Children of Either Portuguese Parent, Born Abroad - Part II

Source: portugalnet.pt

The children of either Portuguese parent, born abroad, even though their Portuguese parent (s) is not serving the Portuguese State, are also entitled to the Portuguese citizenship (remember Portugal adopts the jus sanguinis rule) as long as they declare their wish to become Portuguese.

According to the Article 8.1. of the Portuguese Nationality Statute, all the child needs to do is to declare that he/she wishes to be Portuguese and then register his/her birth in the Portuguese Civil Register Office.

That is, the child must resort to the procedure of the attribution of citizenship through declaration and the child can declare his/her wish to become Portuguese at any moment of his/her life.

If the child is underage, only his/her parents can apply for the Portuguese citizenship. If the child is over 18, only he/she can apply for the Portuguese citizenship.

In all above mentioned situations, the applicant must instruct his/her application with a proof of the Portuguese citizenship of his/her Portuguese parent – Portuguese Birth Certificate.

Opposite to the case of the children of Portuguese citizens serving the Portuguese State abroad, whose registration of birth in Portugal can be made even after their deaths, the right to the citizenship is extinguished with the death of the child of the Portuguese parent and if this happens the citizenship chain is broken, as I have previously explained.

Therefore, if you are child of a Portuguese citizen, even though you do not have any interest in Portugal or Europe, it is important for you to obtain the citizenship, because, if you do not do it, it becomes harder for your children and grandchildren to obtain the citizenship for themselves.

Besides, the Portuguese law authorises the dual citizenship, consequently, the fact you obtain the Portuguese citizenship does not cause the loss of your current citizenship, at least for Portugal, which is a huge advantage because we do not know what the future holds and it is always better to have several options.

Summing up:

Case: children of either Portuguese parent, born abroad, who declare their wish to become Portuguese.

Type of citizenship: Original Citizenship.

Procedure: Attribution of Citizenship through Declaration.

Documents to instruct the application: Birth Certificate of the child; ID of the child; and Birth Certificate of the Portuguese parent.

Larissa Bona