Hi all,
Apologies in advance if this has been answered elsewhere, but I’m trying to understand what the best thinking is around folks planning travel in Portugal given the recent legislation around wait time counting against the 5-year citizenship clock.
My lawyer’s response was that the 7/14 day stay requirement is only relevant for the golden visa (and renewals), not the citizenship clock. My file was submitted in spring 2021, with biometrics in Sept 2022. I’m still waiting on my final approval, though AIMA has requested a few documents recently so it seems I’m very close.
Would appreciate thoughts on how others are handling it.
Is it not a bit risky to be talking about this before everything has gone through every legislative review? Expectations can too easily be squashed? Let’s wait until lawyers agree amongst themselves what it all means? Then you might get a bonus. Or not.
My two cents is that Portugal is a beautiful country and it’s well worth spending some time there given we’re ultimately attempting to obtain citizenship. Regardless of the minimum stay requirement, it’s worth spending at least a few weeks a year to get to know your new country. It can only help strengthen your case in the end with regard to needing to show some connection to Portugal.