How To apply For Portuguese Citizenship

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​One of the many considerations that factored into our choice of Portugal as a place to live was the ability to acquire citizenship via naturalization after five years’ residence. We have now begun that process and thought we'd share what we've learned so far.

​We had considered other countries for our new home—Spain, England and Ireland—but each had their own limitations. For the first two the income requirements at the time we were considering residence were beyond our ability as neither country were particularly welcoming to retirees. Then England went through BREXIT and things were even worse for them.
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Spain was a possibility, but they did not allow dual citizenship except for Spanish-speaking countries (essentially ex-colonies). In that sense, Portugal was a Goldilocks choice as we could afford to live here within our budget, had a relatively easy residence permit approval process, and we could work toward citizenship.

​Why would we want citizenship? One of the benefits of Portugal being a member of the European Union is that once we are citizens, we can travel throughout that region with little difficulty. And if we ever decided to relocate to one of its member countries, the legal requirements are much less strenuous. We’re not likely to move from our new home, but having options is always wise.

It is important to know that even as residents of an EU country, we are not granted any of the benefits of EU citizens. When we leave Portugal, we are Americans and must use our U.S. passport as our Portuguese residence permits mean nothing to the rest of Europe. We are still bound by Schengen short-stay rules that limit the time we may spend in countries other than Portugal, the same as any other U.S. citizen.

When we return from on overseas trip, we must use our U.S. passport in the foreign immigration line to be granted entry even though we have a valid residence permit. We have no limitations on the length of time we can stay here, but we are actually limited to the time we can be outside Portugal’s borders. None of these limitations are that onerous, but it makes acquiring citizenship even more attractive, especially since the United States has no restrictions on dual citizenship.

​The information that I present here is from the perspective of someone from the United States applying for citizenship. For people born and/or living in other countries, many of the requirements may be different.

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Residing in Portugal for Five Years
One of the main requirements is that you have been a resident for at least five years before applying for citizenship. The clock starts ticking from the issue date of your first Temporary Residence Permit, not the initial residence visa.

In our case, this meant we lost several months as it took a long time for us to get our first appointment at SEF, who was handling immigration at that time. We arrived in September and didn’t get our first residence card until the following June.
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​Portuguese Language Proficiency
It is necessary to provide certification that you have taken an examination verifying you have an A2 level in the Portuguese language, or a graduation certificate from an approved language course. We took a state-sponsored course that awarded us the A2 certificate, but not all courses are acceptable.

Check carefully whether the course you chose is on the approved list or it will be necessary to sit for the national exam. From what we have heard that exam is very rigorous.
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​Apostilled Birth Certificate
You are required to present an apostilled copy of your birth certificate that is no more than three months old. (An apostille is obtained via your state or federal government as compared to a notary.)

Depending on where you were born, this can be difficult. We had certified copies of those certificates from when we first emigrated, but they were outdated because some countries’ birth certificates are a live document that can be changed as time progresses.

In our case, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services required a notarized request for the certificates, so we used an online notary, signed the forms electronically, and sent them off. Only to have them rejected as they required a handwritten signature, not an electronic one.

That left us two options: Make an appointment at the U.S. Embassy in Lisbon, drive for 2 hours, clear their security check-in, get the documents notarized (at $50 each) and then mail the applications to the State of Iowa to receive the birth certificates. 

The other option was to use the notary service the State of Iowa recommended (VitalChek), though that required the certificates to be sent to the address on the credit card we used for payment. Which is in Portugal.
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To our relief, the birth certificates arrived in our mail box in good shape (not always the case) and we promptly sent them back to be apostilled by the State of Iowa. Then they were forwarded to a friend in Tennessee so she could forward them, along with some other official documents, in one FedEx shipment so we could track its progress. 

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Criminal Background Check
Another requirement is an official background check (Identity History Summary) to verify you’re not criminally inclined. In our case this document would be from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, D.C. It also needs to be less than three months old and has to be apostilled by the U.S. State Department.

In order to get the background check, you need to submit your fingerprints to the FBI for processing. Fortunately, as an ex-law enforcement officer, I (Harold) was familiar with obtaining fingerprints, even from some people who didn’t really want to have it done. So I was able to do them myself.

If that’s not in your skillset, or you don’t want to risk those fingerprints being rejected, it will be necessary to go to the US Embassy to have the prints taken, then those forms are submitted to the FBI. To have these done requires an appointment and there is a fee (63 euros). After you get the report, it is necessary to send it to the U.S. State Department to be apostilled.

In the event you were born somewhere else than in the United States, or you were a legal resident of another country and older than 16 years of age, you will need to provide a background check from that country as well. For military personnel, this could be a challenge as they are frequently moved from country to country during their enlistment. 

​Certified Copy of Passport and Residence Permits
In our case we scanned the front and back of each of our residence permits since immigration, and had them certified to verify our five-year residency within the country. We also did a scan of our passports for certification.
 
Registration Application
The application contains much of the same information that you have become accustomed to in Portugal: name, address, date of birth, name of your father and mother, profession, and your passport number. Once you sign the application, you have given them permission to conduct a criminal background check here in Portugal.

How to File Your Application
There are two ways: either by using a lawyer to handle the logistics or you doing it yourself.

We opted to use a lawyer who did all the certification and necessary translations. According to the application information, translations are only required for documents in languages other than English, French or Spanish. Also, because we used the lawyer, we had some additional Power of Attorney documents included with our application. Since we used an advogado, the application was submitted electronically.

If you chose to do it yourself, you would need to take the stack of paperwork to an IRN office and submit it in person.

Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado

On their website there is a list of IRN offices that can accept citizenship applications, though not all do. For us, the nearest would have been Coimbra.

After the application is submitted, you will see several e-mails from IRN as they do a preliminary check of the application. If everything is in order, it will be entered for processing. Now the wait begins.
After about 6 months, you will receive an access key that will allow you to follow the process of your submission online.

There are four stages to processing the request:

1. Submission
2. Analysis
3. Awaiting Decision
4. Conclusion

​Going through all four stages requires at least 2 years or more for those not from Portuguese speaking countries. Patience is the key here.
 
Here’s the status my application:  

This one was submitted in March 2024, reviewed in September 2024 and now it’s awaiting am official “decision.”

If your application is successful, you will be granted a Portuguese Birth Certificate that shows your birthplace as the United States. From there, you can go to the different offices and receive your Citizen Card (Cartão de Cidadão) and Portuguese passport. The latter can take some time from what we've heard. We’ll be sure to post updates.
 
For now, we wait with our fingers crossed.