The Portuguese Parliament has made significant changes to the Portuguese Nationality Law. The most notable change concerns how the 5-year waiting period required for Portuguese citizenship will be calculated.
 

According to Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the Portuguese Nationality Law, to apply for Portuguese citizenship, one had to have held a residence permit in Portugal for at least 5 years. Due to delays in processing residence permit applications at institutions dealing with residence permits in Portugal (S.E.F - Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras), Golden Visa investors were receiving their residence permits only 18-24 months after their applications, and they would then have to wait another 5 years to apply for citizenship. This situation extended the required application period for citizenship to 7-8 years.
 

The changes accepted by Parliament state that "for the purpose of calculating the legal residence period as outlined in this law, the time elapsed from the application date will also be taken into account."
 

With these changes, individuals waiting for residence permit approval or for their cards to be issued will no longer "waste" their waiting time. The new regulation offers a fair solution by considering the time elapsed from the application date.
 

The new law will come into effect one month after being published in the Official Gazette, which will occur after approval by the President.

For example, a person who applied in 2021 will be able to apply for citizenship in 2026 by considering the time that has passed until approval.