One of the areas to which we give a special attention to is citizenship for this is an issue that involves the interests of Portuguese descendents all over the world.
Portugal has been affirming, since 1974, a politics of maintaining Portuguese citizenship in what concerns citizens living abroad. Lately attorneys have been asked quite frequently to intervene in this area mainly due to the lack of capacity to respond from the consulates (who sometimes are only able to work half time), the lack of consulates (that obviously cannot serve the people who live far away from them ) and also the malfunctioning of the registry services (where it is not difficult to find cases pending for more than 20 years). The Portuguese citizenship issue raises several problems to the sons and daughters as well as the spouses of Portuguese citizens who live abroad. Some of this problems are extremely complex and must be analyzed in light of different norms from several different judicial systems that conflict in this particular matter. The sons and daughters of Portuguese citizens who were born abroad have the right to obtain Portuguese citizenship via a simple declaration. But there are judicial systems that do not accept more than one citizenship and so a request for Portuguese citizenship might cause the person to loose the original citizenship. It is important to think about this issue because in many situations it is more important for the person to maintain his or hers original citizenship. This issue is particularly meaningful when the citizenship is obtained through marriage under the Nationality Law of 1982. The fact is that, for the wife as well as the husband, obtaining Portuguese citizenship because of marriage with a Portuguese citizen is a voluntary act which, in many situations due to the legal systems of the foreign countries, is not compatible with the maintenance of the original citizenship, leading therefore to its loss.
Portuguese citizens are nowadays citizens of the European Union, benefiting from several rights and freedoms granted by the treaties. Besides what has already been stated about this issue, it is important to say essentially the following:
1. The sons and daughters of Portuguese mother or father who were born in a foreign country have the right to obtain Portuguese citizenship;
2. Persons married to a Portuguese citizen for more than 3 years, and who feel a profound connection with the Portuguese community, have the right to obtain Portuguese citizenship via application.
Laws (that are available in our Legislation section) are very clear but the cases are neither simple nor linear and they are certainly not solved very fast. Lately it is even more difficult due to the decree-law 37/97 from 31 of January. Following the decree-law, that came along with a profound reformation in the Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths, the requests for the attribution, obtainment and lost of the citizenship are to be done:
- In the consulates or in any Municipal Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths when the person who is requiring lives in a country where the Portuguese Language is the official language;
- In the consulates near the area where the person lives when the person who is requiring lives in a country whose official language is not Portuguese (click here to see a map of the consulates).
However the registry of births and nationality must still be done at the Central Register with a small nuance, that makes it still a bit harder. The registry acts that relate to Portuguese citizens living abroad and that were previously done in that Central Register (for instance the registrations relating to marriages performed abroad) are now to be done in the Municipal Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths where the person's birth certificate is on record. In what concerns trying to obtain Portuguese citizenship, we normally follow two main ways:
- when the person lives in a country in which the Portuguese language is the official language, we initiate the process with a given mandate in order to obtain the declaration for acquiring citizenship. Evidently, we follow the process until the registration occurs and we request for acceleration of the process whenever there is the need for it;
- in what concerns a person that lives in a country whose official language is not Portuguese, we prepare the applications and the documents and we request a proxy in our name and in the name of the local attorney. The process enters the consulate, the local attorney signs the documents, and we follow the process in Lisbon leading to its conclusion.
It is important to know that civil status registration in the Registry of Births, Marriages and Deaths is a mandatory act in Portugal. Article 1 of the Civil Status Code mentions the following acts as mandatory:
a) birth;
b) descent
c) adoption
d) marriage
e) Prenuptial agreements and changes in matrimony property law;
f) Regulation of paternal power, its change or cessation;
g) Prohibition or suspension of the use of paternal power and the limitations to that power;
h) Placement under permanent judicial restraint and permanent disability, guardianship of minors and of persons under judicial disability, control and management of the assets of minors, and the custody and care of disabled persons;
i) the temporary or permanent trusteeship of absentees and presumed death;
j) death;
k) those acts that might determine the change or extinction of any of the indicated facts and those that might come through legal imposition.
The effects of these acts are only produced in the Portuguese judicial system after the registry occurs. It has thus a major importance namely in what concerns patrimony and succession.
What to do to obtain or acquire Portuguese citizenship
Find some more information at the Portugal Expresso Network site.
