Portuguese Nationality QA 3 – Portuguese Passport and Acquisition of Portuguese Nationality
I
Q: How can I obtain a Portuguese passport? What is the present ranking of the Portuguese passport in terms of value?
A. You are entitled to have a Portuguese passport if you are a Portuguese national, and holder of a Portuguese Citizen Card. The Portuguese passport is currently one of the best-ranked travel documents in the world, appearing in 4th place in the well-known Henley’s Passport Index.
There are significant advantages to holding a Portuguese passport, which gives the right to visa-free travel to over 190 destinations and, once arriving at a European Union country within the Schengen Treaty Area, one can freely travel and live in all other signatory countries.
Many other benefits are linked to the country’s characteristics, with splendid scenery, the rich architectural heritage of several centuries, gastronomy, and wines of international standards. People are kind, in general, able to speak English, all recognize its security, and prices are lower than in other European countries.
Being a Portuguese national allows the individual to stay indefinitely either in Portugal or in any European Union country.
II
Q: Who can be a Portuguese national?
A: We will list the most common cases.
1. Nationality of origin
(i) those born in Portugal or abroad with at least one parent being a Portuguese national;
(ii) those born in Portugal to foreign parents, provided that both parents do not work for foreign governments and lived legally in Portugal for at least one year;
(iii) those born before 2nd November 1981 in the then territory of Macau under Portuguese administration;
(iv) the grand-children of at least one Portuguese national (who has not lost the nationality) provided that they have an effective connection with the Portuguese community;
2. Acquisition of nationality
(i) the spouses and common-law partners (as such judicially recognized) who have children in common do not need to know the language, provided that the marriage (or union) has lasted for at least 3 years;
(ii) the same applies to spouses and common-law partners (as such judicially recognized) who do not have children in common, provided that the marriage has lasted for at least 6 years;
3. Nationality by naturalization
(i) Foreigners who are legally resident in Portugal for at least 5 years, can obtain nationality by naturalization if they have sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language;
(ii) foreigners who have lived in Portugal for at least 5 years, even without being legal residents, can obtain nationality by naturalization, provided that they have sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and have children or grandchildren who are Portuguese nationals;
(iii) nationality by naturalization can also be granted to people under 18 years of age born in Portugal if: a) one of the parents has lived for at least 5 years in Portugal, even without being legally resident; or b) one of the parents have lived legally in Portugal for at least one year, or c) the underage person has gone to school in Portugal for at least one year.
It should be noted that to obtain nationality one has to follow the required procedural steps in the application (namely in the cases of acquisition and naturalization) observing all legal requirements, specifically the way to prove the knowledge of the Portuguese language when such requirement applies.
III
Q: Is it necessary to have a certain level of knowledge of the Portuguese language to be a Portuguese national?
A: Except in the cases of naturalization mentioned in no. 3 of the previous answer, presently the knowledge of the language is not legally required.
It should be noted that certain members of the Portuguese Parliament have recently started to voice the need to change the law and require that all applicants must have sufficient knowledge of the language.
Because there is a risk of changes in the law, and because thousands of applications are filed every month, which has led to a huge backlog in the processing, it is convenient that anyone interested applies as soon as possible.
For any queries concerning the legal framework of the Portuguese Nationality, do not hesitate to contact us by email (info@mantonio.net) or phone (+853 28591592). We will be pleased to assist.
For additional information regarding the acquisition of Portuguese Nationality and obtaining a Portuguese Passport, you can check the links below:
Portuguese Nationality Benefits
Portuguese Nationality Law Revision
Portuguese Consul General in Macau and Hong Kong
