Assuming you got the first card in Q1 2019, and the latest renewal card (real estate converted to D2) gets issued in Q1 2026, say, it will last till Q1 2029 - crossing 10 years, or just 2-3 months short of 10 years. Two possibilities for your son:
Do nothing - he will be 10 years legally resident in Portugal as of Q1 2029. If he is short by a few months, he will need to stay in Portugal with some kind of residence permit which accrues time for naturalisation. Further GV renewals won’t work, as you, the primary investor, would be a Portuguese citizen by then.
Apply for a GV PR for him, and do it well before the primary investor gets naturalised. At that point, his status is independent of the primary investor, it will last for 5 years, and comfortably exceed 10 years needed for naturalisation.
All we wanted was a quiet life in the hills of southern Portugal. Not for a second did we think that our time here would be consumed with court cases, phone calls to lawyers and scouring the interweb for any information on Portuguese government intentions and legislative practices.
I’m so sorry to hear that. Many such cases, I’d imagine. I warned our VC fund in Lisbon that the practical effect of these changes would be the exit of smart people in tech that Portugal desperately needs. I had hoped they would put some pressure on their buddies in government, but I don’t think they really thought it would get to this point. And to whatever extent they did put the business case, it doesn’t appear to have had much effect.
See what happens with the constitutional court review. And I’d just reiterate what I’ve been told: poorly drafted legislation can pass review by the TC and be enacted, yet still be declared unconstitutional later when courts assess how those norms function in practice.
My son will be in the middle of his law school education and will find it difficult to get the A1 .
But I suppose he will be old enough to make these decisions for himself. So option 2 is what i have asked my lawyer to arrange.
Just hoping against odds that the new law is put off till the end of March (his bday).
Thank you for sparing your time and giving well thought advice.
It is important to hope for the best and prepare for the worst. A potential class action is a possible next step if things go south. Many will sign up for it.
Similar boat. Applied 2019, received card in 2020. Also applied for minor daughters in 2019 but had to take the state to court to get biometric appointments for them, and they finally received residency cards this year. I’ve just been able to apply for citizenship for myself and my 18-year-old - but if new laws are enacted I’m not sure where it leaves my 17-year-old who cannot apply for citizenship now. Sigh. Looks like I’ll have to investigate the PR option although it seems that is not necessarily an easy path either.
What is the best way to determine my local representative and their contact information (even though I am not a citizen) to inform them I will be withdrawing my investment and not moving any of my existing business infrastructure to Portugal should this pass?
However, André Ventura has already demanded the inclusion of measures that were left out of the approved text. “There have been some approaches, but there has not yet been a possibility of consensus. Until Monday [27th] at 6 p.m., there is a possibility of making appeals for Tuesday’s final discussion. I think both parties will do so. We will not give in on this: those who commit serious crimes lose their nationality and cannot be Portuguese. We may have a version A or a version B, but we will not give in on this principle. The same applies to fraudulent acquisition,” Ventura said this [24th] afternoon, after the committee had concluded its work.
I’m sure most of you have seen or know this anecdotally from here or your legal team, but this article was nice basic outline of situation.
I would assume that those who can get their citizenship application in before the law gets published in the Diario de Republica (potentially Mid-November assuming no vetos/constitutionality court) could be still use old 5-year nationality regime to apply for citizenship. Should be a rocky road starting Monday…
I’m waiting to see how this plays out before bailing. But I don’t tolerate people arbitrarily ripping up their end of a contract.
Also, even if we do get grandfathered, the worsening anti immigrant sentiments, AIMA disfunction, and now nationality requirements, will undoubtedly make attracting top talent much harder going forward.
Can you please explain this process a bit more? If it doesn’t pass this round, are you saying it couldn’t be passed again until the next legislative session (next year), or the next election (in 2029)?
If anyone decides to write further to the Deputados/President/TC, I suggest you refer to this signed petition, as well as the law mandating plenary debate of the said petition:
1 - Petitions are considered in plenary whenever one of the following conditions is met: a) They are signed by more than 7500 citizens; b) A report and opinion favourable to their consideration in Plenary is drawn up, duly substantiated, taking into account, in particular, the scope of the interests in question, their social, economic or cultural importance and the seriousness of the situation which is the subject of the petition. 2 - Petitions which, under the terms of the previous paragraph, are in a position to be considered by Plenary shall be sent to the President of the Assembly of the Republic for scheduling, accompanied by duly substantiated reports and instructional elements, if any. 3 - Petitions shall be scheduled for Plenary no later than 30 days after they are sent to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, under the terms of the previous paragraph, excluding periods when the Assembly of the Republic is in session or when plenary meetings are not convened for more than a week, following the order in which the petitions were admitted, with the exception of cases in which the report recommends urgent scheduling so as not to jeopardise the timeliness of the debate.
2 - Os estrangeiros e os apátridas que residam em Portugal gozam do direito de petição para defesa dos seus direitos e interesses legalmente protegidos.
I would like to ask, can you applied for Citizenship to 17 years old daughter ( have residency more than 5 years) and the parents already applied for citizenship waiting for the approval??
I also wished that was possible
My lawyers said even if all other criteria (time, language certificate, etc) are met, the child should also be enrolled in a portuguese school in order to apply before turning 18. If you find any other way to do that please write here.
Thanks,
