Portugal reduces time for citizenship to 5 years

Organic Law No. 8/2015, of June 22, amendments were introduced to the Nationality Law (Law no. 37/81, of October 3), establishing new grounds for granting nationality by naturalization and opposition to the acquisition of Portuguese nationality .

Amendments to the Nationality Regulation entered into force on July 3 by introducing improvements in the process of assigning nationality and making it more just and swift for the applicant.

The three important changes in portuguese nationality

• The amendments clarify what are the “bonds of effective connection to the national community”, a requirement that since 2015 is provided for in the Nationality Law for the attribution of Portuguese nationality to grandchildren of Portuguese residents abroad.
• The law also simplifies the process of assigning nationality, especially as regards proof of knowledge of the portuguese language, presuming that citizens of countries where Portuguese has been an official language for at least 10 years and have resided in Portugal for 5 years, know the Portuguese language, exempting them from the Portuguese language proof of knowledge.
• The requirement for a criminal record certificate is also simplified in cases where the applicant has not lived in the country of which he or she is a national or natural person after the age of 16 and proves residence in another country after that age, not having to submit the criminal record certificates of those countries.

What documents can the applicant present to help substantiate the effective link to the national community?

•   Legal residence in Portugal;
• Regular trips to Portugal;
•  Property or rental of property in Portugal for more than 3 years;
•  Residence or connection to a Portuguese community in the country where you live;
•  Certificate of knowledge of the Portuguese language.

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