Portugal: naturalisation after the reform

For many Germans, Portugal is the place on the Atlantic they long for: a mild climate, a capital with real character, a coastline that never gets dull. Those who stay start thinking about the passport sooner or later. The big picture of countries and waiting periods is in the guide Naturalisation abroad. For Portugal, three questions matter today: what the reform has changed, what the law requires and how to make smart use of the waiting years.

What the reform changed for Portuguese citizenship

Portugal's nationality law, the Lei da Nacionalidade (Lei n.º 37/81), has been amended by Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026. The Portuguese Ministry of Justice names the cut-off date explicitly: the changes apply from 19 May 2026. Some points depend on the implementing regulation, the Regulamento da Nacionalidade Portuguesa, which according to the ministry had to be brought into line with the reform within 90 days.

The road there was not straight. Parliament first passed the reform as Decreto n.º 17/XVII. A group of 50 members of parliament asked the Tribunal Constitucional to review it before it took effect, and on 15 December 2025 the court struck down four rules while leaving the core of the reform intact. The longer residence periods had not even been challenged. Parliament then reworked the text. As Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 of 18 May 2026, it has applied since 19 May 2026.

The key points at a glance:

For you as a German, this means five years have become seven. On top of that comes a test or certificate covering the language, culture, history and national symbols. That is a real change, but it is still a clear road into an EU passport that you can plan. And it remains the route without investment: what it costs you is mainly time and a genuine life in the country.

Requirements for Portuguese citizenship today

The Lei da Nacionalidade lists the requirements for naturalisation in Article 6(1). All of them must be met at the same time, at the moment you apply.

• Legal age under Portuguese law.
• Legal residence in Portugal for at least seven years for citizens of the EU and of Portuguese-speaking countries, ten years for everyone else.
• Language and culture: a test or certificate showing sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and culture, its history and its national symbols.
• Rights and duties: sufficient knowledge of the fundamental rights and duties of a Portuguese citizen and of how the state is politically organised.
• Commitment: a solemn declaration that you accept the founding principles of the democratic rule of law.
• No serious criminal record as defined by the law, more on that below.
• Security: no threat to national security or defence, and no United Nations or European Union sanctions against you.
• Means of support: you can support yourself.

In its current guidance, the registry institute IRN (Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado) sums up naturalisation through residence like this: seven or ten years of legal residence and a genuine bond with the Portuguese community, in the original the laços de efetiva ligação à comunidade nacional.

Language, culture and civics

After the waiting period, this is the requirement you will prepare for longest. Portuguese alone is not enough: you also show that you know the country's culture, history and symbols, how the state is organised and what rights and duties a citizen has. The law accepts either a test or a certificate for this. What language tests, civics exams and oaths of allegiance look like in other countries is covered in Language, test, oath.

In practical terms: do not start Portuguese in year six, start in year one. Seven years is plenty of time to really learn the language, and people who speak it live in the country differently anyway.

Criminal record

Parliament originally wanted to bar naturalisation for anyone with a final prison sentence of two years or more. That is exactly the rule the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional. The law now contains a narrower rule: anyone finally sentenced to an unsuspended prison term of more than three years for terrorism, violent crime, organised crime, offences against state security or facilitating illegal immigration is excluded. For the vast majority of applicants, this point is quickly ticked off.

How Portugal counts your years of residence

The waiting period is only half the story. What matters is when the clock starts. The old law had a generous rule for this in Article 15(4): time already counted from the application for a temporary residence permit, provided the permit was granted later. The reform removed that rule, and Article 15(4) has been repealed. The Constitutional Court reviewed the deletion and did not object.

For citizens of non-EU countries, who often wait a long time for their residence permit, this is a harsh change. For you as an EU citizen it means: register your residence properly from day one and document it without gaps. How to handle the formalities on arrival is explained in the guide to entry and registration in Portugal (in German).

Three habits that will save you years in the end:

1. Register your residence straight away and keep every confirmation.
2. Really live there. Your lease, tax number, health insurance, bank statements and your children's school certificates show that Portugal is where your life is based.
3. Keep your own archive of entries and exits, contracts and official decisions, year after year.

How authorities generally calculate periods of residence and which evidence counts is explained in Proving your years of residence.

Other routes to a Portuguese passport: marriage, children, descent

Naturalisation through residence is not the only door. In its current overview from July 2026, the registry institute IRN lists a whole range of grounds on which Portugal recognises or grants its nationality. For Germans, these are the most relevant:

Through marriage or partnership

If you have been married to a Portuguese man or woman for more than three years, or have lived for that long in a court-recognised união de facto (a registered de facto partnership), you can apply for Portuguese nationality on this basis. The IRN does not state a residence period in Portugal for this route. Which countries open the marriage route fastest is compared in Citizenship by marriage.

