The Portuguese government has made beneficial changes to the country's naturalization and citizenship laws. These changes will allow nationals to start counting down to five years of citizenship from the day they apply for a residency permit (Golden Visa), rather than the day it is approved.
This change will shorten the total amount of time needed to become a citizen by a few years.
One of the main draws of Portugal's Golden Visa program during its existence has been the requirement that applicants for citizenship have resided in Portugal for five years before being able to naturalize.
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· when their initial Golden Visa gets approved.
The citizenship law also stipulates that applicants must spend a minimum of seven days per year in Portugal. We have received clarification from multiple legal partners confirming that this requirement remains unchanged but is only applicable from the date the Golden Visa is approved.
In essence, if your Golden Visa application is submitted in January 2024 but takes a year to be approved, you would only need to
fulfil the minimum stay requirement of seven days per year for the following four years before applying for citizenship, and you could submit your citizenship application in January 2029. For those who have already applied, this same logic stands.
For example, if you applied for your Golden Visa in December 2021, and have still not had your Golden Visa application approved, you will still be able to apply for Citizenship in December 2026, as long as you fulfil the minimum stay requirement from the time your residency application is approved.
This positive development brings renewed confidence:
This positive development brings renewed confidence to the programme after a turbulent few years, reaffirming Portugal’s position as the fastest Golden Visa option in Europe leading to citizenship with minimal residency requirements. For more information on the programme, please contact our expert advisors.