I read this as it having been sent to committee for further drafting, without therehaving been an up or down vote on the law itself. Since the President had expressed concerns about the constitutionality, the committee selected seems appropriate (I don’t if it was the default for nationality law issue–it may be).
So this seems like it progressed, and the committee will be charged with taking up the issues raised in the debate.
I read the live debate summary that @tkrunning provided a link to, and I have to say it did make me feel warm and fuzzy about being an immigrant in Portugal.
Copypasta from one of the lawyers in the GV WhatsApp group.
PRIME LEGAL The general vote in Parliament on the Government’s proposed amendments to citizenship Law was scheduled for today.
As expected, the debate ended in controversy after several MPs raised concerns about the unconstitutionality of certain provisions in the proposal, including its retroactive effects and the frustration of legitimate expectations. This view is shared by prominent academics, including the so-called “father” of the Portuguese Constitution and by the current President of the Republic.
Consequently, the Government withdrew its proposal from a general vote and requested that the amendments to the Nationality Law and the Immigration Law be sent back to the parliamentary committee stage for a more detailed discussion, in order to secure a broader consensus with opposition parties.
At the committee stage, the different political parties can debate the proposed amendments, seek consensus, and put forward alternative wording. The Government has stated its intention for this discussion to take place over a short period but one that allows for a final text that “unites the country and makes it more cohesive.”
As of today, no date has been set for this next discussion, and no other developments have occurred that would affect the normal processing of ongoing or new applications, under the current law.
Parliament will adjourn for its summer recess on July 17 and resume in September, which makes it particularly difficult to conclude this legislative process before the end of this parliamentary session, due to the special importance of the law in cause.
We would also like to remind you that Prime Legal, together with the entire legal community and industry stakeholders, continues to actively engage in various initiatives to defend the Clients’ interests and protect their rights. We remain confident that the final version of the new law will differ significantly from the current proposal and will respect applicants and their fundamental rights, in line with the Portuguese Constitution.
Thx for sharing. PrimeLegal is my attorney too. I’m asking them about thsi group. Is it a private group just for you and a few others or you can share the group link to join?
That’s from the Sephardic route which they already restricted to require residence. The only reason it’s making the news now is because the backlog is so long that people who applied before the residence requirement are only now being processed.
Similar to how the news can say “thousands of investors granted GV for real estate in 2025!” even though the real estate option was cut off years ago.
Also this article is repeating the lie that the Indian nationals somehow gained Portuguese citizenship illicitly:
This supplies an explanation as to why seven Portuguese nationals’ killed in last month’s plane crash in India had apparently never even set foot in this country: the immigration system as it stands is open to manipulation, and has “given the impression externally that Portuguese nationality is something that is easy to obtain”.
Those are nationals from Diu in India which used to be Portuguese territory, their citizenship is by colonization and subsequently by descent, something Chega is actually trying to make easier not harder.
There’s a partial overlap with NomadGate, many of us are in both, but I don’t think it’s 1:1.
Edit - the group has since become full. Apparently there’s a 1024 member hard limit on WhatsApp. I’m not the admin so nothing I can do. Please stop DM-ing me.
Similar to how the one site is making a big fuss over Israelis becoming Portuguese citizens - bigotry drives clicks. Implying “others” are cheating the system somehow drives outrage and thus clicks.
This constitutional lawyer (who Expresso refers to as the “father of the constitution” and I checked has a very lengthy career detailed on Portuguese Wikipedia) has published a legal opinion specifically referring to the extension of the deadline to apply for nationality and the retroactive application of the law to June 19th, which he claims are unconstitutional and “blatantly violates the prohibition on the retroactive application” of laws that restrict rights, freedoms, and guarantees.
This aligns with the legal opinions I’ve seen suggesting existing ARI holders might have grounds to challenge the application of some of these changes to them.
The opinion was also “requested by Liberty Legal” according to the article, which does make me appreciate the law firm and want to shower it with future business. But it’s likely one of two bookends.
This is clearly the government going for broke though, I.e. any other bookend also says unconstitutional.
Unfortunately the opinion doesn’t seem to say the change to 10 years is unconstitutional which (at least to me and probably to most ARI applicants) is the issue that eclipses all others.
Correct, several countries in Europe has done this recently and some are planning to do so. There is nothing unconstitutional about the change in required number of years. However, the method of planned implementation and ambiguity around it due to hungry populist parties in PT is termed as unconstitutional by the constitutionalists.
There are no scheduled debates in the near future about the changes in immigration but the parties now are rushing to legal experts to guide them in making the proposed changes as per the constitution. This way they shall be avoiding the embarrassment of shooting themselves in the foot. Since August is holiday season and nobody works in this part of the world. It is highly likely, the committee shall start working in September and might propose something for a debate and voting by the end of the year. Then follows the presidential review.
Having said that, the president has openly indicated to divide the bill into several items so that, it might be easier to pass some of them without much of a hassle.
Finally the GV funds were designed to cater 5-7 years and most of the funds did came into existence during the Covid lockdowns. Before this period, the SEF statistics indicate that less than 1% of the applications were in this category. We have to wait and see the real action which might or might not happen in the next few months. Remember, the class-action lawsuits are now possible in Portugal - this might be the last resort for GV holders in the worst case scenario. There’s nothing wrong in being prepared for the worst case scenario.
No, but it does question whether the government can apply that change to everyone, or whether principles of legal certainty and non-retroactivity prevent them from changing the rules for people already taking initial steps to acquire nationality eg. invested ARI holders.
The general vote in Parliament on the Government’s proposed amendments to citizenship Law was scheduled for today.