Portugal

Lei Orgânica 1/2026 fundamentally restructured the adoption route to Portuguese nationality. Under the prior regime (W2-W6), Art 5 conferred nationality automatically by operation of law on a person adopted by a Portuguese national — this was a Section II acquisition (ipso jure, no act of will required). LO 1/2026 moved Art 5 from Section II to Section I of the Act, converting acquisition into a voluntary act : the adopted person (or their legal representative if a minor) must file a declaração de vontade with the IRN/CRC to acquire nationality.

PT-ADP-02 captures the historical adoption-based nationality conferral mechanism that existed under the pre-1981 Portuguese nationality code (Lei 2098/1959). Under that former regime, adoption by a Portuguese national could confer Portuguese nationality on the adoptee through a declaration mechanism codified in Art 29 of the former code. The entire pre-1981 nationality framework was superseded on 3 October 1981 when Lei 37/81, de 3 de outubro, entered into force. Lei 37/81 established the modern Portuguese nationality structure that continues — in amended form — to the present day (as republis

PT-BTH-01 is the conditional jus soli pathway by which a child born on Portuguese territory to foreign parents acquires Portuguese nationality as nationality of origin (originária) where, at the moment of birth, at least one parent has been legally resident in Portugal for at least five years and the child (through its legal representatives) makes a declaration of will (declaração de vontade) to be Portuguese. The route sits at the heart of Portugal's treatment of the "second generation" — children of immigrant families born in the country — and is the principal birthright route for children w

PT-BTH-01-W5 documents the superseded W5-era conditional jus soli mechanism operative in Portugal from 10 November 2020 through 18 May 2026. During this window, Art 1(1)(f) of Lei 37/81 conferred Portuguese nationality on children born in Portugal to foreign parents if, at the moment of birth, one parent had resided in Portugal for at least one year under any residence title — with nationality arising automatically unless the parent exercised an opt-out declaração. This route is closed to new entrants : births on or after 2026-05-19 are governed by the more restrictive W7 rule (PT-BTH-01, requ

PT-BTH-02 is the unconditional third-generation jus soli route under Portuguese nationality law. It confers Portuguese nationality automatically — by attribution, without any declaração de vontade — on children born in Portugal where at least one parent was also born in Portugal and resided there at the moment of the child's birth, regardless of residence title or immigration status. The route operates under Art 1(1)(e) of Lei 37/81, which has been in force since LO 2/2006 introduced the third-generation mechanism. Lei Orgânica 1/2026 (EIF 2026-05-19) left Art 1(1)(e) unchanged; it is currentl

PT-BTH-03 is the statelessness-prevention jus soli provision under Portuguese nationality law. It confers Portuguese nationality automatically — without declaração de vontade — on any individual born in Portuguese territory who would otherwise be stateless: that is, who acquires no nationality from any other State by reason of birth. The provision implements Portugal's obligation under Art 1 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, to which Portugal acceded on 1 October 2012 without reservations. It is also consistent with the European Convention on Nationality (ECN, CETS 166)

PT-BTH-04 is the foundling presumption route under Portuguese nationality law. Art 1(2) of Lei 37/81 establishes a rebuttable presumption that any newborn found (exposed or abandoned) in Portuguese territory was born in Portugal. When combined with Art 1(1)(g) — the statelessness-prevention jus soli provision (PT-BTH-03) — a foundling with no identifiable parentage and no other determinable nationality acquires Portuguese nationality from birth as a matter of law. The provision directly implements Art 2 of the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, to which Portugal acceded on 1 Oc

PT-DSC-01 is the primary descent route for children of Portuguese nationals worldwide. It is grounded in Art 1(1)(a), (b), and (c) of Lei 37/81, all of which have remained unchanged from the 1981 founding text through the most recent amendment (LO 1/2026, EIF 2026-05-19). This route confers originária (original) Portuguese nationality, which takes effect ex tunc from birth pursuant to Art 11 of Lei 37/81. No residence in Portugal is required, and there is no integration test, language test, or discretionary assessment. For sub-tracks (a) and (b) acquisition is automatic by operation of law; fo

PT-DSC-02 is the route by which a person born abroad acquires Portuguese nationality as an original national ( português originário ) on the strength of a grandparent ( avô / avó ) — that is, a second-degree direct-line ascendant ( ascendente do 2.º grau na linha reta ) — who is or was a Portuguese national of origin and who has not lost that nationality. In Portuguese practice the beneficiary is the neto (grandchild). Two features make this route distinctive and load-bearing for the whole descent architecture: 1. It is atribuição, not concessão. Since LO 9/2015 the grandchild route sits in

