In an ongoing process of amending Portuguese citizenship law, October 2025 saw Parliament vote to approve amendments that would reset the Portuguese citizenship timeline to seven years for Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) citizens and EU Member states and ten years for all other nationalities.
Following this October 24 vote, the Socialist party has navigated around President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s efforts. Their opposition has effectively suspended current Portuguese citizenship law amendments before they go into effect by setting forth a preventive review of the proposed changes.
Background on Proposed Amendments
Proposed reforms to Portugal’s citizenship law, which would shift to a seven- and ten-year citizenship timeline, have been put on hold by the recent Socialist call for preventive Parliamentary review. Said reforms would allow pending citizenship applications to continue based on current rules (eligible Portuguese residents can apply for citizenship through the golden visa, which is a five years to citizenship rule).
But notably, the amendments don’t protect people with residence permits who haven’t applied for citizenship yet.
Previous Socialist Efforts
Previously, on October 17, 2025, Portugal’s Socialist Party (PS) filed amendments to the government’s citizenship reform proposal. The PS called for a five-year timeline for CPLP citizens and EU member states, as well as a seven-year timeline for all other nationalities.
Current Efforts By PS: Preventive Parliamentary Review
Right now, the PS is maneuvering around the proposed reform of a seven- and ten-year citizenship timeline by utilizing a rarely used constitutional tool – preventive Parliamentary review.
This caveat, which has only been used twice since Portugal’s Constitutional Court was founded in 1983, basically has allowed Socialists to oppose President de Sousa’s efforts and pause the new law in its tracks.
Concerns That Proposed Amendments Are Unconstitutional
This move followed legal opinions put forth by Jorge Miranda – who is widely considered the father of the Portuguese constitution – that essentially called the citizenship law amendments unconstitutional. Concerns in his 82-page document cited unequal treatment like differences in residency requirements for different nationalities and prolonged uncertainty for certain Portuguese citizenship seekers, such as those taking the golden visa route.
Notably, the government had made a promise to clear the Golden Visa backlog in 2026, although they contradicted this by noting that they would not give any processing priority to such applicants.
While Parliament tried to plow forward with the new legislation, Socialists took heed of Miranda’s warnings about the unconstitutionality of the changes and enacted the preventive review.
What Does This Mean for Portuguese Citizenship Law Going Forward?
Since the PS used Preventive Parliamentary Review to oppose the President, the proposed citizenship law amendments will be passed on to Portugal’s Constitutional Court to be reviewed. Until there is a ruling, the reforms can’t be enforced.
The stalling that is happening right now points to an inability to agree on matters of Portuguese citizenship law between Parliament and President De Sousa, as well as a larger issue surrounding equality in Portuguese citizenship law.
Stay tuned to the Citizenship.EU blog for more updates regarding Portuguese citizenship law reform.