Happy New Year everyone! I hope this update finds you safe and well, and looking forward to an excellent 2024. Fortunately, I’m writing this first article of the new year with an exciting update regarding Portugal’s citizenship requirements for Golden Visa holders. Last Friday, Portugal’s parliament approved a proposed change to the law surrounding citizenship by naturalization, in response to the delays experienced by some Golden Visa applicants waiting for the approval of their residence permit.

The executive summary of the changes is that the time taken between the submission of the Golden Visa application and its final approval will now be taken into account when calculating the required legal residency period for nationality. It is worth noting, however, that these changes to Portugal’s citizenship requirements do not exclusively concern Golden Visa holders, but rather everyone that is applying for a residence permit.

To explain the changes in simpler words, the 5-year qualifying period for nationality will now therefore begin on the date of the Golden Visa application submission, and not on the date of the issuance of the residence permit (as was previously the case). In some cases, this could potentially shave years off the waiting time for Portuguese nationality (particularly so in the case of those affected by the delays caused by COVID-19 and the restructuring of the Portuguese immigration authority).

It is worth noting that parliamentary approval does not mean that the amended law is now in effect. The bill will now be sent to the President for ratification; however, it has met no significant opposition and is expected to be signed off by the end of the month. Whilst we cannot comment on the details of this until the final amended legislation is confirmed, you can always reach out to our team for further clarifications and support. What is clear, however, is that Portugal’s citizenship requirements will remain among the most accessible in Europe for the foreseeable future. An invevitable consequence of this is that the Portugal Golden Visa will remain the outstanding choice for overseas investors looking for a European citizenship without having to physically relocate.

For more on this development, I recommend taking a look at the following article from our partners at IMI Daily: https://www.imidaily.com/program-updates/portugal-amends-nationality-law-5-year-naturalization-period-starts-from-application-rather-than-approval-date/

The above video was originally published on my Youtube channel (here). If you’re interested in staying abreast of the Golden Visa and second citizenship landscape in general, you may wish to consider subscribing to the channel to receive notifications of new video content.

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