Portuguese nationality

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Portuguese nationality determines the membership of a person in the national association of Portugal with the associated rights and obligations. The radical changes in the form of government in the 20th century soon had an impact on citizenship law. In the era of the Estado Novo and soon after decolonization , there were reactionary restrictions on liberal regulations during the first republic .

The right to citizenship has had constitutional status since 1976. In contrast to many developed countries, the conditions have been steadily relaxed over the past two decades and are very generous in international comparison.

Historical development

Registration certificate from 1956 from the Portuguese consulate in Niterói (Rio de Janeiro), which identifies the holder as a Portuguese citizen.

Portugal was a country of emigration for centuries. During the entire time of the Estado Novo (1930 / 33–1975) there were only about 30,000 naturalizations. Most of them were repatriates from Brazil and Spaniards. Apart from a short period after the end of the colonial era in the 1970s, there has only been net immigration since joining the EU.
As a result of the liberalization in 2006, the number of applications for naturalization or registration temporarily increased in 2010/11 to seven times as much as in 2004.

Portugal was already progressive at the end of the 19th century in that it was not (as was customary internationally until the 1960s) that when a foreigner married, the woman automatically followed the nationality of the husband. Portuguese women retained their citizenship or, if necessary, had the right to vote in accordance with the home law of their foreign husband.

Portugal was one of the few countries in the world that retained its own citizens' expulsion from the country as a criminal punishment in the interwar period. For a long time there was no law on adoption, so no citizenship issues were raised here. The international common assumption applies that foundlings found on Portuguese territory come from Portuguese parents.

All residents of the overseas provinces were granted full citizenship in 1962.

Civil Code of 1867

Articles 18 to 21 of the Civil Code dealt with questions of nationality. These were revised in 1930

Portuguese from birth were all legitimate children born in Portugal of a Portuguese father or illegitimate children of a Portuguese woman or of a male foreigner living in the country. After reaching the age of majority, the latter had the option of not wanting to be Portuguese. Foreign women marrying in received citizenship automatically.

Portuguese children born abroad (legitimate or illegitimate) could acquire their Portuguese citizenship through a declaration, (but only) if they wanted to live in the country.

Anyone who had lost their Portuguese citizenship abroad by taking on a foreign citizenship was given it back by a declaration from the municipality of residence before 1930 if they took up their permanent residence in Portugal. The reason for loss was also the expulsion from the country for the duration of the judgment or the unauthorized acceptance of a foreign civil servant position.

Applications for naturalization had to be submitted to the respective city administration (magistrate). The prerequisites were legal age (according to Portuguese and home law), one, since 1930 three years residence, integrity in Portugal and completed military service in the home country. The waiting time could be dispensed with for people who marry in and of Portuguese origin. Naturalization only became effective if the document was submitted to the city archives of the place of residence within six months.
Naturalized people had no right to vote for the Cortes and were excluded from the highest offices. That was changed in 1930 to the effect that naturalized persons did not have the right to hold public offices or to take up leading positions in (semi) state-owned companies for the first ten years.

Law 1959

The restructuring of the Portuguese Empire, which became necessary due to the circumstances of the time, also required a complete reformulation of the law of citizenship in the form of a separate law. The place of birth principle applied to acquisition by birth. When, after the Carnation Revolution and the immediately following end of the colonial empire, massive influx of people into the mother country took place, this was forced to change after 1979.

In addition, the knitted with hot needle law was to colonial nationality issues 1974: In principle, should ex lege all the new nationalities in the newly emerging independent colonies survivors received. The only exceptions were those born in actual Portugal and those born in the colonies. B. had a particularly close bond through long years of residence in the mother country. This led to increased statelessness and administrative judicial challenges.

Law 1981

Bilhete de Identidade de Cidadão, also an old-style identity card.
Cartão de Cidadão, new type of identity card.

The 1959 law was in conflict with the 1976 constitution, particularly in terms of equality between men and women and children out of wedlock. Nevertheless, it took a while until a new Lei da Nacionalidade was issued in 1981. There is also the Ordinance Regulamento da Nacionalidade Portuguesa. The Ministry of the Interior is responsible for naturalization issues. A stronger component of the principle of descent ( ius sanguinis ) was introduced to make it easier for the descendants of the numerous emigrants since 1961 to acquire citizenship. The responsible subordinate departments Conservatória dos Registos Centrais (Central Register) and Ministério Público (“Public Prosecutor's Offices ”), which have a right of objection to the Ministry of Justice, are subordinate to the Ministry of Justice.

