I always get jumped on when I dare point out any “hard realities” of our plight, but sanity checking is part of my day job so here goes…
Putting aside the More than 133,000 AIMA cases already pending in the Lisbon Administrative Court…
This would be more than just a Judge saying “Hey AIMA, dig this person’s application out of your basement and give it some ‘fast-track’ attention” - resulting in that person getting the same approval given to any other applicant under the current laws. Nothing new or ‘exceptional’ is created by such a ruling.
What we’re talking here is next-level, either:
- A challenge all the way to the top that changes the Nationality Law for everyone, or at least a general class like ARIs → does that require a class action (rare but not unheard of in PT)?
- Individual cases (see 133k+ backlog above). But can a Judge really say “Hey Country of Portugal, give this person nationality/a passport after only 5 years,” despite others of their kind having to wait until 10? Are there examples in other (democratic) countries where one Judge can grant one person a passport, that most other similar people can’t have?
This will not be easy.