Parliament postponed its vote today on nationality law reforms after the Socialist Party (PS) and Chega submitted last-minute proposals that introduced new timeframes and provisions for citizenship revocation.
The PS filed its amendment at 09:18 on Tuesday morning, while Chega sent its proposal by email on Monday at 10:39 p.m.
The committee rescheduled the vote for Thursday to allow time for legal review, but the government then suspended parliamentary activities for two days following the death of former Prime Minister Francisco Pinto Balsemão. The timing of the vote now remains uncertain.
PS Proposes Six and Eight-Year Naturalization Routes
The proposal PS introduced substitute text that would establish six years of legal residence for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries (CPLP) and European Union member states, and eight years for nationals of other countries. The proposal would set an entry into force date of January 1, 2026.
The party’s amendment would maintain protections for current residence permit holders while extending the timeline compared to the party’s October 17 proposal, which had suggested five and seven years, respectively.
Article 6, Section 1(b) specifies that the government “grants Portuguese nationality to individuals who” meet requirements including that they “have legally resided in Portuguese territory for at least six years in the case of nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries or the European Union, or eight years in the case of nationals of other countries.”
Golden Visa Holders Protected Under Grandfathering
The PS text would provide comprehensive protection for current Golden Visa holders and applicants through multiple transitional provisions.
Article 5, Section 2 would establish that “the previous wording of Law No. 37/81, of October 3, applies to people who meet the requirements for attribution and acquisition of nationality provided therein on the date of entry into force of this law and who initiate the respective procedure by June 30, 2026.”
This would create a six-month grandfathering window, allowing investors who meet current five-year residency requirements to file under existing rules until the end of June 2026.
Article 5, Section 3 would extend additional protection to residence permit holders, specifying that “the residence periods in national territory provided for in the previous wording” apply to naturalization procedures for “holders and applicants of residence authorizations on the date of entry into force of this law, whose procedures begin by December 31, 2027.”
Portugal issued 4,987 Golden Visas in 2024, marking a 72% increase from 2023, according to data from the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA).
Administrative Delay Protection Maintained
The PS proposal would preserve Article 15, Section 4, which would protect applicants from bureaucratic processing delays.
The provision would establish that for “the purposes of counting periods of legal residence provided for in this law, the time elapsed from the moment when the legally established deadline for granting residence authorization has been exceeded is also considered, provided that it is subsequently granted.”
This clause would ensure that residence time continues accruing after AIMA’s legal decision period expires, preventing administrative backlogs from resetting applicants’ citizenship clocks.
Transitional Naturalization Routes Extended
Article 5-A would create temporary naturalization pathways available until December 31, 2026. The government could grant nationality to individuals born in Portuguese territory whose foreign parents had residence here at the time of birth, provided they have resided in Portugal for at least five years.
The provision would also cover individuals who lost Portuguese nationality under Decree-Law No. 308-A/75 due to residing in Portugal for less than five years on April 25, 1974, and their children born in national territory.
Criminal Record Threshold Lowered
The amendment would tighten eligibility requirements by barring citizenship for anyone convicted with a final judgment of “a prison sentence equal to or greater than two years, for a crime punishable under Portuguese law.” This would reduce the threshold from previous drafts.
Chega Proposes Citizenship Revocation
Chega’s amendment would focus exclusively on introducing a new Article 69-D that would establish loss of nationality as a penalty. The far-right party proposes that courts could revoke Portuguese citizenship from naturalized dual nationals convicted of serious crimes.
The proposal would establish that “loss of Portuguese nationality may be applied to the agent who has been convicted of an effective prison sentence of duration equal to or greater than three years” for specified offenses, provided the crimes were “committed in the 20 years following the acquisition of nationality” and “the agent is a national of another State.”
Courts would need to assess factors including “the disregard evidenced by the agent’s conduct in relation to the constitutional order of values, the national community and the integrity and security of the Portuguese State,” “the time of legal residence in national territory at the time of conviction,” and “the degree of family and community integration.”
The measure would cover crimes including homicide, terrorism, sexual offenses, trafficking, organized crime, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, and crimes against the State. The proposal explicitly states that “conviction in an accessory penalty of loss of nationality cannot be based on political grounds.”
Individuals who lose citizenship could only request reacquisition “ten years after the expiration of the period for definitive cancellation of registration in the criminal record of the respective penalties.”
The vote postponement occurred because Portuguese parliamentary rules require that the Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms, and Guarantees Committee (CACDLG) complete a legal and constitutional assessment before presenting a consolidated text for a floor vote.
Uncertain Timeline
The two new proposals arrived too late for the committee to integrate them into the working draft and circulate the revised text among all parliamentary groups for the Wednesday session.
The President of the Assembly rescheduled discussion and voting for Thursday, but the two-day suspension following Balsemão’s death has left the timing uncertain.
The proposed January 1, 2026, entry into force date would provide 11 weeks for negotiation, amendment, approval, and promulgation.
The two-day parliamentary suspension compresses the available window for debate before State Budget deliberations begin, though the exact timing of the vote remains unclear.
Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Social Democratic Party (PSD) had submitted this proposal. And while PSD did make adjustments to its original proposal, the text in this article concerns a proposal by the Socialist Party (PS). Article has since been amended.
