Portuguese citizenship and permanent residence under the 2026 nationality law

The headline change is time: naturalisation by residence now needs 7 years for EU citizens and nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries (Brazil, Angola, Cape Verde and others), 10 years for everyone else, and 4 for stateless people. The old law gave everyone 5.3 sources

The rest of the package tightens almost every route: a test of culture, history and national symbols on top of language, civic knowledge, a solemn declaration, proof you can support yourself, and a narrower but stricter criminal-record bar. Children born in Portugal no longer become Portuguese automatically, and the Sephardic-descendant route has closed for new applicants.2 sources

The Constitutional Court shaped the final text. In December 2025 it struck down four provisions of the first version, including a bar on anyone with a prison sentence of 2 years or more for any crime and a rule that would have applied new conditions to applications already filed. It upheld the 7 and 10-year periods.1 source

It depends only on when you applied, not when you arrived. Applications pending on 19 May 2026 are decided under the old law; everything submitted from that day uses the new one. IRN has said the date that counts is the submission date on its online platform.4 sources

So yes, the longer periods apply to people who were already living here. If you arrived in 2022 on a residence visa and had not applied by 18 May 2026, you now need 10 years (or 7 if you are Brazilian, Angolan or an EU citizen). The Constitutional Court accepted this because the rule looks forward from the application date.2 sources

Filing early no longer works, if it ever did. The new law requires every condition to be met at the moment you apply, so an application lodged before you complete your years will be refused. Whether early applications made before 19 May 2026 under the old law succeed is untested; lawyers disagreed, and IRN has not said.3 sources

Legal residence means being in Portugal with your situation regularised under any title, visa or authorisation of the foreigners or asylum laws. Time on a residence visa therefore counts, so for most people the clock starts on the day they enter Portugal with that visa, not when AIMA issues the card.2 sources

The 2024 rule that counted time from the date you applied for your residence permit was revoked. That matters if your visa expired before AIMA issued your card: the law does not say whether that gap counts, IRN has issued no guidance, and the cautious approach is to leave it out.2 sources

Breaks are allowed, within limits. Separate periods of legal residence add up only if they all fall within 12 years (10-year cases), 9 years (7-year cases) or 6 years (stateless people). In every case that leaves room for about two years without legal residence in any one window. A single break longer than that restarts the clock from your return. Several shorter breaks that add up to more do not restart it, but your oldest residence drops out as the window moves on; the citizenship clock below works this out from the dates of each break.2 sources

There is no 183-day rule in nationality law. That number is the test for tax residence. The nationality law counts legal residence of people who are in Portugal; how IRN will treat someone with a valid permit but very little time here has not been tested.3 sources

Besides residence, an adult applicant must, at the moment of applying: show sufficient knowledge of Portuguese language and culture, history and national symbols, by test or certificate; know the fundamental rights and duties of citizens and how the State is organised; sign a solemn declaration of adherence to democratic principles; and be able to support themselves.2 sources

You must also not be a threat to national security or defence, nor subject to UN or EU sanctions, and must not have a final conviction to effective prison of more than 3 years for terrorism, violent or highly organised crime, crimes against State security or aiding illegal immigration.2 sources

What nobody can tell you yet is exactly how these are tested. The law gave the government until 16 August 2026 to update the nationality regulation; by 12 October 2026 nothing had been published, so there is no official culture or civics test, pass mark or means threshold. Courses and exams sold as a 'TNIC' citizenship test are using an unofficial name.3 sources

Until the new regulation appears, the existing one still sets the standard: A2 on the European framework, a basic, everyday level. You can prove it with a Portuguese school certificate, a certificate from an approved Portuguese language test, or a CAPLE certificate. CIPLE, the A2 exam run by the University of Lisbon's CAPLE, costs €95.3 sources

Nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries are presumed to know the language unless they obviously do not, but the presumption covers language only: they still have to show knowledge of culture, history and symbols and civic knowledge once those requirements are regulated.2 sources

Free state Portuguese courses (Português Língua de Acolhimento, PLA) run through IEFP training centres and schools. Rules on adapted tests for older people or people who cannot read and write exist under the current regulation; how they will carry over is one of the open questions for the new one.2 sources

You need a criminal-record certificate from your country of birth, your country of nationality and every country you have lived in since the age of criminal responsibility (IRN's guidance says since age 16), translated into Portuguese; IRN checks the Portuguese record itself.2 sources

Foreign documents generally need an apostille or consular legalisation. Ask your lawyer or IRN how recent each certificate must be when you file, because a long gap between ordering documents and applying is a common reason for requests to resubmit.1 source

