Who Is Entitled to the Portuguese Citizenship?

Source: arrastao.org

Every day I receive several e-mails with a very similar content. The person usually begins telling his/her case and then ends up with the "golden question": Am I entitled to the Portuguese citizenship?

Therefore, in today’s post I will answer the “golden question” of most of my clients. Below, those who are entitled to the Portuguese citizenship:

• Children of either Portuguese parents;
• Grandchildren of at least one Portuguese citizen;
• Great grandchildren of at least one Portuguese citizen;
• Spouses of Portuguese citizens, married to them for over 3 years;
•  Women that got married to Portuguese citizens before 1981;
• Civil partners of Portuguese citizens, whose civil union has over 3 years;
• Persons born in the Old Portuguese State of India;
• Persons born in the former Portuguese colonies in Africa, before their independence;
• Persons born in Macau during the Portuguese administration;
• Persons born in East Timor until 1981;
• Stateless persons born in Portugal;
• Those who had lost the Portuguese citizenship;
• Children of foreign citizens, born in the Portuguese territory, whose at least one of the foreign parents is settled in Portugal;
• Children of foreign citizens, born in the Portuguese territory, who lived permanently for 10 years prior to the submission of the application;
• Foreign citizens who are legally settled down in Portugal for at least 6 years.

Remember that the information above is summed up and not sufficient to establish if someone is really entitled to the Portuguese citizenship, because there are some legal requirements that must be met in addition to what is mentioned above.

Consequently, I warn you that the situations above-listed must be faced as just a hint of who may be entitled to the citizenship.

But you should not be worried because I will discuss every single case further on.

Larissa Bona