ exactly? If I understand what you’re saying about counting the 5 years, it’s whether under the old law they count from manifestation of interest to a) the online submission date, or b) the analysis or decision date which could be months or years after the online submission. But I haven’t seen/heard the term ‘curing’ before.
I don’t think it makes much sense.
The only ‘risk’ is the CdT being calculated at a point in time when the particular applicant has not yet reached the required legal residence summarily.
That is the only scenario where some ‘curing’ may need to be relied on.
And by ‘curing’ we’re saying that they wait for 5 years to elapse, as per the old rules, then approve your citizenship - for me this is the only scenario in which we can truly say we’ve been grandfathered - rather than refusing citizenship on the grounds of having had less than 5 years residence when you submitted your online citizenship application.
Is this new announcement against the December court ruling?
If not, then we should be fine.
Also, has anyone here heard of someone getting citizenship after applying 1–1.5 years early? A lawyer told me he knows someone who got it despite being 1.5 years early, but I don’t really trust him because he seems too greedy.
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No. This IRN procedural announcement…
Seems just a clarification that this prior IRN practice will not apply…
This is only speculation but it is possible that a certain political party was pressuring IRN to interpret the law such that they would only consider applications as valid once they receive a process number. IRN did not like feeling pressured in such way to violate the law so they issued this release to institutionalize the previous process according to the law, and they also started issuing process numbers much faster.
I’ve interacted with several staff members at IRN offices. It delighted me that they were so helpful and supportive. They offered to communicate in English, answered all of my questions authoritatively (double-checking with colleagues and supervisors for unusual questions), and offered useful advice about points that I didn’t think to ask about. When I was preparing and submitting my paperwork, they helped me to ensure that it was complete and timely, without giving me any sense that they were adversarially gatekeeping. I perceived the spirit of their attention to be a service, guiding me to avoid common pitfalls that could jeopardize my success. For example, they computed the exact date of my eligibility (5 years + 1 day) based on my AIMA documentation.
I’m grateful to IRN staff for their dedication to serving the people who wait in line outside their office every morning, who came to Portugal to build better lives and contribute to society.
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I read something in the past where it says you can submit missing documents later if your application is in Porto versus Lisbon or vice versa. Can someone clarify this and is there a way to tell where your application was submitted based on the online email we get from IRN?
i think its online vs offline application
and i think all online applications go to porto
how did you hear about this speculation?
why is IRN on our side all of a sudden?
I heard that too, but recent posts disprove that notion…
Where do you access this screen? I get email notifications containing my Número de submissão, but how to access the screen saying “Número Processo: Em processamento”?
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My lawyer sent me a screenshot after she paid the DUC.
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Hello, I received my passport through GV in 2022. During that time, lawyers had mentioned to me that the first thing the conservator at the IRN checks is whether you met all citizenship requirements on the day the application was received (dá entrada). This means applications submitted even 24 hours before the 5-year mark have had documented histories of immediate denial and forfeiture of the 250 euro fee. Additionally, you weren’t allowed to apply a second time even after reaching 5 years until that first application receives a “Despacho de Indeferimento” (Order of Denial) which could take a long time. As a result, I remember being very careful regarding not mixing up processing times and submission times.
Moreover, if they were to include grandfathering provisions for current PRs, ARI investors or other residents of portugal on immigrant visas, it wouldn’t be based on the criterion of “who has turned in early citizenship applications”. Rather, if these protections are created, they would apply for a subset of that population and be enforced from there. The recent IRN post regarding “taking into account date of submission” does not override either of these policies.
Finally, for those seeking arbitration through lawsuits regarding legitimate business expectations being subverted or other investor class actions against the Portugese government, if you file early you will be committing perjury under article 6. From what I understand, you have to sign that that you have already achieved your five years of legal residence at the time of submission. This is (technically) a crime and you may face a more difficult legal challenge if this is a fact of your case, but I am not a lawyer.
One thing I do find curious is how these timeframes were so strictly enforced under SEF, but now it seems people have received legal advice to proceed with filing early. Maybe things have changed, but best of luck to everyone still in the process. You guys will get through it! Stay strong 
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This was discussed extensively in the WhatsApp group, and it turns out if your lawyer files for you there is no such statement.
At least one thing that changed was the law to allow counting from application, which was never regulated, so the application date is somewhat ambiguous. Given the ambiguity it makes sense for IRN to be a bit less strict. For example if AIMA issues a Contagem de Tempo based on an earlier application date, it would be a violation of legitimate expectations for IRN to deny a citizenship application filed based on the data AIMA themselves provided.
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