Only effective prison of more than 3 years for the listed serious crimes blocks naturalisation, and even then it is a rebuttable presumption: the public prosecutor weighs the circumstances, and you can go to court to set it aside. The first draft barred any sentence of 2 years or more for any crime; the Constitutional Court struck that down, and a misprint in the published law repeating it was corrected the same day.3 sources

A naturalisation application costs €250; it is free for stateless people, for minors born in Portugal and for children in State care. The Minister of Justice decides, and you become Portuguese on the date your naturalisation is registered.2 sources

The online system is only for lawyers and solicitors. Without a lawyer you apply in person at a nationality desk (Balcão da Nacionalidade) or by post to the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais in Lisbon. The system assigns your file to a registry office; you cannot choose one.2 sources

The core file is your birth certificate (apostilled and translated), a request to the Minister of Justice listing every country you have lived in since 16, proof of Portuguese, and your criminal records. Biometrics (photo, fingerprints, height) are collected by IRN, consulates or Espaço Cidadão points.2 sources

Expect a long wait. In July 2026 IRN's president put the average delay for naturalisation by residence at about three years, after applications jumped 74% between March 2025 and the law change. In September 2025 IRN had 522,000 nationality files pending; the registry workers' union estimated about 600,000 in April 2026.4 sources

You can sue to force a decision, but courts order IRN to decide, not to say yes. The urgent procedure (intimação) is usually refused for delay alone: the Lisbon appeal court held that 17 months of waiting was not enough, and in May 2026 reversed a first-instance win, saying urgency needs concrete facts such as serious illness or advanced age. The ordinary action to compel a decision is slower but more reliable.3 sources

Spouses and partners: after more than 3 years of marriage, or of a união de facto recognised by a court, you can acquire nationality by declaration. Until the relationship reaches 6 years (or you have a Portuguese child together), the public prosecutor can oppose for lack of effective connection, now judged against the language, culture, civics and means requirements. After that, only crime, security or sanctions grounds remain.2 sources

Grandchildren of Portuguese citizens can still claim citizenship of origin by declaration, but must now meet the language, culture, civics, declaration and criminal-record tests. Great-grandchildren gain a new discretionary route after 5 years of legal residence.2 sources

Children born in Portugal are Portuguese of origin only if a parent declares it and that parent had at least 5 years of legal residence when the child was born. Otherwise the child can be naturalised free of charge once a parent has 5 years of legal residence. A child of compulsory-school age must be enrolled and attending school regularly; a baby or pre-school child does not have to wait for school age. Minor children of a new citizen can acquire nationality by declaration.2 sources

Permanent residence comes much sooner than citizenship. Non-EU nationals can apply after holding a temporary residence permit for 5 years, with no prison sentences totalling over a year in that time, means of subsistence, housing and basic Portuguese. Time on your visa does not count here, because the test is holding a permit.2 sources

The permit itself does not expire; the card is renewed every 5 years. EU citizens get permanent residence after 5 years of legal residence under a separate law, with no language requirement.2 sources

An alternative is EU long-term resident status: 5 years of legal, uninterrupted residence, basic Portuguese, stable resources and health insurance. It gives mobility rights in other EU countries, and if AIMA does not decide within 9 months the status is granted.1 source

You do not need Portuguese to keep renewing a temporary permit, and those years still count towards citizenship. Basic Portuguese is the price of permanent status, not of staying.1 source

Temporary residence permits can be cancelled after 6 months away in a row, or 8 months in total during the permit's validity, unless you have a good reason. Permanent residence is lost only after 24 consecutive months away, or 30 months within 3 years, without good reason; absences for work or business abroad are protected.1 source

A golden visa (ARI) is a residence permit, so its years count as legal residence for nationality, but most investors now need 10 years rather than 5. The minimum stays the ARI requires (7 days in the first year, 14 days in each later 2-year period) are a renewal rule; whether IRN will accept someone who has barely lived here has not been tested.3 sources

Portugal allows you to keep your other nationality. Inside Portugal you are treated only as Portuguese. The UK and US allow dual nationality, and since a 2023 constitutional amendment Brazilians lose their nationality only on request or for fraud; check your own country's rules before applying.4 sources

Citizenship does not change your taxes: Portugal taxes by residence, not nationality. There is no military conscription; young citizens attend a one-day National Defence Day at 18. Under the nationality law you can lose Portuguese nationality only by declaring that you do not want it while holding another; attempts in 2025 and 2026 to strip nationality as a criminal penalty were struck down by the Constitutional Court, vetoed and rejected by Parliament.5 sources

For a non-EU national on a standard route, the milestones look like this. Each step has its own office and its own wait, so keep copies of every card, receipt and decision: IRN will ask you to prove each period of legal residence.3 sources