Details about the changes in the law – Childrens

In view of the change in the nationality law, voted on 07/24/2020 by the Portuguese Parliament, we have verified that the approved text does in fact bring several changes, some of which are related to the processes of children born in Portugal to foreign parents.

The new change results from the strengthening of the jus solis institution. It is now possible to apply for nationality for children born in Portugal, when at least one of the parents resides legally in the country for a period of one year. It is important to note that the parents must not be working in their respective State of origin.

It is worth noting that, back in 2018, the Nationality Law underwent a similar change, which determined that at least one of the parents must be residing legally in Portugal for a period of two years. However, to date, this change has not been regulated and therefore has not yet come into force.

Although the aforementioned changes bring numerous benefits to the grandchildren and spouses of Portuguese citizens, it is important to clarify that there are still pending stages of the regular legislative process, since the approved text will then be forwarded to the President of the Republic for evaluation, who may:

– Approve it;
– Veto it;
– Forward it to the Constitutional Court, if he believes that any point of the law may constitute a violation of the Constitution;

If it is approved directly by the President, the text will be published in the official press.

Once published, it will still require regulation, which, in principle, will take 90 days after the date of publication (it is important to note that the legal deadline was not met in the last three amendments to the Nationality Law).

Therefore, it is important to highlight that these changes are not in force and do not have immediate effects, so they will not impact the processes already underway, which are analyzed based on the current legislation in force.

Only after all the above-mentioned steps have been completed will the established guidelines come into effect, at which point we will be able to initiate new processes.

For this reason, we will continue to monitor developments on a daily basis in order to keep you informed of the progress of this process.