According to the 1959 Act, objections and appeals to decisions were to be submitted to the Ministry of Justice and then to the Supreme Administrative Court as the decision-making body.
The District Court of Lisbon has been the central point of contact since 1981.

Portuguese birth certificates contain a note stating their nationality. Otherwise it will be certified by the central register extract.

Persons who do not have citizenship from birth cannot become President of the Republic. Of much more practical importance is the fact that they are exempt from conscription.

Since 1981 there have been no more restrictions on multiple nationality.

Deadlines and requirements have been changed several times.

Acquisition

  • A child is given citizenship at birth if one or both parents are Portuguese citizens.
    • Foreign children according to the ius soli in the 3rd generation or since 2018 in the second generation if at least one parent (except diplomats or similar) has lived legally in Portugal for five (2018: two) years or more - by declaration.
  • By adoption as a minor
  • Naturalization on application is possible for adults, after six (1994–2006 ten) years of residence in the country and:
    • secure livelihood (entitlements sharply reduced in 2006)
    • good repute (requirement deleted in 2006, only serious criminal offenses as an obstacle. An extract from the criminal record of the home country is required).
    • Language skills at level A2 .
    • Minors are included by parental declaration.

Applications are submitted to the central register and checked there, this gives a statement ( parecer ), which goes to the Ministry of Justice for the final decision. Reasons for refusal were 1981-2006 and a. Sentenced to imprisonment for more than a year or lack of relationship with the Portuguese community or service as a civil servant for a foreign state (except for military service). However, the Public Prosecutor's Office ( Ministério Público ) can still appeal on this point to the District Court in Lisbon within one year.

A foreign spouse can obtain citizenship by declaration after three (previously: five) years. A later divorce has no effect.

When the qualifying period was still ten years, foreigners from Portuguese-speaking countries had a period of six years.

The naturalization certificates, whether for naturalization or declaration, had to be submitted to the central register within six months in order to be finally valid. The process is now centralized under the direction of the Interior Ministry. In 2006 there was no longer any obligation to publish the registration in the State Gazette.

Re-naturalization

By registering with the Central Register, women who have lost their citizenship by marrying foreign nationals under the 1959 law will get them back retrospectively, as will people who have lost their Portuguese citizenship because they voluntarily adopted another.

If the general reasons for refusal for naturalization do not exist, the following are retrospectively received by declaration upon request:

  • People who lost their citizenship when they were minors due to a declaration by their parents,
  • former Portuguese who have become stateless or have been expatriated ex lege during decolonization.

Reasons for loss

  • Before 1981: withdrawn because of disloyalty or lack of ties to Portugal.
  • Voluntary acceptance of foreign citizenship (Law 1959) or declaration of willingness to give up Portuguese citizenship for this reason
  • A naturalization can be revoked if it was obtained by fraudulent or fraudulent information or documents. This does not apply if statelessness would occur.
    • Cancellation due to an official error has not been possible since 2018 if a person has had Portuguese ID documents for at least ten years.

Deprivation

After the declaration of war in the First World War on March 9, 1916, the decree of April 23, 1916 was issued, which retroactively revoked naturalization for former citizens of enemy states up to the third generation. For those affected, this was associated with expulsion.

Legislative changes

1994

The economic upturn that began as a result of joining the EC in 1986 led to an increase in illegal immigration. The change in the law made it difficult to obtain citizenship through fake marriages and the place of birth principle. Parents now had to live legally and with permanent residence in Portugal. It was also up to the applicant to prove that he had “close ties to the Portuguese community”.

2006

In general, the bureaucracy of the naturalization procedure has been simplified and processing times have been shortened. The fixed fees are moderate. The maximum processing deadlines set by ordinance, including any subsequently requested documents, are a maximum of five months in the event of rejection, and six months if approved.

The requirement for the applicant to demonstrate that he has "close ties with the Portuguese Community" has been removed. It is now up to the Ministry of Justice to prove that the new citizen does not have such a bond .

By applying for judicial recognition of a stable unmarried relationship or same-sex civil partnership, equality with normal married couples in matters of citizenship could be achieved. (On May 31, 2010, the law on same-sex marriage came into force, which brought full equality in the second point.)

In addition, foreigners now have a legal right to naturalization after six years of residence if they did not have a criminal record. There was no waiting period for applicants born abroad who had even one grandparent who was a Portuguese citizen. Since 2016, this group of people no longer has to apply for naturalization, but receives citizenship through registration upon application.

Accelerated naturalizations are possible for “deserving personalities”. This primarily includes athletes who are supposed to compete for Portugal.

Minor changes implemented the European Convention on Citizenship .

