Portugal's president signed a bill on Sunday that lengthens the time foreign residents must wait before applying for citizenship. Under the newly enacted law, the general residency requirement for naturalization rises from five years to up to 10 years for most applicants.
The legislation secured parliamentary approval last year with the votes of the minority center-right Social Democratic Party and the far-right Chega party. President Antonio Jose Seguro, whose term began in March, said he hoped pending citizenship applications would not be affected by the change. He warned that applying the new rules retroactively would amount to an undesirable breach of trust in the state, both domestically and internationally.
The law includes a specific provision for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries. Citizens of Brazil, Angola and other lusophone nations will now need seven years of residency to qualify for citizenship, rather than the previous five-year threshold.
This legal adjustment comes at a moment of historically high foreign population in Portugal. Data from Portugal's Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum indicate the country has 1.5 million foreign residents, representing roughly 15% of the total population. That figure is nearly three times the number recorded in 2019.
The country has seen a marked increase in immigration since the pandemic. According to the agency cited above, the rapid influx of foreign residents has placed strain on housing, healthcare and other public services.
Context and implications
The change in residency thresholds is a legislative response occurring alongside record levels of foreign residents. The statute differentiates between general applicants and those from Portuguese-speaking countries, setting a distinct seven-year requirement for the latter group.
President Seguro emphasized protection of applicant expectations by discouraging retrospective application of the new rules, framing retroactivity as a breach of public trust on both national and international levels.
The law takes effect following the president's signing. How individual cases already in process will be administratively handled is a matter the president flagged as important to avoid undermining trust, but no procedural details beyond that statement were provided in the material reviewed for this report.