If the amendments approved by the Assembly of the Republic are enacted, immigrants will have faster access to the right to acquire Portuguese citizenship
It will be in the hands of President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa a decision that may benefit immigrants residing in Portugal. The head of State will receive next week the amendments to the Nationality Law, which provide, among other measures, greater speed in the right to apply for Portuguese citizenship. The new text states that”for the purposes of counting the periods of legal residence provided for in this law, the time elapsed from the moment the temporary residence permit was requested, provided that it will be granted, is also considered”.
In practice, it means that the time will be counted from the date of acceptance of the expression of interest (MI), A method used by thousands of foreigners in Portugal to obtain the residence permit (AR). The information was confirmed to DN by the Office of Deputy Alexandra Leitão (PS), rapporteur of this change in legislation. “The aim is not to penalise the applicant for the delay of the Public Administration.” The entire route can take up to three years.
By the time the MI application is approved, the foreign citizen has already submitted to the government the documentation required by law, such as registration with Social Security, opening of activity or employment contract and taxpayer number. The next step is to conduct a face-to-face interview and pay a fee, followed by receiving the title.
Currently, this entire period is not counted in the count of the five years of housing required by law. With the recent transition of services to the agency for Integration, Migration and asylum (AIMA) it is not yet clear whether the waiting time will be shorter for those entering with the application at this time.
In 2022, the then foreigners and Borders service (SEF) registered a total of 74.506 requests for an opinion on the acquisition of Portuguese nationality. In comparison with the previous year, it means an increase of 37,2% in orders.
“More than fair request”
The move was an old request from immigrants in Portugal. Juliet Cristino, an independent representative of foreigners in the country, also held an open letter on the subject in 2021. In 2023, it secured enough signatures on a public petition to have the issue discussed by Parliament. In a hearing held last October, the 37-year-old Brazilian presented to deputies the reasons for the change in the law, such as the fact that the process is lengthy, the government has already approved the request by evaluating the required documentation and the immigrant is already contributing to the country.
To DN, Juliet reports that ” the request was more than fair, if the expression of interest has already been accepted, there is no reason not to start counting from there. The hearing was a differential, because there was not a person who was there who was not sensitized to the situation. I felt like The Voice of all the immigrant people of this country, it was a victory for the people,” he says.
The Nationality Law has undergone several changes in recent years. In 2018, the minimum period of residence in the country for granting nationality to babies fell from five to two years. In 2022, the assignment became automatic, provided that one of the parents has resided in the country for at least a year, with or without a residence permit.
The last amendment, which will now go through the president’s assessment, had contrary votes from the entire chega and PCP bench, while three deputies from the PS and PSD abstained. The single deputy of Livre and the single deputy of the PAN, the Liberal initiative, the Left Bloc and 115 parliamentarians of the PS voted in favor and guaranteed approval. The president of the Republic has a legal period of 20 days for consideration of the law, from the date of entry of the document in Belém, scheduled for next Thursday (18).