Following our previous articles on the recent changes to the Portuguese Law of Nationality, we can now inform that the President of Portugal has now signed off the decree from Parliament that approved the said changes. This was the final act in the legislative process and consequently the law will now be published in the official gazette and become effective.

As we previously informed, although the changes to the law cover different topics and areas regarding obtaining Portuguese nationality, one of the most relevant is the change on the way the 5 years required to apply for nationality will now be considered. From now on, this residency period will be counted from the date of submission of the residency application, regardless of the moment when such residency is effectively approved.

This is a highly relevant change that will affect thousands of applicants and will end a previously unbalanced system where the long time that applicants were waiting for their residency application to be processed was not considered. This will also add further credibility and stability regarding the Portuguese nationality system as applicants can now be sure that the period required for obtaining a Portuguese passport will effectively be 5 years, regardless of the time the authorities take to process their residency applications.

As indicated above, the changes will become effective with the publication in the official gazette, which should happen very shortly. We will inform accordingly.

Please feel free to contact us for any questions regarding this matter.