Portugal tightens citizenship rules, doubles residency requirement for most foreigners

Citizens from Portuguese-speaking countries such as Brazil must wait seven years for citizenship while those from other nations face a 10-year wait.

Portugal has announced a tightening of its immigration and naturalisation laws, including doubling the minimum period of legal residency required for most foreigners to apply for citizenship to 10 years. Individuals from Portuguese-speaking countries such as Brazil and Angola will face a wait of seven years to obtain citizenship, while those from other nations must wait 10 years. Cabinet Minister António Leitão Amaro justified the measure on Monday by citing the "requirement of an effective connection, of belonging to the national community"."We are significantly strengthening the requirements for access to citizenship, naturalisation, in line with the guidelines we were already included in the government's programme," he said. Under current rules, foreigners in Portugal must show adequate knowledge of the Portuguese language, have no previous convictions of more than three years in jail, and must not be considered a threat to national security. The new regulations mean such individuals must also demonstrate familiarity with Portugal's culture, have not served any effective prison sentence, and declare their backing for the country's democratic principles.Other immigration regulations, like those governing the issuance of residence permits for relatives of legal immigrants, would also be tightened, and there will be a provision allowing naturalised Portuguese who commit serious crimes to be stripped of their citizenship, according to Amaro.Regarding family reunification, immigrants will have to be legal resident in Portugal for two years to bring relatives into the country, and the family members must be minors. Portugal has been caught up in the rising European tide of populism, and the anti-immigration Chega party won the second-most seats in elections last month — making it the head of the parliamentary opposition to the new centre-right minority government.Chega had pushed for tougher immigration measures and made citizenship reform a key pillar of its election campaign, and is expected to back the planned decree. Portugal’s population of about 10.5 million includes at least 1.5 million legal foreign residents, according to its migration and asylum agency (AIMA). Brazilians are the largest group, with more than 450,000 residents.Economic data aggregator Pordata statistics show that 141,300 people were naturalised in 2023 — a 20% decrease from 2022. The government said in January more than 400,000 applications were pending.