Portuguese Citizenship Lawyer
Know the Routes to Portuguese Citizenship
If you are looking for a Portuguese Citizenship Lawyer, the first step is to determine which route applies to your specific case, and what may compromise it. Since May 2026, that analysis is no longer straightforward.
Content updated as of October 2026. The Nationality Law was amended in May 2026 and is awaiting regulation.
Where to Start
Routes to Portuguese Citizenship
The Organic Law No. 1/2026 of 18 May came into force on 19 May and amended Law No. 37/81. Three routes remain open. None of them works exactly as it did before.
Portuguese Citizenship by Descent
Children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of a Portuguese national no longer share the same regime.
The child of a Portuguese mother or father keeps the most direct path, by attribution, even if born abroad.
The grandchild still has a right to original citizenship, but the law now requires of them what it did not before: proven knowledge of the language, culture, history and national symbols, declared adherence to the principles of the democratic rule of law and absence of impediments. Those who prepared a grandchild's application based on information from before May are preparing the wrong application.
The great-grandchild has gained a route of their own, but it is by grant and not as of right, and depends on legal residence in Portugal. For those who have never lived in Portugal, the direct route is not available, and the alternative depends on the situation of each generation of the family.
Portuguese Citizenship by Marriage
A foreigner married for more than three years to a Portuguese national can acquire Portuguese citizenship by declaration. The same applies to those in a de facto union (união de facto) for more than three years, but only after the union is recognised by court decision. If the union was formed in another country, a review of the foreign judgment may be needed before that.
The deadline is the simple part. The proof of effective connection to the Portuguese community is the requirement that calls for case-by-case assessment. The law removes the objection when the marriage or union lasts more than six years, or when there are joint children with Portuguese citizenship, but always preserves the grounds relating to criminal record and security.
Naturalisation by Length of Residence
It is the most sought-after route and the one that has changed the most. The minimum period of legal residence is now seven years for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries and of European Union Member States, and ten years for all others.
The number is public and everywhere. The problem is not the number; it is knowing whether the time the person thinks they have is the time that counts.
The law requires adding up periods of legal residence, consecutive or not, as long as they fit within a maximum window that varies according to the applicant's nationality. Those who were in Portugal, left and came back may have more years counted than they think, or may have let periods fall away that no longer fit in the window. Those who changed residence permit along the way need to know what counts from when.
To this were added new requirements. Knowing the language is no longer enough: knowledge of the culture, history and national symbols is now required, proven by test or certificate. The ability to ensure one's own subsistence was added. And the Nationality Regulations, which should have been amended by August to define how these requirements are proven, have not yet been.
In other words, there are requirements in force without it being established how they are met.
Knowing which time counts is the work of a Portuguese Citizenship Lawyer, not a sum of years.
Before Applying
Marriage Transcription in Portugal
Marriage Transcription almost always appears as a separate service. It is not. It is frequently the first step of a citizenship application.
A marriage celebrated outside Portugal only produces effects in the Portuguese legal order after it has been transcribed. This conditions the spouse's application and also conditions applications by descent, whenever the line of ascent passes through a marriage celebrated abroad, which is the case for most families of Portuguese emigrants.
Preparing a citizenship application without having the transcription done costs time and costs the fee.
If the marriage was celebrated in another country, it is worth confirming the registration before moving forward.
What Is Not Visible on the Form
Where Portuguese Citizenship Applications Fail
There are three points that a Portuguese Citizenship Lawyer checks before submitting and that are rarely detected by those who prepare their own application.
The Public Prosecutor's Office Objection
In applications by effect of will, citizenship may be acquired and the Public Prosecutor's Office may lodge an objection afterwards, within two years from registration, on the ground that there are no ties of effective connection to the national community. The registration now has constitutive effect, which makes this moment more relevant than it was.
Criminal Records
They no longer work as a yes or a no. The law turned this requirement into a rebuttable presumption, with the assessment left to the Public Prosecutor's Office, which weighs the sentence, the type of crime, the time elapsed and the applicant's effective integration. When the decision is unfavourable, there is a specific court action to remove that effect. This requirement is no longer resolved with a certificate.
The Law Without Regulations
Until the Regulations are amended, there are requirements whose method of proof is not defined. In practice, this means that two identical applications may be prepared differently depending on who prepares them.
These three points rarely appear before the case has already been submitted.
If You Have Already Applied
I Have a Pending Application. Does the New Law Apply to Me?
No. Article 7 of Organic Law No. 1/2026 requires the previous wording of Law No. 37/81 to be applied to administrative procedures that were already pending on 19 May 2026.
In practice: those who applied up to 18 May keep the requirement of five years of legal residence and the integration requirements that existed before. Those who submit from 19 May enter the new regime, with seven or ten years depending on nationality.
The date that separates the two regimes is the date the application was filed, not the date of the decision.
There are those who submitted close to the date of the change, those who have meanwhile received a request for further information and do not understand under which law it is being assessed, and those who withdrew an application convinced that they no longer met the requirements. They are three different situations, and none of them is resolved by reading the deadline.
How We Work
How We Handle a Portuguese Citizenship Application
We always start with an analysis of the specific situation before any submission. It is at this stage that the route is decided, what is missing is identified, and we see whether it is worth proceeding now or preparing a prior step first.
Each case has a lawyer in charge, who is the person who speaks to the client and who conducts the application. We reply to new enquiries within one business day, in Portuguese and in English.
Many of these cases are handled remotely, by power of attorney, with clients in Brazil, the United States or other European countries. When the case requires physical presence, we say so from the start.
We are a team of lawyers in Porto, working since 2011. We handle residence, Portuguese citizenship and the registrations that tend to come attached to these cases, such as Marriage Transcription and the review of foreign judgments, in the same office and with the same reading of the case.
Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Portuguese Citizenship
What is the difference between attribution and acquisition of Portuguese citizenship?
In attribution, the person is considered Portuguese from birth, with retroactive effect. In acquisition, the person becomes Portuguese from the date of registration. It is the same Portuguese citizenship, but the difference has practical consequences, namely for the situation of children.
Do I lose my current citizenship if I acquire Portuguese citizenship?
Portugal allows dual citizenship and does not require renouncing the citizenship of origin. What decides the question is the law of the other country, and not all of them allow it on the same terms. It is a matter to confirm before submitting, not after.
I submitted my application before 19 May 2026. Does the new law apply?
The previous wording applies to administrative procedures that were already pending on the date of entry into force. Determining whether an application was actually pending on that date is not always obvious.
Can a refused application be reconsidered?
It depends on the ground for the decision. A refusal for insufficient documentation is different from a decision based on an assessment of merit, and the available paths are not the same.
Do I need to reside in Portugal to apply for Portuguese Citizenship by Descent?
Children and grandchildren do not. Great-grandchildren, under the route the law opened to them, need legal residence in Portugal.
Do you guarantee approval of the case?
No lawyer can guarantee the decision of a public body. What we do is analyse the case before submitting, prepare the case with the documentation the framework requires, and react within the deadlines to any unfavourable decision.
Speak to a Portuguese Citizenship Lawyer
The analysis of the case always comes before the application. If you want to understand which route applies to your situation and what may compromise it, tell us what is going on.