Portugal’s President António José Seguro promulgated Portugal’s revised Nationality Law on May 3, 2026, confirming one of the most significant changes to the country’s citizenship framework in decades. The law amends Law No. 37/81 of October 3, Portugal’s core Nationality Law, and will enter into force on the day after its publication in the Diário da República.
The reform extends the standard legal residence requirement for naturalization from five years to 10 years for most foreign nationals. Citizens of European Union member states and CPLP countries, including Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste, will face a shorter but still increased requirement of seven years.
What Changes Under Portugal’s New Nationality Law?
Under the revised Article 6, applicants for Portuguese nationality by naturalization must legally reside in Portugal for at least:
7 years for EU citizens and nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries
10 years for nationals of all other countries
Applicants must also prove knowledge of the Portuguese language, culture, history, and national symbols, understand the rights and duties attached to Portuguese nationality, and formally declare adherence to the principles of Portugal’s democratic rule of law.
The law also changes the residence-counting rule. Article 15(4), introduced in 2024 to allow residence time to count from the date a residence permit was requested, is revoked. This means the relevant clock is expected to begin from the issuance of a valid residence title, not from the application date.
This point is particularly important because Portugal’s migration agency, AIMA, has faced long processing delays. For Golden Visa and other residence applicants, this may extend the practical timeline to citizenship beyond the statutory seven or 10 years.
Who Is Affected?
The new rules affect foreign residents pursuing Portuguese citizenship through naturalization, including Golden Visa investors, D7 and D8 visa holders, workers, students who later transition to residence, and other legal residents.
However, the Golden Visa residence program itself was not abolished or changed by this law. Permanent residence after five years remains separate from naturalization. The reform changes the citizenship timeline, not the basic residence route.
What About Pending Applications?
This is one of the most important details.
The decree includes a transitional clause stating that administrative procedures pending on the date the law enters into force will continue under the previous version of the Nationality Law.
In practical terms, this appears to protect pending nationality procedures, but it does not clearly protect every foreign resident who has a residence process or Golden Visa process underway but has not yet filed a nationality application. That distinction will likely be central for lawyers, applicants, and future court challenges.
President Seguro also emphasized that pending processes should not be affected by the legislative change, warning that doing so would damage trust in the Portuguese state domestically and internationally.
President Seguro Signed the Law, But With Reservations
Although President Seguro signed the decree, his statement was not a simple endorsement. He said a law of such importance should have been based on broader consensus and warned against repeated changes to the Nationality Law that could weaken legal certainty and institutional credibility.
He also stressed that state delays should not undermine the legal timelines for obtaining nationality. That statement may become relevant in disputes involving AIMA delays and applicants who argue that they should not be penalized for administrative backlogs.
Political Background
Portugal’s Assembly of the Republic approved the revised decree on April 1, 2026, by 152 votes to 64, with one abstention. The measure passed after a last-minute agreement between the governing Social Democratic Party, PSD, and Chega. PSD, Chega, and the Liberal Initiative voted in favor, while the Socialist Party, Livre, PCP, BE, and PAN voted against.
The President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, signed the approved decree after the parliamentary vote.
During the debate, Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro defended the reform as a correction of past policy choices. PSD parliamentary leader Hugo Soares framed the agreement as an important step for “portugalidade,” while Chega leader André Ventura claimed his party had achieved important changes. Opposition voices, including Socialist deputy Pedro Delgado Alves, warned that constitutional issues may remain.
What Is Still Not Final?
A separate decree, Decree No. 49/XVII, which would amend the Penal Code to create loss of nationality as an accessory criminal penalty, has not been promulgated. It remains suspended because a parliamentary group requested preventive constitutional review by the Constitutional Court.
This matters because Portugal’s Constitutional Court had already struck down several provisions in the earlier version of the nationality reform in December 2025, including a proposed loss of nationality mechanism.
What Happens Next?
The revised Nationality Law will take effect only after publication in the Diário da República, and it will enter into force the following day. The government must also update the Portuguese Nationality Regulation within 90 days of publication.
For applicants, the most important next points to watch are the publication date, the updated regulation, how pending cases are treated in practice, and whether further constitutional challenges are filed over the residence-counting rule or the treatment of existing residents.
Portugal’s citizenship pathway is not closed, but it is now longer, more demanding, and more legally complex.
