This needs a suit against the Portuguese sovereign. I dug this up, maybe more knowledgeable people can build on it to design a legal strategy outside Portugal.
“Yes, a non-EU private person can sue an EU state government, but generally through national courts rather than directly in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). Non-EU citizens have access to national courts to enforce EU law rights, and states can be held liable for damages resulting from failures to implement EU law. The ICJ is generally closed to private persons. As established in the Francovich & Bonifaci v. Italy case, individuals can sue a government for damage caused by failing to comply with EU obligations. The CJEU cannot hear direct claims from individuals against national authorities, but it can decide on cases through preliminary rulings referred by national courts.”
Over to the people above my pay grade who know what all this means, and where to plead for some justice.
“as in past legislative reforms, we expect any change to include transitional provisions”
“it is our firm belief that the rationale adopted by the Portuguese government will continue to recognize and protect the expectations upon which these investments were made.”
@tkrunning - if you close this thread (which seems reasonable, as it’s “game over” ), please open another one to follow the regulation writing specifics for the new law.
Just to note that experience of ‘locals’ in any country bears very little to negligible relevance as compared to experience of a foreign CBI/RBI person coming to that same country. I shall leave it at that, as their is a dedicated TR thread for anyone wanting to compare
Corruption? Not yet; didn’t have to pay anybody off.
Political interference: No, the CBI program is explicitly President Erdogan’s idea.
Arbitrary, unannounced rule changes? Yes, there were. I had to travel to Turkey several more times than planned, and the whole process took double the advertised time – 14 months instead of the originally expected 6 to 8.
But Portugal will now take 17 to 19 years from investment to citizenship instead of the originally expected 6 to 8.
From someone who has suffered through PGV, the “hardship” of a few extra months waiting on Turkey barely registers.
Saw this today. It seems that these leaders have their own WhatsApp group where they share…
"Sweden’s parliament voted on April 29 to approve the most far-reaching overhaul of the country’s citizenship law in more than 50 years. From June 6, 2026, the general residency requirement for naturalization will rise from five years to eight, and applicants will, for the first time, face mandatory language proficiency, civics knowledge, and self-sufficiency tests.
An opposition attempt to attach transitional protections for the more than 100,000 people with pending citizenship applications failed by a single vote, 147-146. The bill passed in its original form with a wide majority, backed by the three governing coalition parties and the Sweden Democrats.
Yep. The two parts that struck me were the initial premise going in that the law that applies is that which is in effect on the day of review which seems to be what Ventura was yapping about. At least their program was upfront and had codified the premise of the rug pull potential. Then, the apparent shenanigans regarding the close vote to provide a graceful transition. Can’t fathom why anyone would embark on a journey when the destination can be changed anytime. Who would start a degree program where the graduation requirements were arbitrary and could change at any time?
Well, two wrongs surely do not make it right! At least the transitional protection failed by just a single vote as opposed to the wide margin in Portugal - not that it helps in either case. However, in Portugal we obviously tied our hefty investments to the GV, and we are now facing rather uncertain future of our financial contributions. This is in addition to the lengthening of naturalisatoin wait period, elimination of wait time for the first residency card, and excessively long naturalisation process. I doubt that Swedish applicants were facing the same financial burden and uncertainty.
Ultimately, it is time that is the most costly. Considering that I live in Portugal for almost four years, I should have obtained D7 from the start. Not only I would have been free of any financial obligation, I could have purchased any real estate in any price range, saved tons of money on GV and attorney fees, and would be looking at least at a PR and even EU PR next year. Since I only received my first card barely a year ago, I still have four years until PR. It hurts to think even more that if I had opted for France, I would be applying for citizenship next year without too many issues (since I already speak French at around B1 to B2 level). Trusting Portugal was a big strategic error on my part!..
You are writing as if you want such a new thing happen, just to confirm your (negative) feelings. but there is a saying “don’t call the angels or they will come”
A lawyer in the WhatsApp group says it’s likely the regulations will update the language requirement to B1, in line with the general, more strict direction of the law.
Actually it is worse in fact, because it requires 8 years of permanent residence not counting the the time it took to obtain the permanent residence status, where only employment counts. If the same principle was applied in Portugal it would be 15 years.
I agree. We should have a new thread dedicated to these new developments where we can share timely news articles, advice, etc on the predicament that so many of us now find ourselves. A one stop shop would be very helpful.
He (Andre Miranda) didn’t, really. It was more an example of what could be done in regulations that could make things worse. B1 was an example, not something he said was specifically likely. Here’s what he said:
“I would not have high hopes about this. I believe there is a greater likelihood that the Regulation will come to complement the Law in a less favorable way than what is currently provided for in the existing Regulation. For example, the Law requires the applicant to demonstrate that they “have sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language,” and the existing Regulation sets level A2 as the minimum requirement, but the new version of the Regulation could be more restrictive and raise the standard to B1, for example”
I agree with Tommigun on this, if the law text passed by the parliament has been approved as it is, there is a clear phrase stating how the current applications will be treated as per the old - 5 year rule. The whole attempt of trying to implement the new law to the pending citizenship law was, what was found unconstitutional and hence the new law clearly had the protection clause for the pending applications.
Still I need to see the actual final law in the official gazette to be 100% sure that the protection phrase for the pending applications are kept. Few things give me peace of mind; my lawyers confirmed that, the actual text approved in the parliament has it and the president has made open comments about the pending applications should be protected..
So does Venture not know what has been approved, surely he does, and I believe this is just one other example of politician sending a message to his supporters.
No, that’s not true. Given people are looking at alternatives to Portugal’s chaos, it’s worth pointing out a couple of things about Turkey. Turkey’s economy is struggling in a way that should matter to CBI investors (for starters, inflation is over 30%) and does not have strong rule of law. There are countless ways it could changes the rules and lock up capital, even after they give you a passport. The country has placed restrictions on capital outflows before. They’ve been willing to use the banking system to lock up funds when the economy was under stress. Any country without strong constitutional protections can easily screw over non-native borns when it chooses.
What Erdogan giveth, Erdogan can take away. That is how Turkey operates. Countries with strong centralized power and weak judicial independence can turn on a dime.
Look, I honestly wish you both the best of luck. No one denies Portugal is a bust. But I don’t think anyone on these forums should be naive about the next struggling country rolling out the red carpet for foreigners with deep pockets. The lesson of Portugal is that if it looks too good to be true, it likely is. By all means, try Turkey if you want a quick second passport and visa-free Schengen access isn’t a priority. For some people, it might be their best option. We also can’t pretend Turkey doesn’t also present significant downsides. Being honest about the risks is what this forum is for.
), please open another one to follow the regulation writing specifics for the new law.