Portugal has sharply lengthened its path to citizenship. President António José Seguro promulgated the revised Nationality Law on May 3, 2026, amending Law No. 37/81 of October 3 and extending the standard legal residence requirement for naturalization from five years to 10 years for most foreign nationals. The law enters into force on the day after its publication in the Diário da República.

Citizens of European Union member states and CPLP countries — including Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Timor-Leste — face a shorter but still increased requirement of seven years.

What the New Law Requires

Under the revised Article 6, applicants for Portuguese nationality by naturalization must legally reside in Portugal for at least seven years (EU and Portuguese-speaking-country nationals) or 10 years (all other nationals).

Applicants must also prove knowledge of the Portuguese language, culture, history, and national symbols, understand the rights and duties attached to Portuguese nationality, and formally declare adherence to the principles of Portugal's democratic rule of law.

The reform also changes how residence time is counted. Article 15(4), introduced in 2024 to allow residence time to count from the date a residence permit was requested, is revoked. The relevant clock is expected to start from the issuance of a valid residence title, not from the application date.

This matters because Portugal's migration agency, AIMA, has faced long processing delays. For Golden Visa and other residence applicants, the change may extend the practical timeline to citizenship beyond the statutory seven or 10 years.

Who Is Affected

The new rules apply to foreign residents pursuing Portuguese citizenship through naturalization, including Golden Visa investors, D7 and D8 visa holders, workers, students who later transition to residence, and other legal residents.

The Golden Visa residence program itself was not abolished or changed by this law. Permanent residence after five years remains separate from naturalization. The reform changes the citizenship timeline, not the basic residence route.

Pending Applications Keep the Old Rules

The decree includes a transitional clause: administrative procedures pending on the date the law enters into force will continue under the previous version of the Nationality Law.

In practical terms, this protects pending nationality procedures. It does not clearly protect every foreign resident with a residence process or Golden Visa process underway who has not yet filed a nationality application. That distinction will likely be central for lawyers, applicants, and future court challenges.

President Seguro emphasized that pending processes should not be affected by the legislative change, warning that doing so would damage trust in the Portuguese state domestically and internationally.

Signed, But With Reservations

President Seguro signed the decree, but his statement was not a simple endorsement. He said a law of such importance should have been based on broader consensus and warned against repeated changes to the Nationality Law that could weaken legal certainty and institutional credibility.

He also stressed that state delays should not undermine the legal timelines for obtaining nationality. That statement may become relevant in disputes involving AIMA delays and applicants who argue they should not be penalized for administrative backlogs.

Political Background

The Assembly of the Republic approved the revised decree on April 1, 2026, by 152 votes to 64, with one abstention, after a last-minute agreement between the governing Social Democratic Party (PSD) and Chega. PSD, Chega, and the Liberal Initiative voted in favor; the Socialist Party, Livre, PCP, BE, and PAN voted against.

The President of the Assembly of the Republic, José Pedro Aguiar-Branco, signed the approved decree after the parliamentary vote.

During the debate, Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro defended the reform as a correction of past policy choices. PSD parliamentary leader Hugo Soares framed the agreement as an important step for "portugalidade," while Chega leader André Ventura claimed his party had achieved important changes. Socialist deputy Pedro Delgado Alves warned that constitutional issues may remain.

What Is Still Not Final

A separate decree, Decree No. 49/XVII, which would amend the Penal Code to create loss of nationality as an accessory criminal penalty, has not been promulgated. It remains suspended because a parliamentary group requested preventive constitutional review by the Constitutional Court.

Portugal's Constitutional Court had already struck down several provisions in the earlier version of the nationality reform in December 2025, including a proposed loss of nationality mechanism.

What Happens Next

The revised Nationality Law takes effect only after publication in the Diário da República, entering into force the following day. The government must also update the Portuguese Nationality Regulation within 90 days of publication.

Applicants should watch the publication date, the updated regulation, how pending cases are treated in practice, and whether further constitutional challenges target the residence-counting rule or the treatment of existing residents. Portugal's citizenship pathway is not closed, but it is now longer, more demanding, and more legally complex.