2015 special law for Sephardic Jews
Certificate from a Jewish community that the applicant meets the conditions of the Naturalization Act for Sephardic Jews.

Persons who can prove that they are descendants (at least one Jewish grandparent) of Jews displaced between 1492 and 1821 can be naturalized on application in accordance with §§ 6-7, provided they are of legal age and have never been sentenced to a prison term of more than three years been. The application is made directly to the central register, possibly through the mediation of the responsible diplomatic mission abroad. It is not necessary to take up residence or wait in Portugal.

For proof, a certificate from the Jewish communities in Lisbon or Porto should be presented with the u. a. Portuguese origin (as megurachim ) is made credible. They are charged with examining the applicant's Jewish background by examining historical documents and archives. Furthermore, the certificate of the orthodox chief rabbi (e.g. the Hahambaşı in Istanbul ) is required on site. Most of the applicants come from Morocco, Turkey or the states of the Balkans, since in Smyrna and Saloniki there were active Jewish communities of Iberian origin until the population swap caused by the “Lausanne Convention” in 1922-4 . It is helpful if the applicant can do Ladino , which only a few older people in Turkey can do. Membership of the clan in the London synagogue is also recognized.

2018

The Ministério Público's right to object to naturalization has been abolished if a married couple has a child (also adopted) together.

The ius soli principle now applies without restriction to immigrants from the second generation onwards and to all children of immigrants who have been in the country for at least two years. It is now irrelevant whether the parents are legally in the country or not. For parents who are illegally in the country, the Portuguese citizenship of their minor child in turn provides constitutionally secured protection against deportation.

Previous convictions are only an obstacle to naturalization if, under Portuguese law, a conviction of at least three years' imprisonment for the offense would ensue and the decision has legal force.

Underage unaccompanied refugee children can now be naturalized after the statutory deadline. The Ministério Público is the guardian of the proceedings .

Other laws

Back of the Cartão de Cidadão in this form - with the note "no travel document" - issued to Brazilians in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty of Porto Seguro or to stateless persons. In the case of ID cards for Portuguese people, machine-readable personal data can be found in the lower half.

According to Art. 1796 of the Portuguese Civil Code, the mother of a child is the woman who gave birth to it. B. is important in surrogacy .

In the friendship treaty of 1955, Brazil and Portugal agreed the principle of equal treatment for the citizens of the other country. In Brazil this has found its way into the constitution.

In 2004 a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation was added to the constitution.

Holders of an investor visa ( Visto gold ), which has existed since 2012, can apply for naturalization after just five years. Presence in the country is only necessary for renewal applications after one year, then every two years.

Portugal has not acceded to the Convention on the Status of Stateless Persons, but offers effective protection by signing the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness . The Geneva Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol were also ratified.

The number of asylum seekers remained fairly constant at around 500 a year in 2005-14. As a result of the 2014/5 crisis, the number tripled and remained at this level for several years. The recognition rate at this time is mostly 15% in some years 20–30% - from real crisis areas Syria , Iraq , Somalia and Eritrea even 100%. The government is actively seeking training and integration. The term “legal residence” used in questions of citizenship also extends to asylum seekers from the moment they can be shown to have submitted an asylum application.

Residents of overseas territories

The constitution of 1822 made the residents of both parts of the empire, that is, Brazil and Portugal proper, uniformly citizens. This did not apply to the African colonies.

During the third phase of the Portuguese colonial empire (1888-1975) the natives ( indígenas ) of the large areas of Africa were denied access to full Portuguese citizenship, as was common practice with other colonial powers. Whites had full rights from birth, their number remained comparatively small. In 1910 around 12,000 Portuguese lived in Angola and barely 6,000 in Mozambique. Until 1962 the Portuguese were not allowed to settle freely within the colonial possessions. Similar to French practice , “civilized” natives were able to apply for the status of an assimilado . To do this, they had to be able to speak and write the language (which was rare due to the lack of schools), become Catholic and do military service. The status was abolished in 1961 as part of the administrative reorganization of the overseas colonial administration into a "multiethnic and pluricontinental nation" ( Nação Multirracial e Pluricontinental ). In no African colony had more than one percent acquired this status. Now all natives were given full citizenship rights, even if these were rather limited in the remaining years of the Salazar dictatorship. Before 1973 there were only very limited voting rights.

The possibilities for Portuguese parents living abroad, or their descendants, to secure citizenship for their children through registration with the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais through the mediation of the local consulate was regulated even more generously in 2006.

