Portugal changed its citizenship rules. This petition asks Parliament not to move the goalposts for people already caught in the transition.
This deserves more attention.
There is currently an official petition on the Portuguese Parliament website asking for a proper transitional regime for the new Portuguese nationality law.
📌 Petition: https://participacao.parlamento.pt/initiatives/6439
And importantly, it is not asking Portugal to cancel the new law.
It is asking for something much more reasonable: if people built their lives in Portugal under one set of rules, they should not suddenly lose years of progress because the rules changed while they were already in the system.
Under the previous rules, naturalisation was generally possible after 5 years of legal residence. The new law increased that period to 7 years for EU/CPLP nationals and 10 years for others, while also introducing additional requirements.
The problem is the transition.
There are people who moved to Portugal, worked here, paid taxes, raised families and made long-term decisions based on the law that existed at the time.
Some were also stuck for months or years waiting for Portuguese authorities to process their residence permits. They had no control over those delays.
The petition asks Parliament to protect several groups caught between the old and new systems, including:
- people whose residence procedures were delayed by the Portuguese administration;
- people who had already received approval but were still waiting for their residence card;
- certain parents and grandparents of Portuguese citizens who were eligible under the previous rules;
- families where a pregnancy had already begun before the new law entered into force;
- people with nationality procedures already underway whose legal position now needs clarification.
There is a broader principle here that matters even if none of this affects you personally.
Governments have the right to change immigration and citizenship policies.
But changing the rules for the future is very different from changing the consequences for people who already organised years of their lives around the rules the state itself established.
A functioning immigration system needs predictability. Otherwise every promise made to today’s residents can simply become irrelevant after the next legislative change.
The petition already has around 4,600 signatures.
If it passes 7,500 signatures, it reaches an important threshold: petitions with more than 7,500 signatures are considered in the plenary of the Portuguese Parliament.
So this is one of those cases where a few thousand additional signatures can actually make a difference in how much political attention the issue receives.
Signing is free and is done through the official Portuguese Parliament website. You need to register on the platform first, activate your account by email, log in and then click “Assinar” on the petition.
Petition: https://participacao.parlamento.pt/initiatives/6439
Even if the new nationality rules don’t affect you, supporting a fair transition sends a simple message:
Change the rules if you believe they need to change. But don’t move the finish line for people who are already running the race.