Children Qualify for Portugal Citizenship

Earlier this month Portugal’s newly amended nationality law was published and included some exciting updates surrounding birth-right citizenship. The new law states that children born to foreign parents, at least one of whom has lived in Portugal for a minimum of one year will be eligible for Portuguese citizenship at birth. 

In other words, a parent who has held a Golden Visa residency permit for at least one year and subsequently has a child in Portugal will be able to gain Portuguese citizenship on that child at birth. This rule even applies if they have only fulfilled the minimum 7-day physical presence requirement. A similar law previously existed but with a two-year residency requirement.

This is great news for couples who may be planning to start a family in the coming years and want their children to hold an EU passport. EU citizenship allows the holder to live, work and study in any EU country, opening up an array of opportunities to the holder.

For more details on the new law or any aspect of the golden visa programme, please contact our team.