From the founding of Lei 37/81 in 1981 until the enactment of LO 9/2015 on 29 July 2015, grandchildren (netos) of Portuguese nationals wishing to obtain Portuguese nationality were required to apply for naturalisation under Art 6(4) of Lei 37/81. This was a concessão (discretionary grant by the Government) — not an attribution as of right — and was subject to ordinary naturalisation conditions, including residence and integration criteria in force at the time of the application. LO 9/2015 (DR 144/2015 Série I, 29-07-2015) made a structural change: it introduced Art 1(1)(d) into Lei 37/81, conv

PT-DSC-03 is a new pathway created by Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 (in force 19 May 2026) that, for the first time in Portuguese nationality law, gives third-degree lineal descendants — bisnetos (great-grandchildren) — of an original Portuguese national a dedicated, partially-facilitated route to nationality. The instrument is Art 6.º n.º 8 of Lei 37/81, in the redaction inserted by the republication annexed to LO 1/2026. The defining structural feature of this route — and the single most consequential point for any applicant or adviser — is that it is a naturalisation (concessão), not an attributi

PT-HIS-01 documents the Sephardic Jewish descent naturalisation route — the special naturalisation-with-dispensation pathway that Portugal operated between 2013 and 2026 for descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews (the Jewish communities expelled or forcibly converted following the 1496 expulsion decree of D. Manuel I). The route allowed qualifying descendants to acquire Portuguese nationality by naturalisation without the ordinary residence requirement and without the ordinary language requirement, on the strength of a heritage certificate issued by a recognised Portuguese Jewish community.

PT-HIS-02 addresses the nationality consequences of the 1975 decolonisation of Portugal's former African overseas territories — the territories now grouped as the PALOP (Países Africanos de Língua Oficial Portuguesa): Angola, Moçambique, Cabo Verde, Guiné-Bissau and São Tomé e Príncipe. The route is anchored in Decreto-Lei n.º 308-A/75, de 24 de junho (the diploma that settled who kept and who lost Portuguese nationality when independence was conferred on those territories in 1975), together with the ordinary jus-sanguinis chain of Art 1 of Lei n.º 37/81 through which today's descendants of t

PT-HIS-03 addresses the nationality status of persons born in the territories of the former Antigo Estado da Índia (the Estado Português da Índia — principally Goa, Daman, and Diu) before India's annexation on 19 December 1961, and of their descendants. Portugal's position, maintained since 1961 and not altered by LO 1/2026, is that it never recognised India's annexation of these territories. As a consequence, persons born in Goa, Daman, or Diu before 19 December 1961 are regarded by Portugal as Portuguese citizens of origin. DL 308-A/75, de 24 de junho de 1975 — the same decree-law that addre

PT-HIS-04 addresses the Portuguese nationality status of persons connected to Macau, the former Portuguese overseas territory transferred to Chinese administration on 20 December 1999 (after 442 years of Portuguese presence). The route operates across three distinct sub-periods, each governed by a different nationality rule, and extends into the present through the jus sanguinis descent chain. Macau's nationality history under Portuguese law has three phases: - Pre-21-11-1981 (Jus soli phase): Before Lei 37/81 entered into force in Macau, persons born in Macau could acquire Portuguese national

East Timor occupies a legally exceptional position in Portuguese nationality law because Decree-Law 308-A/75 of 24 June 1975 — the instrument that stripped most residents of former African colonies of their Portuguese nationality at independence — was never applied to East Timor. Portugal consistently refused to recognise Indonesia's annexation of East Timor in 1975–1976, treating the territory as continuing under de jure Portuguese administration throughout the occupation (1975–1999). As a consequence, pre-1975 Timorese Portuguese nationals retained their Portuguese citizenship through the e

PT-INV-01 documents the Autorização de Residência para Atividade de Investimento (ARI)

PT-MAR-01 is the marriage-based acquisition route: a foreign national married for more than three years to a Portuguese citizen may acquire Portuguese nationality by a declaration of will (declaração de vontade) made while the marriage subsists. It is an acquisition route (aquisição por efeito da vontade), located in Section I of Lei 37/81, and it confers acquired (not original / originária) nationality with effects from the date of the relevant act/registration (Art 12.º), in contrast with the ex tunc effect of attribution routes such as descent (Art 1.º). Unlike the route's near-neighbours,

