Hi Susan, my lawyer said passing the Portuguese A2 test and then 7 days a year visit is good enough to apply for a citizenship after 5 years of GV. Is there more that one has to do as a pre- requisite?
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This post:
suggests that the clock for citizenship begins ticking from pre approval rather than the receipt of the residency card. Has anyone else heard that also?
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This raises the question of what adds up to the 5 years residency requirement, taking into account all the delays in the past 3 years. Many of us have seen our residency cards pass their printed expiry date, while the government issues decrees (such as just this week) which extend the validity.
My lawyer claims that the 5 years is calculated by adding up the years as shown on my residency cards, not counting the extension periods in between. In this case, my 5 years is complete in mid-2024. But if I count my residency from the starting date of my first residency card, and include those in between times when my residency was extended by decree, then my 5 years is complete in mid-2023.
Which is true? I have yet to find a definitive answer.
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Subject to interpretation but the law says “legal residence” and the DLs extending residence mean your permit is still valid even if they read expired so I would tend to think a good lawyer could mke that stick.
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I have a question, I would really appreciate if someone can respond it properly.
Does residency of 5 years mean that the time starts when you receive your residency card and then living continuously in portugal for 5 five year, even thought if there is some interruptions in between. e.g: if you couldn’t find appoint for few months after the expiration of your card. I mean does five 5 years of cards holding counts or living counts after receiving the forget card.
Thanks again in advance
if you are talking about the Golden Visa you do not need to live n Portugal, thats the attraction for many of us. You only need to be in Portugal about one week per year. If you are talking about D7 visa or another visa program time requirements are different.
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Here is what I recall from various sources
- The clock starts ticking with the issue date of your first car, 5 years from that date is the bare minimum you need in order to apply
- From what I recall disruptions are not much of an issue, the law actually does spell out a time interval of 15 years, a person who has five years of residency over a span of 15 years; you may want to google the law or simply ask this is to your lawyer. As I am not a lawyer my advice shouldn’t be taken explicitly
- It’s also being said that the extension of the current residency cards will be counted towards citizenship, I’m sure there will be cases in the coming months which will give us a better idea
- there are some people who have said the 5 year clock will start ticking after the first pre-approval, however, this is not confirmed so I wouldn’t do my calculations & arrangements according to this, at least for now…
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The 5 years are counted by adding the validity stated on your residence permits (Golden Visa Cards). The interruptions are not counted.
How can you be sure? Have you seen an application for citizenship denied on this basis?
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Can you provide your analysis for why you believe those periods do not count?
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In normal conditions after you hold the residence permit (Golden Visa) for 5 years (counting the validity of the cards) your lawyer applies at SEF for a “declaração de contagem de tempo” in which will be stated that you were a legal resident for 5 years and afterwards you apply for citizenship. Not yet sure how SEF will deal with this for the Covid and Post-Covid interregnums.
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Surely the extensions mean you are still a legal resident even without the renewed card
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Dear Susana,
After I complete my 5-year GV requirement, do I need to keep getting temporary residence by investment visas until citizenship is approved?
I don’t live in PT and am wondering if there is a recommended way to save the high fees… Thank you for your advice.
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Hi Sck,
You can either continue the GV or apply for the normal PR, in the interim period before you get your citizenship card.
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Dear Susana,
Since I’m not planning to move to Portugal right away, it seems that my only choice is to renew my Golden Visa until citizenship is granted since regular PR appears to have more restrictive residency requirements. Thank you for your advice!
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The law previews the possibility for a Golden Visa PR instead of a normal PR. Which keeps the advantages of the Golden Visa regarding stay requirements. On the other side it is also much more expensive than the normal PR.
Hello Susan,
Thanks for your detailed post, so if me and my spouse got the Citezenship and this would mean we’ve terminated our GV, what about our children under 18? Are they going to have a temporary residence permit until they reach 18 or what exactly will happen?
Appreciate to provide more details on this case.
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I have been led to believe there is NOT a language requirement for minors, only that they be attending a school in Portugal (private, or public)
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Children needs the GV because if you want to live in PT long term under the GV. Your children without GV are not allowed to live with you in PT more than 183 days / year.
For someone who wants his/her children to go to school in PT from early age in order to pick up portuguese language and its culture, GV or D7 for the children to remain in PT long term is the only way to go.
You can apply GV as a single applicant and wait until you get the PT citizenship and then your children might be able to profit from it. But who knows how long it might take or it might not even happen because law can be changed in the future. If the process goes as its current pace, 10 years to get citizenship is realistic, and your children will likely be over 18 and become adults, and things turn to be more complicated.
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