Through descent

If you were born abroad and had a Portuguese father or mother at the time of your birth, you can have your Portuguese nationality registered from birth. Grandchildren of Portuguese-born citizens have their own entitlement if they show a genuine bond with the Portuguese community. They meet the same points as for naturalisation, from the language and culture test to the security check, only without a residence period. Great-grandchildren get there through naturalisation with five years of legal residence. The law no longer contains the former special route for descendants of Sephardic Jews: Article 6(7) has been repealed. How descent routes work across Europe is explained in the guide Citizenship by descent.

For your children

If your child is born in Portugal, they are not automatically Portuguese. But if you or the other parent had already lived legally in the country for at least five years at the time of the birth, the child becomes Portuguese from birth under Article 1(1)(f) once you declare on the child's behalf that they wish to be Portuguese. The only exception is for children of parents serving their own state in Portugal. You prove the legal residence at the time of the declaration with the parent's identity document and residence permit. If the parent is still short of the five years at the birth, naturalisation remains: the child can be naturalised once you or the other parent has lived legally in the country for at least five years and the child, once of school age, is enrolled and attends school regularly. That way the family grows into the passport step by step. How families protect themselves with passports through investment is shown on the Family page.

Applying for Portuguese citizenship: how it works

You do not apply to an immigration office but to the registry authorities of the Ministry of Justice. There are two ways:

1. Online through the justice portal. Only lawyers and solicitadores licensed in Portugal may use this route. They submit the documents with a digital signature and pay the fee by bank reference or card.
2. By post or in person at one of the Balcões da Nacionalidade, using the IRN's official forms.

Once the application arrives, the authority checks whether the documents are complete. If something is missing, the application is sent back for you to add it. Only then is the actual case opened, and from that point you can check its status online with your access code.

Fees follow the Regulamento Emolumentar dos Registos e do Notariado and depend on the type of application. According to the IRN, an online application costs the same as one filed at the counter. In any case, the years leading up to it cost more than any fee, and they only count if you really live in the country.

What happens to pending applications

The bill reviewed by the Constitutional Court provided that proceedings already pending when the law took effect would continue under the old rules. The court let that rule stand. What it struck down was the addition that the old requirements had to be met, without exception, on the very day of the application: that would have breached applicants' legitimate trust.

Can you buy Portuguese citizenship?

No. None of the grounds on which Portugal grants its nationality is an investment. What circulates online under labels such as Golden Visa concerns residence, not the passport. A residence permit through investment gets you into the country; the passport then only comes through naturalisation, with every requirement set out above. And as an EU citizen, you do not need such a residence permit anyway: you may live in Portugal without buying anything.

If you are looking for an EU passport without years of residence, read Buying EU citizenship. It shows why that route has practically disappeared in the EU today and which passports through investment are open instead.

Benefits of Portuguese citizenship for Germans

As a German you are already an EU citizen. So why a second EU passport? Because it gives you something a right of residence never can.

• A right instead of a permission. Your right of residence as an EU citizen depends on your German passport. The Portuguese passport depends on no one but you.
• Independence from the German state. A German passport can be withdrawn or refused, for example over tax debts. What that means is explained in the article on passport withdrawal. A second passport is then the lawful way to keep travelling.
• A legacy for your children. Children born abroad after your naturalisation can, as children of a Portuguese parent, have their nationality registered from birth. You pass the passport on.

Dual citizenship: you keep your German passport

Since 27 June 2024, you no longer lose German citizenship when you acquire a foreign one. The former § 25 of the Nationality Act (StAG) has been repealed. Portugal's list of naturalisation requirements does not ask you to renounce your current nationality either. So you become Portuguese and remain German. Everything about dual citizenship from the German point of view is in the guide Dual citizenship for Germans.

If tax is what makes you think about moving to Portugal, the rules on residence and the IFICI regime are in the country profile Moving to Portugal (in German). The tax consequences of a second passport itself are explained on the Taxes page.

Wait seven years or be protected from day one

Seven years is a long time. A lot can happen in seven years: a travel ban, a passport lost at the worst moment, a state that changes its rules, just as Portugal has done with naturalisation. If you only hold your second passport in year eight, you are unprotected until then.

That is why the best answer is rarely either-or. Naturalisation in Portugal is the route without investment and often the stronger passport in the end. A passport through investment buys you the time until then. Both routes run side by side without getting in each other's way. Why they fit together so well is explained in CBI and naturalisation.

One example suggests itself: São Tomé and Príncipe is a member of the Community of Portuguese-speaking Countries, and Portuguese is its official language. The São Tomé and Príncipe programme starts at a donation of USD 90,000 for a single applicant, requires no residence and, according to the authority, leads to approval in about two months and then to the passport in another three to four months. For citizens of countries outside the EU, such as Switzerland, there is one more thought: Portuguese law also grants the seven-year period to nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries. How the authority treats a dual national holding this passport can be clarified before you apply.

Which programme suits you is shown in the comparison of all open programmes. The costs in detail are under Costs.

Frequently asked questions