Anyone born in Portugal to foreign parents residing in the Portuguese territory for one year are now legally able to be Portuguese citizens.
The President of the Republic has approved the new nationality law that allows the children of immigrants who have lived here for at least one year to have Portuguese nationality at birth, even if they have lived here illegally, or have one of their parents legally residing in Portuguese territory.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had initially rejected the law that proposed some changes based on the creation of discrimination between couples with or without children. Parties corrected the diploma by removing references to the existence of children.
Regarding the new law now accepted by the President, what has changed related to art.3 Nº 4 and 5, so that couples without children will have the same conditions of access to Portuguese nationality, said the Socialist deputy, Paulo Porto, according to Observador newspaper.
“A foreigner who has been married for more than three years with a Portuguese citizen can obtain Portuguese nationality by a declaration during the marriage”, according to the Law 37/81. This also includes common law marriages in Portugal.
Source: The Portugal News
