GET PORTUGAL CITIZENSHIP

GET PORTUGAL CITIZENSHIP

How to get Portuguese citizenship:

Becoming a Portuguese citizen gives you a number of important advantages.

• You can get a Portuguese passport. As one of the most powerful in the world, it allows you to travel visa-free to 184 countries.
• As a Portuguese citizen, you’ll also be a citizen of the EU. This gives you the right to freely live, work, study and retire across the 30 nations of the EU and EEA. Portuguese citizens can also vote and run for office in the European elections.
• You can vote in Portugal’s elections and run for political office

There are several different pathways to getting Portuguese citizenship, depending on your specific circumstances.

Citizenship by naturalization

Timeline: Five years

Getting citizenship by naturalization typically involves living in the country for a long enough period of time to be granted citizenship rights.

In Portugal, you need to be legally resident for five years before you can submit an application for Portuguese citizenship by naturalization. It’s also possible to apply for permanent residency in Portugal after the same length of time.

Basic requirements for Portuguese citizenship by naturalization:

• Five years of legal residency in Portugal
• A clean criminal record
• No outstanding taxes due in Portugal
• Knowledge of Portuguese to A2 level
• Proof of integration into the community

Citizenship by marriage or partnership

Timeline: Three years

If your spouse or partner is a Portuguese citizen, then you may be able to get Portuguese citizenship with proof of your marriage or partnership.

You’ll have to prove that you’ve been in the marriage or partnership for at least three years before submitting the citizenship application.

If you get divorced, then you’re no longer eligible to apply. Portuguese citizenship by marriage or partnership doesn’t require you to live in Portugal during that three-year period.

Portugal recognizes long-term stable relationships (known as a de facto union) as well as marriage. You’ll need proof of the relationship and its duration.

Typically, this involves showing documents as evidence that you live at the same address (such as a shared rental contract or property deed), or shared utility bills.

It’s important to remember that getting Portuguese citizenship through your partner isn’t guaranteed.

What’s more, you’re usually asked to show proof of ties to Portugal, such as knowing the Portuguese language, owning property in Portugal, or having spent time living here.

You may also be asked to prove your Portuguese language skills are at least at the A2 level.

Citizenship by descent (parents or grandparents)

Timeline: None – you can apply at any time

Perhaps history has been kind to you and you already have a Portuguese parent or grandparent.

In that case, you’re automatically eligible for Portuguese citizenship without having to live there or prove any other ties to the country.

If you have a Portuguese parent, you may be able to obtain Portuguese citizenship. If you were born outside Portugal and have a Portuguese grandparent, you could also qualify for citizenship.

Citizenship by descent is one of the easiest routes to Portuguese citizenship. Typically, you’ll only need to prove your ancestry via your birth certificate and those of your parents.

The only possible challenges could be if you don’t have contact with your parents, or if birth certificates have been lost.

Citizenship by Sephardic Jewish heritage

If you’re interested in family tree research, you might want to check to see if there are Sephardic Jews in your ancestry. If so, then you might have a ticket to Portuguese citizenship.

Why is that the case?

Back in the days of the Inquisition, thousands of Jews were expelled from the Iberian Peninsula. Although this was hundreds of years ago, Portugal and Spain have offered citizenship as a way of reparation. However, Spain has since closed down its program after a wave of rejections. Portugal’s program is still in full swing, with over 90,000 successful applicants as of January 2022. To be eligible, you’ll need to trace your family tree back far enough to show that you have Sephardic Jewish ancestry. This might come in the form of a Sephardic surname, cemetery records, or proof that the Ladino language was used among your ancestors. Or perhaps you’ll strike lucky and find a copy of the certificate from the Portuguese Jewish community in Lisbon or Porto.

Getting citizenship through Sephardic Jewish heritage can be a time-consuming process. If you don’t fancy doing the research yourself, you might want to hire a genealogist.

But it could be well worth it, as you won’t need to spend any time in Portugal, and you don’t need to learn any Portuguese.

Citizenship via Portugal’s former colonies

Centuries ago, during the Age of Discovery, Portugal became the world’s first colonial power. It has since given up all its colonies, but still maintains special relationships with them. That includes an agreement to allow citizens of former colonies to apply for Portuguese citizenship.

Portugal’s former colonies are as follows: Cape Verde, Angola, Brazil, Portuguese India, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Macau, São Tomé and Principe, and Mozambique.

There’s usually a time limit in which to apply, but if you have links to any of these former colonies, it may still be worth exploring whether you can apply for Portuguese citizenship.

Citizenship by birth

Unlike many other countries (such as the United States), Portugal doesn’t automatically grant citizenship to those born there. However, you may be eligible for citizenship if you were born in Portugal to at least one parent who was resident in Portugal for at least a year.

Citizenship by adoption

This one is only for the under-18s. If you’re already thinking about getting second citizenship, then perhaps you can find some Portuguese parents and convince them to adopt you. Unfortunately, Portuguese law doesn’t extend to adult adoptions, so this won’t be an option for most readers.

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