Portugal Makes Citizenship Harder to Obtain

Portugal has announced that it will tighten its immigration and naturalization laws.

In Portugal, people from Portuguese-speaking countries like Brazil and Angola will now have to wait 7 years to obtain citizenship, while applicants from other countries will have to wait 10 years.

Under the current rules, foreign nationals in Portugal only needed to have a sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language, not have received a prison sentence of more than 3 years, and pose no threat to national security.

According to the new regulations, these individuals will also be required to be familiar with Portuguese culture, have served no effective prison sentence, and declare support for the country’s democratic principles.

Portugal, with a population of approximately 10.5 million, has at least 1.5 million migrants and legal foreign residents, according to the country’s immigration and asylum agency AIMA. The largest group consists of more than 450,000 Brazilians.

Data from economic database Pordata shows that 141,300 people were granted citizenship in 2023, a 20% decrease compared to 2022. The government announced in January that over 400,000 applications were still pending.

Source: Euronews

Photo: AP