Obtaining Citizenship in Portugal

Good day. I learned last week (on the website of the Portuguese Embassy in Washington, DC) that it is not possible to obtain Portuguese citizenship if one a) served (voluntarily) in the armed forces of a different country and b) if one served as a “foreign civil servant” (like me; I retired last year). We were getting ready to invest in a GV fund, but this has really thrown us for a loop, if true. Our Portuguese attorney believes it may indeed be true. Anyone else have experience with a situation such as this?

Wow, that’s a bummer. I hope you find a solution!

Thanks everyone! It looks like - for the purposes of requesting citizenship through residency (be it D7 or GV), the military and government service clauses don’t apply… Phew! Onward!

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Yeap. Really appreciate your efforts in asking this question. Cos I have a similar question to yours. In m y country, I have to serve compulsory military service for some time and I was also afraid that I might not be granted Portuguese citizenship thru naturalization(via D7 or GV).

At least my fears are also alleviated

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It wouldn’t apply to you anyway because the opposition stated “non compulsory military service”.