Portugal assumes the postulates of the extreme right and restricts access to nationality to foreigners

The Portuguese Parliament approved late yesterday changes in the Nationality Law to make it difficult to obtain a passport Luso, which include new (and tougher) requirements to achieve citizenship, in addition to stopping automatically granting it to children of migrants born in the country.

The draft of this new law stipulates that immigrants who want to have a Portuguese passport They must legally reside in Portugal at least seven years if the interested party is from other countries with an official Portuguese language or from the European Union, while it increases to 10 years if they are from third States, compared to the current five years for everyone.

Additionally, they will be required know the languageculture, history and national symbols of Portugal, something that had not been done until now. Also the obligation to have own means of subsistence and not depend on subsidies.

It also puts an end to the automatic obtaining of citizenship for children of migrants born on Portuguese soil, who must expressly declare that they want to be Portuguese. Besides, One of the parents must have legal residence in Portugal for five years.

The draft also ends the special regime to grant nationality to Sephardic Jews.

Furthermore, the Portuguese Parliament has approved a bill to introduce an amendment to the Penal Code that contemplates the loss of nationality as an accessory penalty for serious crimes.

With the approval of these changes in the Nationality Law, this is the second time that the center-right Government and the extreme right promote immigration tightening in the country after the changes already introduced in the Foreigners Law, which, among others, makes family reunification difficult.

Now the text goes to the office of the president of the country, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, that can sanction it as law, veto it or send it to the Constitutional Court to issue an opinion.

Keys to the Nationality Law

Adult immigrants who want to have Portuguese citizenship must reside legally in Portugal at least seven years if they are from a Portuguese-speaking country or from the EU, while it increases to 10 years if they are from third countries, compared to the current five years for all.

The new requirement to present a certificate certifying knowledge of language, culture, history and national symbols of Portugal, which until now did not exist, since it was simply enough to have sufficient knowledge of the language without requiring any document to prove it.

The proposal also indicates that those who request nationality They must have the “capacity” to guarantee their subsistence, which was not indicated before.

With this change, people sanctioned by the UN or the EU will not be able to obtain Portuguese nationality.

In the case of the children of migrants born on Portuguese soilwith these changes they will have to expressly declare that they want to be Portuguese and at least One of the parents must have legal residence in the country for five years. Until now, they obtained a Portuguese passport automatically as long as one of the parents legally resided in Portugal.

Las Mixed couples – Portuguese with foreigners – will also be affected: The person who comes from abroad will be able to access nationality as long as he or she has been living with his or her spouse. for three years, what has happened so far, and if a court issues a judicial decision in this regard, which represents an alteration since until now a “recognition by a civil court” was sufficient.

In addition, if the draft is sanctioned as law, the foreign children adopted by Portuguese, who under current legislation obtained nationality automatically, will have to expressly request it.

Extreme right measures

This tightening of the requirements to achieve Portuguese nationality comes after the reform of the Foreigners Lawwhich was approved in Parliament with the support of the far-right Chega after several ups and downs, since the president of the country, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, decided to send it to the Constitutional Court, which detected some points that could contradict the Magna Carta.

Consequently, the Government was forced to introduce some alterations to comply with the Constitution and for it to be finally promulgated by the president.

The reform of the Foreigners Law introduces restrictions on family reunification of migrants in general and limitations in obtaining residency for foreigners from Portuguese-speaking countries, among others

The reform of the Foreigners Law introduces restrictions on family reunification of migrants in general and limitations on obtaining residency for foreigners from Portuguese-speaking countries, among others.