I am just catching up with this awesome news! It’s so exciting! As it happened I emailed my lawyer 2 days ago - before learning of this new development - as to any update re our residence cards which we’ve still not received despite our final approval in Oct 2023. No answer as yet. Maybe they are themselves processing what this all means for their clients. If this new development is indeed true then I guess the cards won’t matter because the 5-year clock will have started anyway, perhaps from the initial submission/DUC payment which was Oct/Nov 2021 in our case. Unfortunately we did not meet the 7/14 days stay requirement each year since making the application, but hopefully it won’t matter for the eventual citizenship application, as has been suggested by a few people here.
In any case we are definitely going to PT this year for holidays. Will probably stay 14 days every year from now on, to be on the safe side.
For those of you interested in the text (and background) to the proposed amendments to the Nationality Law, and specifically the modification relating to the method of counting the time of residency as relevant for citizenship, I attach the link to the proposed law reviewed by Parliament, 19 December 2023, approved 5 January 2024. (Discussions were in the context of alterations to the law permitting descendents of Sephardic Jews to apply for nationality Detalhe de Audição):
Here is the PS proposed law from the Parliamentary agenda: [formato PDF].
The text relevant to the counting of the residence period is in Article 15 (Artigo 15), item 4, in bold. The Instituto dos Registos e Notariado (responsible for citizenship applications) took part in these discussions. This is the closest one gets to the text of what was reviewed and approved by Parliament, until ratified by the President.
As IAS outlines (Amend to the Portuguese Citizenship Law), there could be delays to final approval and implementation. Parliament dissolves on the 15 January 2024 as required prior to the election on 10 March, and this may affect the date of final approval, should the President not ratify the proposed law immediately, but choose to refer it back to Parliament or to the Constitutional Court.
The case for changes to the way residence is counted for citizenship applications appears to have been made by immigrants (Brazilians take the credit here) wishing to apply for citizenship, but discouraged and disenfranchised by delays in residence card processing.
Didn’t I read that part of the pushback on the GV is because of the extreme amount of Chinese applicants? (Not saying that is good.) If so, it would make sense PT would try to make life harder for people from source countries who they feel have met their “quota” for applications. Since they cant really block Chinese applications outright.
What I am taking away from this is that Dec 2021 is at least half China’s fault! More if it is particularly challenging to acquire the necessary paperwork, thus slowing down their applications.
Personally, i do not think the Chinese feel any hard or harder. Because most of them do not live in Portugal and have zero intention to relocate to the country. I have not seen any chinese living in Portugal under Golden Visa Scheme.
What the chinese do it, they bought the house and leave it 10-15 years. Once they get the passport, they sell the house. They just do not care about other things.
Bureaucracy only can slow down the process, but cannot prevent them from achieving their target i.e passport eventually.
Applicants will be able to apply for citizenship earlier, no stay requirements for the pre-residency visa time, we’re unsure exactly when the clock starts under the new law but somewhere around when you apply in the very beginning
In the ELI5 vein, I am not following why the 7/14 requirement is supposed to no longer exist (under this theory)? Is it correct to say that the theory is that the 7/14 stay requirements are only for purposes of getting the residency cards renewed, but for purposes of the citizenship application (which is a different track than the residency card), the 5 years is counted from [we think] the application date. I’m not entirely following how this works but I guess we will see when the law is passed and everything gets implemented.
Step 1 - Application - citizenship clock begins
Step 2 - Residency obtained - stay requirements begin
Step 3 - Renewal - good so long as you met the requirements (including stay)
Step 4 - Citizenship application - timing counted from step 1
(Caveat: I have not read the law. I am basing this on what my lawyers sent me and the analysis of the law contained herein)
If this is true (and I hope it is!) what is the purpose of the residency requirements/residency card for a GV applicant (like myself) who has no intention of residing in Portugal in the near future?
All of a sudden I no longer particularly want to receive my pending residence cards If I have understood correctly - and I’m not claiming I have - the longer they are delayed in being issued, the less likely you will need to meet any of the stay requirements. Say they are delayed for over 3 years from your application date, you will presumably never need to renew before you reach the 5 year mark, and so you’re home and dry, i.e. you’ve got 5 years legal residence and eligibility to apply for citizenship, even though you haven’t met the GV minimum stay requirements. You also won’t need to have gone through any GV renewal process.
Having said that I intend to meet and exceed the stay requirements regardless, if only to embrace the opportunities for holidaying in PT. Also there’s still no guarantee at this stage that these new rules will ultimately take effect.
Right, but I think you have to maintain ARI status while your naturalisation application is processed, which might itself be two or three years. So I practice I don’t think anyone’s going to get citizenship without ever renewing, and thus the 7/14 day rule will apply.
Hi @chandrm On 5-Jan of this year, the Portuguese Parliament approved several changes to the Nationality Law in Portugal… true. But there’s more steps after that.
The new law will come into effect one month after being published in the Official Gazette, which occurs after Presidential ratification.
Well that’s a very good point that indeed I overlooked! Unless the permits take literally forever to arrive- another 5, 6 years - which even by SEF/AIMA standards is unlikely to be the case.
Yes, that was the point of my prior question. Using a hypothetical - if I applied in Jan 2020, received my first residence card in Dec 2024, then in Jan 2025 I could apply for citizenship without ever having met any of the 7/14 residency requirements, and it’s why I was curious about the purpose of those in light of this. I am probably misunderstanding it.
More if it is particularly challenging to acquire the necessary paperwork, thus slowing down their applications.
If I have understood correctly - and I’m not claiming I have - the longer they are delayed in being issued, the less likely you will need to meet any of the stay requirements. Say they are delayed for over 3 years from your application date, you will presumably never need to renew before you reach the 5 year mark, and so you’re home and dry, i.e. you’ve got 5 years legal residence and eligibility to apply for citizenship, even though you haven’t met the GV minimum stay requirements. You also won’t need to have gone through any GV renewal process.