Portugal has simplified rules for migrant children to acquire portuguese citizenship. The new rules makes it easier for children born to migrants become portuguese citizens.
Migrant children now qualify to become Portuguese citizens if their parents have held residence permits in the country for one year. The children must have been born in Portugal, and their parents have to express the wish to nationality acquisition on behalf of the children.
Until now the Nationality Law, originally from 1981 and later amended in 2018, set the residence requirement at two years.
The proposal was approved in parliament after approval with 144 votes (63.4%) in favour, 82 votes against, and one abstention.
According to European commission website on migrant integration, the amendments were discussed within a Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Affairs working group EWSI previously reported on, coordinated by former minister and Member of Parliament Constança Urbano de Sousa.
She noted that the reduction in the residence requirement period from two to one years was justified as ‘[the one-year period] is the temporal criterion used by the United Nations and the European Union to distinguish immigration from other movements of people or tourists, people on business visits or short stays.’
In 2019, Portugal granted a record number citizenships to third country nationals within the Union. According to European Commission, record number of 180 000 Portuguese citizenship applications were granted in 2019. This is more than double the number of births in the country, which stood at 81 000 for the same year.
Portugal has achieved incredible success with the golden visa scheme, since it was launched in 2012.