Art 3 n.3 of Lei 37/81 (as consolidated under LO 1/2026) permits a foreign national in a de facto union (união de facto) of more than three years with a Portuguese citizen to acquire Portuguese nationality by declaration. The route is structurally parallel to the marriage-based route (PT-MAR-01, Art 3 n.1) but with one critical additional prerequisite: the união de facto must be judicially recognised by a competent Portuguese civil court under Lei n.º 7/2001 de 11 de maio before the nationality declaration can be filed. This judicial prerequisite distinguishes PT-MAR-02 from PT-MAR-01. A forma

PT-NAT-01 is the ordinary-naturalisation (concessão) pathway for foreign nationals who hold a preferential residence threshold under the republished Lei da Nacionalidade : nationals of the Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP) and citizens of European Union Member States. It is the principal discretionary route by which a long-settled foreign resident acquires Portuguese nationality, as distinguished from the attribution (originária) routes of Article 1 (jus soli / jus sanguinis) and the declaration-based acquisition routes of Articles 3 (marriage / união de facto) and 5 (adoption

LO 1/2026 (Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, DR 95/2026 Série I, 18-05-2026; EIF 19-05-2026) substantially raised the residence threshold for ordinary naturalisation under Art 6(1) of Lei 37/81: from 5 years (uniform, under LO 2/2018) to 7 years for CPLP and EU nationals, and 10 years for all others. It also added three new conditions — civic/political knowledge test (alínea d), solemn declaration of democratic values (alínea e), and subsistence capacity proof (alínea i) — and expanded the language condition (alínea c) to include culture, national history, and national symbols. However, TC Acórdão 1133

PT-NAT-02 is the residual ("catch-all") ordinary-naturalisation track of Portuguese nationality law: it governs every foreign national who is neither a citizen of a Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP) Member State nor a citizen of a European Union Member State. Under the regime in force since 19 May 2026, an applicant on this track must hold ten years of legal residence in Portugal (against seven years for CPLP and EU nationals on the sister route PT-NAT-01) before applying for naturalisation by concession ( concessão da nacionalidade por naturalização ) under Article 6.º n.º 1 o

PT-NAT-03 is the route by which a recognised stateless person ( apátrida ) resident in Portugal may acquire Portuguese nationality by naturalisation ( concessão ) after a reduced legal-residence period of four years, under Art 6.º n.º 3 of Lei n.º 37/81 in the redaction given by Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 (EIF 2026-05-19). It is a discretionary Government grant of acquired (not original) nationality, sitting in the naturalisation bucket alongside the ordinary 7y/10y track (PT-NAT-01 / PT-NAT-02), but with a shorter residence clock and a tailored sub-set of integration conditions. The route exist

Art 6 n.4 of Lei 37/81 (in the current redação of LO 1/2026) provides for the naturalisation of foreign minors who are in state care under a final child-protection measure (medida de promoção e proteção) adopted under Lei 147/99 (LPCJP, the Lei de Proteção de Crianças e Jovens em Perigo). This route is distinct from the general minor naturalisation route (Art 6 n.2, route PT-NAT-05), which requires a parent with at least 5 years of legal residence. PT-NAT-04 operates independently of parental residence because, by definition, the minor is under state care. The most significant procedural featu

PT-NAT-05 is the minor naturalisation route for children born in Portugal to foreign parents where, at the moment of the naturalisation request, one parent has held legal residence in Portugal for at least five years. This is a naturalisation (concessão) route, not a jus soli attribution: nationality is not automatic at birth but must be applied for and is assessed as of the date of the application. This route is governed by Art 6(2) of Lei 37/81 in the redação of LO 1/2026. The parental residence threshold was raised from one year (the W5 standard under LO 2/2020) to five years by LO 1/2026,

Art 6 n.6 of Lei 37/81 (as numbered in the LO 1/2026 consolidated text) provides a special discretionary naturalisation route for former Portuguese nationals who (a) lost their Portuguese nationality, (b) never subsequently acquired any other nationality, and (c) maintain effective community links (laços de efetiva ligação à comunidade nacional). The Government may grant naturalisation with dispensation from two of the ordinary Art 6 n.1 conditions: the residence requirement (alínea b) and the language/culture condition (alínea c). The route is distinct from Art 4 reacquisition (route PT-RST-0