Portuguese India

All residents of the Estado da Índia received full civil rights at the time of the first republic in 1910. The Acto Colonial of 1930 again created a demarcation from the motherland. Like Macau, these areas were again overseas provinces in 1951 and no longer colony.

After the Indian invasion of Goa , residents became Indian citizens by ordinance in 1962 . On the Portuguese side, they had the option of registering births in the central register there. This allowed them to receive a document called the Bill of Identity , which enables them to enter the Schengen area together with an Indian passport without a visa . In 2016, an estimated four hundred thousand people had this right. The increasingly nationalist Indian government has been trying to prevent this since the Citizenship Order was issued in 2009 .

As part of the EU-wide freedom of movement, numerous Indians have moved from Goa to Great Britain since around 2005 without ever having set foot in their “home” Portugal.

Macau

Under international law, the Chinese Empire only recognized the sovereignty of Portugal, which had existed since the 16th century, through the Treaty of 1887. Between 1985 and 1996, 5,853 Chinese acquired Portuguese citizenship. The solvency requirement was interpreted comparatively generously in 1981-94: “possession of a stove” was sufficient, i. H. an apartment. The area was returned to China in 1999, which manages it as a Special Zone (SAR).

The residents are Chinese citizens , but restrictions apply to them. B. in relation to the freedom of establishment. China strictly prohibits dual citizenship. However, Macau residents who are registered in the Portuguese Central Register can exercise rights abroad.

East Timor

Portugal never recognized the Indonesian occupation under international law . From a Portuguese perspective, the residents remained their citizens until 2002.

literature

  • Canas, V .; Nacionalidade Portuguesa depois de 2006; Revista da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Lisboa, Vol. 48 (2006), pp. 509-30
  • Edmonds, Richard Louis; Yee, Herbert S.; Macau: From Portuguese Autonomous Territory to Chinese Special Administrative Region; China Quarterly [ISSN 0305-7410], 1999
  • Ferreira, A .; A tribuição da nacionalidade portuguesa ea sua prova; Tribuna da Justiça, I) Vol. 24 (1986), pp. 8-13, II) 25 (1987), pp. 7-10
  • GLOBALCIT, Country Profiles: Portugal
  • Hampe, Karl-Alexander; Citizenship law of Spain, Portugal and Ireland; 1954–60 (Research Center for International Law and Foreign Public Law, Univ. Hamburg), 2 vol.
  • Healy, Claire; Cidadania Portuguesa: A Nova Lei da Nacionalidade de 2006; Lisboa: 2011 (Alto Comissariado para a Imigração e Diálogo Intercultural)
  • Hecker, Hellmuth; Citizenship law of non-Anglophone Africa; Frankfurt 1982 (Metzner); ISBN 3787513558
  • Mage, Tristan; De la nationalité; Vol. 2.2: L'Europe moins la France; 2. Italy, Luxembourg, Norvège, Pays-Bas, Portugal, RFA; 1989; Pp. 160-319; ISBN 2906562564
  • Moura Ramos, Rui M .; Nationalité, plurinationalité et supranationalité en droit portugais; Archives of International Law [ISSN 0003-892X], 1996
  • Morier-Genoud, Eric; Imperial migrations: colonial communities and diaspora in the Portuguese world; Basingstoke 2012 (Palgrave Macmillan); ISN 9780230353695
  • Proença, J. Gonçalves de; Comentário à nova Lei da Nacionalidade; Lisboa 1960 (Edições Ática)
  • Ramos, RM Moura; Do Direito Português da Nacionalidade; Coimbra 1992 (Coimbra Editora)
  • Rice, miguel; Portuguese citizenship of persons born in the erstwhile 'Estado da India' and of their descendants: practical notes; Panjali 2014; ISBN 9789380837826 ; [Port. as Questāo da nacionalidade dos cidadāos nascidos no natigo estado da India e dos seus descendentes. ]

