Fulfill Your Dream of Belonging. Apply for Portuguese Nationality

Citizenship is the legal bond that unites a citizen to the state which confers both fundamental rights and individual legal status. This relationship provides individuals with certain rights that they are entitled to, from the state. On the other hand, it demands them to fulfil specific requirements and duties requested by the state.

Portuguese nationality can be obtained  at birth or during life and can also be lost under some circumstances.

The Portuguese law allows a Portuguese person to have other nationalities. Therefore, one does not have to give up on the other citizenship to acquire Portuguese nationality. However, the law of other countries may require one to give up on their original nationality when obtaining Portuguese nationality.

Once you have obtained all the necessary documentation, and it’s due legalised, you can apply by mail or in-person, with legal assistance, at the Civil Registry. 

Your application may take between 1 and 2 years, depending on the grounds of the requirements of Portuguese citizenship. After receiving a favourable decision, the Portuguese civil registry will proceed with the registration of your birth as a Portuguese citizen. After that, it will generate a Portuguese birth certificate in your name. The registration of your birth as a Portuguese citizen might take about 4 months.

With a copy of your Portuguese birth certificate it will be possible to apply for your Portuguese citizen card and passport, in-person, at the civil registry in Portugal or at the Portuguese consulates abroad.

1. Gathering the documentation

It takes between 1 to four 4 months to get the necessary paperwork, depending on the Country of issuance

2. Submission of the application

It takes just a day to send the process by mail. For in-person appointments, it must be scheduled.

3. Resolution of the application for citizenship

It can take around 1 or 2 years for your citizenship to be approved.

4. Registration of you birth as a Portuguese Citizen

It takes around 4 months to the Register to issue your Portuguese birth certificate.

Portuguese citizenship by origen:

Children or grandchildren of Portuguese citizens and some foreing citizens that were born in Portugal have the right to apply for Portuguese nationality, when some requirements are met. In those cases, after getting citizenship, they are considered Portuguese by origin.

When the applicant is a child of a Portuguese citizen, the Portuguese parent may have obtained their Portuguese nationality by origin or by naturalisation. 

In the case of grandchildren however, the Portuguese grandparent must have obtained their Portuguese nationality by origin and it would be necessary to be approved in a Portuguese official test (Level A2).  

Portuguese citizenship by naturalisation:

Cases on the foreign citizen could declare that they want to acquire the Portuguese citizenship:

• Time of residence (after 5 years of legal residence in the country)
• Being marriage or have a Civil partnership to a Portuguese citizen for at least 3 years 
• Being a descendent of the Sephardic Jews community of the Iberian Peninsula 
• If you had been formerly a Portuguese citizen who lost it, in certain circumstances.
• Among others.

There is also the possibility of preserving Portuguese nationality, in very specific cases, by being a citizen of a former Portuguese overseas territory such as the countries that were part of the former portuguese state of india (Goa, Damião, Diu, Dadrá and Nagar-Haveli) and in the African Continent (Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau, Sao Tome and Principe).