Portuguese citizenship: Changing the rules may benefit Brazilians

Parliament Portuguese On January 5, a change was approved Nationality law Portuguese. Change can benefit Brazilians and other foreign nationals who live in the European country regularly and want to order Portuguese nationality depending on length of residence.

The plan is to change the rule for calculating the waiting time to obtain the document. But for this benefit to take effect, it depends on the issuance of the President of the Republic.

The proposal approved by the legislature indicates that the deadline for Five years of legal residence in the country In order to be entitled to Portuguese citizenship, start counting from the expression of interest to obtain residence address, This type of authorization is not issued.

Before we understand how this may affect the rule for obtaining Portuguese citizenship, it is necessary to understand what this residence permit is.

It is different from a visa which can be, for example, for work or study and is requested in Brazil at the consulate. The residence permit, in turn, is the regular residence permit that Brazilians or foreigners from another country can request from the Portuguese Immigration Agency.

“Thus, with this title, the foreigner will be allowed to live in the country for a certain period of time, depending on the type of license,” says Emma C. De Oliveira Martins, of Martins & Oliveira Advogados.

Upon arriving in Portugal on a visa, the interested party must apply for a residence permit in Portugal, also known as a residence permit.

According to Martins & Oliveira Advogados, in both cases, the application will be submitted to the Agency for Integration, Immigration and Asylum (Aima), which has representatives in different locations. For each type of visa, there are specific documents that must be submitted.

It depends on the category of residence permit in Portugal. For study purposes, for example, it is valid for one year. For business purposes, it is valid for two years for the first application and three years for renewal.

The permanent residence bond does not have an expiration date, as is the case with the temporary one. However, every five years, the card must be renewed. In this case, the cardholder is exempted from submitting additional documents to EMA.

It is worth noting that if changes occur in the registrant's data, it is also necessary to update the document.

According to current legislation, the deadline for obtaining it is five yearsIt is calculated from the issuance of the residence permit. But a change in the rule for calculating the acquisition of Portuguese citizenship, through a residence permit, is under discussion. It has been approved in Parliament and can be ratified by the Presidency.

If the change approved by the parliamentarians is published by the President of the Republic, the period starts from the day on which the person actually submitted the application for this title. In other words, you will not need to wait for the policy to be issued to start counting the five years.

“Often, it takes up to two years to get through Residence address. These two years of waiting are ignored in calculating eligibility for Portuguese citizenship. Only when a person has it Residence permit, she can start by calculating the five-year period of residence in the country. With the potential rule change, this waiting period will take effect for about five years.

The same applies to people traveling on a work visa. On average, from the day of submitting the application until obtaining the residence permit, the wait is six months. After the change is approved, this delay will also be ignored.

“because of pandemic,Several processes have been grouped. “What used to be a one-year wait has become a two-year wait,” the lawyer adds.

According to the lawyer, for the change to take effect, The text depends on its publication by the President of the Republic. Based on other operations, it is expected to appear within 40 days. “He can approve it in full, request a change, send the measure back to Parliament, or he can reject the request. “But we hope he accepts it,” Emma says.

According to her, if this measure is approved, it should be retrospective. In other words, it will be valid for those who already have the order in progress.

“For those who wish to obtain citizenship PortugueseDepending on the length of stay, in addition to other documents, they must prove that they have already resided in Portugal for at least five years, since the first residence permit was issued. “The change in rule is linked to a change in the number of terms. The intention is to consider an expression of interest. So that this time (expected) “It will be considered within five years.”

“This citizenship is naturalization. It only takes effect from the moment the birth registration is created. Therefore, you cannot transfer your citizenship to another person.

There are several ways to obtain Portuguese citizenship. Check it out here Every one of them, according to the Portuguese judge.