Art 6 n.º 9 of Lei 37/81 confers on the Portuguese Government the power to grant Portuguese nationality by naturalisation to any person who has rendered relevant services (serviços relevantes) to the Portuguese State. This is one of the narrowest and most discretionary routes in the Portuguese nationality framework: no statutory residence period is required, no language or cultural integration test is mandated, and the statute itself does not define what constitutes "relevant services." The entire assessment rests with the Ministro da Justiça, acting in the name of the Government, without publ

Art 12-B of Lei 37/81 is a protection-of-bona-fide-third-parties mechanism, not an acquisition pathway. It does not confer nationality on anyone. Rather, it bars the cancellation (anulação) of a fraudulently-obtained naturalisation once ten years have elapsed from the date of acquisition and where bona-fide third parties have derived nationality rights from the fraudulent acquirer. The practical effect is a ten-year limitation on the State's power to unwind fraud-based naturalisations where innocents would be prejudiced. The fraudulent acquirer themselves is NOT protected — only their bona-fid

THIS ROUTE IS SUPERSEDED. The 6-year consolidation rule under Art 12-B was the governing standard from the entry into force of LO 2/2018 (06 July 2018) until the day before LO 1/2026 came into effect (18 May 2026). From 2026-05-19 onward, the applicable consolidation threshold is 10 years (PT-NAT-12B-CONSOL).

PT-RST-01 is the reacquisition route for former Portuguese nationals who voluntarily lost their Portuguese nationality through the Art 8 renunciation mechanism and now wish to recover it. Reacquisition is made by declaration (declaração de vontade) filed with the IRN/Conservatória dos Registos Centrais (CRC) and carries no statutory residence requirement under the published statute. This route is narrow in scope because loss of Portuguese nationality itself is strictly limited. Under Lei 37/81 as confirmed by LO 1/2026, the only statutory mechanism for loss of Portuguese nationality is volunta

PT-RST-02-W1 addresses a specific historical injustice: under the former Portuguese nationality code (Lei 2098/1959), Portuguese women who married a foreigner automatically lost their Portuguese nationality by operation of law. This automatic-loss-by-marriage regime was a product of the legal framework predating the 1974 Revolution and the 1976 Constitution. When Lei 37/81 entered into force on 3 October 1981, it abolished the automatic-loss-by-marriage rule. However, women who had already lost their nationality under the former regime before 1981 were not automatically restored. Arts 30 and 3

The Estatuto de Igualdade de Direitos e Deveres ("Statute of Equality of Rights and Duties") is a reciprocal status created by the Tratado de Amizade, Cooperação e Consulta entre a República Portuguesa e a República Federativa do Brasil, signed in Porto Seguro on 22 April 2000 (the "Tratado de Porto Seguro"). On the Portuguese side the Treaty was approved by Resolução da Assembleia da República n.º 83/2000 and ratified by Decreto do Presidente da República n.º 79/2000; on the Brazilian side it was promulgated by Decreto n.º 3.927/2001. It entered into force on 5 September 2001. Portuguese

PT-XCT-01 is the loss-of-nationality route under Portuguese law. Its defining feature is its narrowness: as of the operative law (Lei 37/81 in the redação of Lei Orgânica 1/2026, in force from 19 May 2026), there is exactly one statutory ground on which a person who holds Portuguese nationality may lose it — Article 8: a voluntary declaration, by a person who is a national of another State, that he or she does not wish to be Portuguese (Art 8, Lei 37/81). This is renunciation, an act of the individual's own will. It is not a deprivation, not a sanction, and not an automatic consequence of any

PT-XCT-02 documents the oposição à aquisição por efeito da vontade mechanism — the Ministério Público's power to oppose the consolidation of nationality acquired by voluntary declaration (marriage, união de facto, adoption — all Section I "by will" routes). This is not an acquisition route for applicants; it is a control layer operated by the State through the Ministério Público (MP) that can prevent nationality from consolidating after a declaração de vontade has been filed. Opposition is distinct from Art 8 loss: a successful Art 9 opposition means the nationality never validly consolidated

Former Art 13 Lei 37/81 provided a mechanism for the suspensão de procedimentos (suspension of proceedings) in nationality acquisition cases where the applicant was subject to restrictive measures adopted by the United Nations or the European Union under Lei 97/2017 (PT's sanctions implementation law). The provision sat in Section IV of Lei 37/81 and operated as a procedural pause mechanism: proceedings were suspended rather than definitively refused pending the lifting of the measures. LO 1/2026 (EIF 2026-05-19) revoked Art 13 in its entirety as part of a structural rationalisation of Lei 37/