I think there’s often confusion about “effective connection” (ligação). I’d really like to check my understanding of this, so I’d welcome any corrections to what follows:
There are two chains of law that are relevant. The Nationality Law, first introduced in 1981 (37/81 of 3 October). This has been amended ten times, most recently in 2020 (Organic Law 2/20 of 10 November).
Chapter II of the Law is divided into three sections. Section I deals with “Acquisition of nationality by effect of will”, which basically covers children of people who acquire Portuguese nationality, and people who marry a Portuguese person. Section II covers adoption. Section III covers naturalisation, which is relevant to us. For our purposes we are interested in Article 6, mainly clause 1, which has evolved as follows:
- In its original version, the Government “may grant” nationality by naturalisation to foreigners who have resided for six years in Portugal, know the language, have “moral and civic suitability”, and can support themselves.
- “May grant” became “grants” in 2006, implying an automatic process. Six years became ten in 1994, back to six in 2006 and then five years in 2018. “Moral and civic suitability” and the subsistence tests were dropped in 2006, replaced by the absence of a criminal conviction of >3 years. A “national security” test was added in 2015.
- In 2006, the language around residence was changed. Previously, it said “reside in Portuguese territory or under Portuguese administration, with a valid title of residence permit”. From 2006 it reads “have resided legally in Portuguese territory [for X years]”. I understand from other commentary, that “resided legally” includes “has had a residence permit”
- The “effective link” was not there in 1981, but was introduced in 1994, with applicants having to “prove the existence of an effective link to the national community”. This was dropped in 2006.
So what remains in the Nationality Law is:
1 - The Government grants Portuguese nationality, by naturalization, to foreigners who cumulatively meet the following requirements:
a) Be of age or emancipated under Portuguese law;
b) Have resided legally in Portuguese territory for at least five years;
c) Know the Portuguese language sufficiently;
d) Have not been convicted, with final judgment, with a prison sentence equal to or greater than 3 years, for a crime punishable under Portuguese law;
e) Do not constitute a danger or threat to national security or defense, due to their involvement in activities related to the practice of terrorism, under the terms of the respective law.
Then we have the Nationality Regulations. I think these were first introduced in 2006 (Decree-Law No. 237-A/2006, of 14 December) and were amended in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2022. We’re interested in Article 19. Clause 1 basically recaps what’s in the Nationality Law. Clause 2 sets out the documents you have to produce.
a) Birth registration certificate;
b) Document issued by the Foreigners and Borders Service, proving that you have legally resided in Portuguese territory for at least five years, under any of the titles, visas or authorizations provided for in the regime of entry, stay, exit and removal of foreigners and in the regime of the right of asylum or under special regimes resulting from treaties or conventions to which Portugal is a Party, namely within the scope of the European Union and the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries;
c) Document proving that you have sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language, in accordance with the provisions of article 25;
d) Criminal record certificates issued by the competent Portuguese services, from the country of birth and nationality, except in the cases provided for in paragraph 8 of article 37, as well as from the countries where you have resided after completing the age of criminal responsibility.
Article 25 deals with proof of residence and language competence. On residence it says “The Foreigners and Borders Service can issue the document proving legal residence in Portuguese territory based on the elements filed therein or on inquiries carried out for the purpose.”
Article 56 (where the Public Prosecutor can oppose naturalisation due to lack of effective connection to the national community, etc), which has been mentioned in this thread, refers only to acquisition of nationality “by will” (the Section I cases mentioned above). This covers children of Portuguese parents born abroad, children born in Portugal, etc, but (as noted by others here) doesn’t include naturalisation of foreigners.
So in summary: to naturalise, as far as I can see, there’s nothing in the law that says you need to prove connections, or that the State can challenge your application on that basis.