A major win for those of us waiting for our GVs!
Gemini generated summary:
BREAKING NEWS: Constitutional Court Strikes Down Key Parts of the Law
Today, Monday, December 15, 2025, the Portuguese Constitutional Court issued its final ruling and declared the new Nationality Law unconstitutional on several key points.
This is a major victory for immigrant rights advocates and those currently in the application process.
What Was Struck Down?
The Court blocked four specific norms of the proposed law, including the most controversial ones:
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The “Clock” Change (Residency Counting):
- The Proposal: The government wanted to count the residency period only from the date the residence card is issued, ignoring the years spent waiting for approval.
- The Ruling: The Court declared this unconstitutional. It ruled that this violates the principle of “protection of trust” (expectations), as it unfairly penalizes applicants for the state’s own administrative delays.
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Lack of Grandfather Clause:
- The Proposal: The law tried to apply these new stricter rules retroactively to people already in the system.
- The Ruling: The Court effectively ruled that changing the rules mid-game without a transitional regime (grandfather clause) is not permissible for those who already had legitimate expectations of citizenship.
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Loss of Nationality:
- The Proposal: A separate provision attempting to strip Portuguese citizenship from naturalized citizens convicted of serious crimes.
- The Ruling: This was also declared unconstitutional for being “arbitrary and disproportionate,” as it created a second class of citizens who could lose their status while natural-born citizens could not.
Immediate Impact: The Law is Blocked
Because these norms were struck down:
- The Law Cannot Be Signed: The President cannot sign the bill into law in its current form.
- Sent Back to Parliament: The bill is now sent back to the Portuguese Parliament.
- Current Rules Apply: The existing 5-year residency rule (counting from the application submission/legal entry in many interpretations) remains the law of the land.
What Happens Next?
Parliament now has two options:
- Rewrite the Law: They must change the text to comply with the Court’s ruling (e.g., by adding a grandfather clause that protects current residents and fixing the residency counting method).
- Drop the Changes: They could abandon the specific controversial sections entirely.
Bottom Line: The attempt to suddenly extend the timeline to 10 years and apply it retroactively has failed. If the government wants to pass this, they will likely have to protect current residents (“grandfathering”) to get it past the Court.
Sources:
- IMI Daily: Portugal’s Constitutional Court Strikes Down Four Nationality Law Provisions
- Summary: Excellent breakdown explaining that while the Court upheld the 10-year timeline in principle, it struck down the “clock reset” (counting from card issuance) and the lack of transitional protections for current residents.
- Portugalist: Constitutional Court Declares Key Parts of Nationality Law Unconstitutional
- Summary: Confirms that the “clock reset” and the automatic loss of nationality for crimes were declared unconstitutional. It clarifies that the law cannot be promulgated in its current form and must go back to Parliament.
- GFDL Advogados (Legal Analysis): Portugal’s Hard Turn: The End of an Open Era
- Summary: A legal perspective on the “protection of trust” argument that led to this ruling.