Portugal · Citizenship by descent
Portuguese citizenship by descent
Reformed by Organic Law 1/2026, in force since 19 May 2026. The parent and grandparent routes survive, but grandchildren are now expressly subject to the language, culture, security and rule-of-law tests set out in Article 6(1)(c) to (h).
The 3rd-degree route is new, and it is being widely mis-sold as an armchair great-grandparent claim. It is not. Article 6(8) waives only the length-of-residence requirement. It still demands five years of actual legal residence in Portugal. Meanwhile the grandparent route quietly got harder. A language and culture test now stands where none did before.
Qualifying routes
Article 1(1)(c) covers originary nationality: registering the birth in the Portuguese civil register, or declaring the will to be Portuguese. There is no residence requirement, no language test and no test for effective ties.
Article 1(1)(d): this is originary nationality by declaration. It requires effective ties to the national community. As of 2026, it also requires the Article 6(1)(c)–(h) requirements, including the language and culture test.
Article 6(8): naturalisation with the residency-period requirement waived. Even so, 5 years of legal residence in Portugal is mandatory. This is not a route for someone living abroad.
The facts
- Minimum
- €250
- Total landed cost
- EUR 175–400 in government fees per applicant, plus EUR 2–8k in legal, genealogical, translation and apostille costs. Brazilian and other overseas record retrieval is the main variable.
- Route type
- By ancestry
- Timeline
- 1–3 years (Conservatória dos Registos Centrais handles processing. It has historically taken 12–24 months, and that window is lengthening.)
- Physical presence
- None required for 1st and 2nd degree. 5 years of legal residence required for 3rd degree.
- Family
- Minor children may acquire nationality by declaration once a parent's nationality is registered
- Permanent residency
- Not applicable. This route goes directly to citizenship.
- Citizenship
- Immediate upon registration. Registration itself has constitutive effect (Article 19(2)).
- Language test
- None for 1st degree. A language and culture test now applies to 2nd degree under Article 1(3). The required level is pending regulation.
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- Documented, unbroken descent from a Portuguese originary nationalThe ancestor must not have lost Portuguese nationality before the relevant birthFor second-degree applicants: effective ties to the national community, plus the requirements under Article 6(1)(c) through (h)For the 3rd degree: 5 years of legal residence in Portugal.Criminal record clearance for adult applicantsApostilled and translated civil registry documents
- Grandchildren, or second-degree descendants, now face the full battery of tests under Article 6(1)(c) through (h). If someone told you there was no test for grandchildren, they were right before 19 May 2026. They are wrong after it.
- The great-grandparent, or third-degree, route requires five years of legal Portuguese residence. In practice this is a residency programme with a genealogical discount, not a true descent claim.
- The requirement that second-degree applicants show effective ties to the national community remains a discretionary, evidence-heavy test. Language, visits, property, family and community involvement all matter, and refusals are common.
- The ancestor must have held Portuguese originary nationality and must not have lost it. This is a surprisingly frequent failure point for families whose ancestors naturalised elsewhere before the descendant was born.
- The implementing regulation is still outstanding as of mid-July 2026. The B1 language requirement often cited for the third-degree route appears in advisory commentary, but it is not stated in the statute itself.
- Documentary standards are high. Expect apostilles, certified translations and an unbroken chain of civil registry records. Budget 1–3 years.