It depends on when you want your children to live in Portugal. If itās after you become a citizen, and they are under 18, they can get a D6 (family reunification) visa. Same for your spouse.
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Thank you for the information. As I thought, it seems like GV PR is my only option at the moment and the renewal costs have gone up. It used to be EUR 2662 for the renewal, not EUR 3774 
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They can get the EU family card.
It depends. If the kids get the GV, they can apply for citizenship when they turn 18. Otherwise, they can of course live in Europe with family reunification law. But they will only get a residency permit. For cases if they are living in Portugal, the kids would only been able to apply for citizenship after living 5 years in Portugal.
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I would think the benefit of going through GV for kids is that eventually your kids grow up and stop having any right to live in Europe.
Being a Portuguese citizen gives you the right to have your MINOR children living with you in Europe.
It doesnāt give your 25-year-old (for example) son any right to live in Europe.
But if he had gone through GV and naturalized with you, he would remain Portuguese all his life.
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In relation to your question, one can apply for Portuguese nationality if:
ā¢ born in Portugal with a parent with Portuguese nationality
ā¢ born in Portugal with a parent with non-Portuguese nationality
ā¢ born in a foreign country with a parent with Portuguese nationality
ā¢ married to a Portuguese citizen
ā¢ residing legally in Portugal for at least 5 years.
see: Impressos e modelos | IRN.Justica.gov.pt
Consequently, the child less than 18 years, with a parent who has already acquired citizenship, can apply for Portuguese citizenship - irrespective of where either (child or parent) is physically located.
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What are the restrictions on normal Portuguese PR? Are there stay requirements?
Also whatās the minimum language level to apply for citizenship?
Thanks
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The normal PR (ie not via ARI) requires physical residency in the country (more than 183 days/year) for at least 5 years plus several other requirements, see Article 80 ā Permanent Residence Permit ā The Official Website of Portuguese Immigration. These requirements are consistent for all EU countries.
A2 is the language requirement.
For citizen applications, you may want to read the following:
Impressos e modelos | IRN.Justica.gov.pt). In Portugal, IRN is responsible for assessing applications for citizenship. The information is only in Portuguese. Right click, choose translate, for another language.
A Nomad poster has also provided a helpful long read here - a little further up on this thread.
Portuguese Citizenship application after 5 years of Golden Visa - #45 by susanayang
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It makes sense that the minor childās citizenship would be premised on the parentsā. Does the child apply at the same time (entire family applies for naturalization at once) or do they have to wait until their parentās application is granted and the parent becomes a citizen?
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But do they have to live there to qualify for citezenship? Or the moment they pass 18 they can immediately apply?
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If they are minor they have to wait for the parents to get the portuguese citizenship and then they can apply. They need to proof connection to Portugal, this is why they should continue having a Golden Visa during the parents portuguese citizenship application.
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Really? Minor children who have been residents of Portugal for 5+ years donāt naturalize on the same application as their Portugal-resident parents?
That seems so bizarre to me. In other countries whose laws Iāve looked at, minor children who fulfill residency requirements are included on their parentsā naturalization applications (US for instance: U.S. Citizenship for Children of Naturalized Citizens).
Thatās an interesting point. Still, in the US it happens automatically when the parent naturalizes. To me it seems bizarre that parents with a minor child could naturalize WITHOUT the minor child also gaining the new citizenship, especially if the child has been living with the parents the whole time and thus has spent the same amount of time in the new country.
Well, thatās the thing. If parent and child have both been in country for a long time, then probably it does happen quite automatically and quickly. Itās just that itās not automatic - itās situational. They arenāt going to just naturalize any minor kid when the parent can naturalize while barely setting foot in the country. Thatās tantamount to handing out citizenship to the GV holderās family for the rest of their existence without anyone even ever caring a whit about Portugal much less having any real ties.
This is hinted at in the rules which are published by MoJ for minors - basically, are there ties? If not, then forget it. If there are sufficient ties, it probably doesnāt matter the specific form of what they are, so long as they are equivalently substantial.
The US rules arenāt really so dissimilar. For the child to get automatic citizenship, they already have to be in the country legally. If they came in with the parent and the parent is naturalizing, theyāve been in country for a while. If they are outside the country, they donāt automatically naturalize, they have to get into the country legally first, which isnāt the easiest of processes.
Itās just that in the US, we are more bound up with the idea of having strict, detailed rules, so itās all spelled out, whereas Portugalā¦ isnāt so much into the idea of spelling stuff out in detail - it Just Doesnāt Work That Way. Itās a difficult concept for us to grasp, I think.
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yeah, In the USA the rules are that parent should be naturalized. The child should be present in the US soil and should have been issued a green card already, to be automatically naturalized.
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Hi Susana
I have a question about minor children if thatās okay please.
Letās say the parents and the children hold the GV for 5 years. After 5 years the parents apply for citizenship and get it after 6 years. The children are still aged say 10 and 7 and none of the family live in Portugal at that time, so the children canāt apply for citizenship at the same time as the parents. The main applicant now has citizenship so no longer has a GV or the associated investment (in our case a fund). What happens to the childrenās status for the next 8 - 11 years until they are old enough to apply for citizenship themselves? They would not be able to apply for GV Permanent Residency as there would no longer be an investment, and they would not meet the residency requirement of normal Permanent Residency. I saw you mention the EU family card higher up this thread - do they apply for that? Having then held the EU family card for 8-11 years mean they can apply for citizenship at age 18 by moving to the country for say a gap year? Would the fact they previously held a GV 8 - 11 years earlier entitle them to apply for citizenship at age 18 even though they had not actually been resident in the interim?
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Sure, but you can try to understand what the position is based on current rules.
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The child has to declare interest in acquiring Portuguese nationality, provide own ID and that of the Portuguese parent, proof of effective connection to the portuguese community (what is considered proof of connection to the community has changed somewhat recently), language competence, clear criminal record after 16 years of age, etc. Briefly, the child can apply for naturalisation based on the link to their Portuguese parent.
I have edited this post to provide a better link to the requirement for children under 18 whose parent acquired Portuguese nationality after they were born: Como obter a nacionalidade portuguesa the proof of āeffective link to the portuguese communityā is conceded if the child has residence in Portugal for 5 years. The parent can then sign the declaration that the minor wishes to acquire Portuguese nationality.
This thread which has links is relevant.
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As referenced above, this doesnāt appear to apply to children of citizens who naturalised.
The 5 yearsā residency is considered fulfilled if the 5 yearsā rule was met within the last 15 years. One asks SEF for a āCertificado de contagem de tempoā before the application. The child would have to wait until maturity before applying. Portuguese Citizenship application after 5 years of Golden Visa - #159 by DumontdosSantos.
What is your reference for the conclusion that children of citizens who naturalized cannot apply?
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