60% of foreigners who obtain nationality do not live in Portugal. Israelites lead

Although government changes focus more on immigrants, most requests for naturalization are made by people who do not live in Portugal.

The bill that the government takes this Friday the vote wants to double the minimum period of legal residence required for naturalization from 5 to 10 years. The Executive justifies the tightening with the “call effect” Created by the reviews approved by the PS, but IA’s latest data show that in 2023, six out of ten foreigners who obtained citizenship lived abroad.

According to the investigation of the last year, 41 393 nationalities were granted; 24 408 intended for people living abroad. The Israelites, beneficiaries of the regime created in 2013 for descendants of Sephardic Jewsled the list (40 %), followed by Brazilians (23.5 %), Cape -Verdeans (4.3 %) and Ukrainians (3.5 %). Immigrants who have been living in Portugal for at least six years, who have been the direct target of the new law, totaled only 10 934 acquisitions, the lowest value in 15 years.

The granting of nationality to Sephardites, long involved in controversy on suspicions of fraud, especially in the case of Roman Abramovich, explains the Inversion registered since 2021: This year, for the first time, the “new Portuguese” abroad overcame residents in the national territory. If the regime is revoked, something that is also foreseen in the government’s proposal, the trend may retreat.

The Institute of Registrations and Notaries accumulates more than 700 000 requests for deciding, 70% of which of candidates who do not even live in Portugal (Sephardic and Lusodescendants). The processes under analysis date back to 2021, so a applicant can wait up to four years per response. The sector union blames the lack of staff: “They left technicians and conservatives that were not replaced, ”says President Armenio Maximino.

Approved or not this Friday, the initiative also faces the sieve of the President of the Republic. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa admits to request the preventive inspection of the Constitutional Court if they submit doubts about the legality of the new restrictions.