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Portugal signed the Convention du 12 June 1902 pour régler les conflits de lois en matière de mariage (further German: Neugebauer, Eberhardt; Hague marriage agreement of 12 June 1902; Berlin 1914, Härig) and the Convention du 17 June 1905 concernant les conflits de lois relatifs aux effets du mariage sur les droits et les devoirs des époux dans leurs rapports personnels et sur les biens des époux which was included in the law on civil registers of February 18, 1911.
  2. ↑ Ferreira, J. Dias; Código Civil Portuguez, Annotado; Lisboa 1870 (Imprensa Nacional)
  3. ↑ Dt. Ex .: The laws applicable in the European states on the acquisition and loss of citizenship with the exclusion of the German Reich Law of June 1, 1870: together with an appendix, containing the citizenship laws that were in force in the German federal states before January 1, 1871; Berlin 1898, pp. 135-7 ( digitized version )
  4. ↑ Dt. Translated from: Journal of Foreign Public Law and International Law 1931, pp. 708-10. Orig. In the Diário do Governo , 1930, Ser. 1, No. 292, p. 2428
  5. ↑ № 2098, of July 29, 1959, in conjunction with Decreto № 43 090, of July 27, 1960 (Regulamento da Nacionalidade).
  6. ↑ Decreto-Lei № 308/75, June 24, 1975; repealed by Lei № 113/88, December 29, 1988.
  7. ↑ Lei № 37/81 , de 3 de Outubro. Changed ten times by 2018. The more important changes are described under "Changes to the law".
  8. ↑ 1982: Decreto-Lei № 322/82, de 12 de Agosto. Modified: Decreto-Lei № 237-A / 2006, Diário da República № 239/2006, 1º Suplemento, Série I, 2006-12-14
  9. ↑ Ministro da Administração Interna (1852–1910: Ministério do Reino, 1910-74: Ministério do Interior), subordinate to the Immigration Office: Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras.
  10. ^ Formal requirements in the Regulamento Emolumentar dos Registos e Notariado originally DL № 322-A / 2001, de 14/12; Changed 37 times by 2019.
  11. ↑ This was suspended in 2003.
  12. ↑ In the case of a foreign conviction, it is checked whether the crime committed in Portugal should be punished with three years or more. See Criminal Code 2006 .
  13. ↑ Introduced in this form by Law 1/2004.
  14. ↑ Provoked by the seizure of German ships in Lisbon on Feb. 23, at the request of the British. First with the German Reich, Austria-Hungary declared war on March 15th.
  15. ↑ Trachtenberg, B .; Homeless; Répertoire de droit international [ZDB-ID 1227684-4], № 5, p. 338
  16. ↑ № 25/94, of August 19.
  17. ↑ In Lisbon and Porto, the CNAI service was set up, in which all relevant authorities offer low-threshold advice and processing under one roof. There are 30 other advice centers and the SOS Imigrante hotline across the country. Portuguese documents are exchanged directly between the authorities.
  18. ↑ These values ​​have been clearly undercut since full computerization in 2009. Since then, the processing time has been an average of four months for children and young people three. Only a few exceptional cases, especially when examining the criminal record extract, require eight. Healy (2013), p. 13.
  19. ↑ The whole section refers to Law No. 2/2006, in force by Decree No. 237-A / 2006 of December 14th.
  20. ↑ ETS 166 of September 6, 1999, in force 2000.
  21. ↑ Law № 30 - A / 2015, Diário do Governo , Feb. 27, 2015.
  22. ^ Tratado de Amizade, Cooperação e Consulta entre a República Federativa do Brasil ea República Portuguesa
  23. ↑ Portugal to review 'golden visa' scheme in bid to create new jobs (2019-10-28).
  24. ↑ By 2018, almost 8,000 investor visas and 14,000 more for relatives were granted. Mostly Chinese and Brazilians who have invested in real estate.
  25. ↑ Asylum applications and refugees in Portugal (zggr. 2020-04-15).
  26. ^ For further information: Clarence-Smith, GW; The Third Portuguese Empire, 1825-1975: A Study in Economic Imperialism; 1985 (Manchester University Press)
  27. ^ Legal regulations: Estatuto Político, Social e Criminal dos Indígenas de Angola e Moçambique, 1926, the Acto Colonial, 1930 and Estatuto dos Indígenas Portugueses das Províncias da Guiné, Angola e Moçambique , May 20, 1954.
  28. ↑ Decreto № 18 570 , July 8, 1930, in force with the 1933 Constitution. Amended № & 1900, from May 21, 1935.
  29. ↑ constitutional amendment in 1951, Lei Organica do Ultramar, № 2066 and 27 June 1953 in conjunction with Decree № & 39602, Apr. 3, 1954
  30. ↑ According to (Portuguese) law № 12533 ​​of October 23, 1926, in conjunction with law № 308-A / 75 of June 24, 1975.
  31. ↑ Reis (2013)
  32. ↑ Revealed: How 20,000 Indians have slipped into UK on Portuguese passports ... all legally! (2016-01-17; inflammatory article in a tabloid)
  33. ↑ Goans have till December to take the Portugal route to live in Britain 2020-02-11.
  34. ↑ Among them are supposed to have been many fake marriages of triad members with Portuguese prostitutes. Kenneth Hugh De Courcy; John De Courcy; Intelligence digest, Volume 1996.

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