Foreigners' 5-Year Path to Portuguese Citizenship Saved by Court Freeze

Foreign nationals building their lives in Portugal suddenly find themselves in a legal limbo: the nationality overhaul rushed through Parliament in late October has been suspended before it could ever reach the Presidential desk. For now, the familiar five-year path to citizenship survives, but the clock is ticking on a Constitutional Court review that could redefine how long newcomers must wait—and who ultimately qualifies—before calling themselves Portuguese.

What changed overnight

The late-night vote of 28 October promised a radical reset, stretching the residence requirement to seven years for EU and CPLP citizens and ten years for everyone else. It would have scrapped the Sephardic ancestry route, tightened jus soli rules for children born on Portuguese soil, and introduced mandatory exams on language, history, and national symbols. Less than two weeks later the Socialist Party, sensing what it called "diachronic inequality", triggered a preventive review—a procedural bomb that immediately froze the bill. Because the disputed text was re-classified as a "lei orgânica", courts now get the final word before the President sees it, neutralising the law until judges rule on its constitutionality.

A constitutional crossroads

Under the Constitution, once deputies call for a preventive check, the proposal can neither be signed, published, nor enforced. The Court has up to 25 days to decide. If the justices strike down even one article—say the clause enabling loss of nationality after criminal conviction, viewed by many scholars as breaching the principle of equality—Parliament must rewrite the entire offending section. Should the Court give its blessing, the document returns to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who may then promulgate or veto. Until that drama plays out, applicants continue to rely on the existing five-year rule, calculated from the moment they first lodged a residency request rather than from the issuance date of their residence card.

Golden Visa community breathes

For investors, the pause is more than procedural trivia. Holders of the much-debated Golden Visa keep their ability to renew permits, travel visa-free in Schengen, and secure family reunification. Their lawyers had warned that counting time only from the first plastic residence card—often issued months after investment—would add painful delays. The stay granted by the Constitutional Court preserves what many describe as "legal certainty" and protects families whose children are nearing the age limit for dependent status. Some are already pivoting toward permanent residency as a stop-gap, preferring a more predictable milestone than the citizenship finish line.

Legal minds at odds

Constitutional scholars are anything but unanimous. Critics such as Carlos Blanco de Morais label the eleventh-hour organic-law classification an "irregular shortcut" that bends parliamentary rules, while defenders insist the move is within precedent. The Bar Association warns that different residence thresholds—seven years for a French engineer, ten for a Chinese entrepreneur—could create "first- and second-class Portuguese", undermining the Charter’s equality clause. Others focus on the planned automatic nationality revocation for naturalised citizens convicted of serious crimes, arguing it conflicts with Article 30/4’s ban on punishments that strip civil rights.

Pressure on public services

Even before the freeze, Portugal’s nationality pipeline was strained. The Institute of Registries and Notary (IRN) logged over 121 000 new applications in the first half of 2025, pushing the backlog beyond half a million files. Delays already stretch past 24 months for many dossiers, prompting thousands to sue the state for faster decisions. Officials fear a surge of last-minute filings should the Court give the reform a green light, while immigrant advocates predict a wave of appeals if tougher rules kick in retroactively.

What to watch next

All eyes now turn to the Constitutional Court’s verdict. Three scenarios sit on the table: total rejection, partial surgery, or full endorsement. Each path triggers a fresh political round in Parliament and a signature (or veto) by the President. For anyone counting residency days—students, tech workers, retirees, diaspora grandchildren—the next few weeks will determine whether Portugal remains one of Europe’s most accessible citizenship gateways or enters a new era of longer queues and stricter tests. Until the judges speak, the safest assumption is that the status quo of five years prevails—and that the country’s perennial debate over who gets to become Portuguese is far from settled.