So as for part 2, the US definitely has bureaucratic discretion to waive residency requirements(or indeed any requirements) for an individual completely. normally a foriegn spouse needs 3 years residency after marriage before they can apply but it is routinely waived completely if the US spouse is a foreign service officer posted abroad. (I personally know several - all men - who had their requirements waived , much to both spouses’ surprise !)
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…but this discretion is granted by the Government/Agency via some regulation/decree/whatever, right? So ‘the Government’ had to allow it first, no?
Somewhere deeply buried in the relevant laws is that the Secretary of State (or whoever) can waive requirements at their discretion. My point is also that the foreign service employee spouse had no idea this existed - it was buried deeply. Usually government reserves to itself a lot of powers to waive requirements/ give clemency etc. Not necessarily in a given law but in the overall web of laws and regulations.
Foreigners Law (different from the Nationality Law) has been enacted by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. No 2nd trip to the Constitutional Court for this one.
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I thought that one possible way to gather more signatures for the petition we’ve been discussing might be to ask our lawyers, Prime Legal, and the investment funds Nomad Gate is connected with to share the petition link. This could be something many of us can help with, but I’d really appreciate any feedback or thoughts on it.
Starting the petition process itself seems more complex, but if someone could share the link to the platform where official petitions are gathered for public signatures (for us and other participants), that might be a helpful first step.
Here are a few examples I came across of how such petitions might be launched — though I only found these through random searches by an AI agent:
- Transitional regime to keep the 5-year naturalization period if the Nationality Law changes
- Do not increase the time to file for Portuguese nationality; regulate Article 15(4)
- CPLP transitional regime petition
Any help confirming whether this approach makes sense (or not) would be greatly appreciated.
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I think we need help from the lawyers on this one. I don’t really know how but if you already work closely with Prime, I wonder if they can share more on the approach.
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I also don’t think there was a petition for ARI, and people didn’t think there would be enough signatures. This is a small group in size.
But there are a lot of pending ARI applications (by applicants who have not yet received their cards). 7500 signatures are needed for the petition to be considered.
As I understand it, the current draft Nationality Law as written will also destroy the timelines for those who have received cards but not yet reached the five-year mark, so all in this category should also have a vested interest in signing the position.
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This is us. Our renewal is beginning of April. We will have a big decision to make in the near future, although it really doesn’t leave us much time to sell up and leave if the rug gets fully pulled. This uncertainty is extremely frustrating.
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It looks like somebody has already posted a petition..
https://peticaopublica.com/pview.aspx?pi=PT127988
I suggest we all sign it and share with anyone who may help us get the numbers up.
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Thanks for sharing, signed it.
That’s not the official government petition site? The official site is Assembleia da República | Petições
I’m not sure if unofficial petitions have the same weight (the government has to read it in plenary if it gets enough signatures etc)
This petition requests retention of the clause introduced in the nationality law of 2024 (Artigo 15, clause 4) which counts residence from the time the application for residence is requested, if the residence application is eventually approved.
This has been the key clause that eliminated the negative consequences brought about by SEF/AIMA processing delays to any application - ARI or other. A clause which the new law proposes to revoke.
It currently has 7086 signatures.
Likely to get to 7500 by next week if we sign and share.
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Signed.
Thank you very much for the link.
Convenient report release timing if you’re trying to create a freak-out about ‘foreigners’ and get a much more restrictive Nationality Law passed 
The number of foreign citizens residing in Portugal has quadrupled in seven years, with around 1.5 million registered at the end of 2024, according to data from the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA).
You don’t say?
The number of residence permits granted in 2024: 218,332 in total, with the caveat that “the date of granting may be very different from the date of the citizen’s entry into national territory.” In other words, many of these immigrants who obtained the document last year had entered the country years earlier and faced a long wait for their residence permit.
Signed, thank you. Everybody else, please sign ASAP!
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Not sure if it has been shared here yet (might have missed it), but it seems the plenary discussion of the Nationality vote is set to happen on October 22:
Not sure if that will include a final vote as well, but it’s possible.
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Signed, thank you!
@tkrunning - would you be able by any chance to pin a new topic with the links to the existing petitions from the above thread (2 at least?), so that anyone could go straight there and sign?
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