Portuguese nationality law is the legal set of rules that regulate access to Portuguese citizenship, which is acquired mainly through descent from a Portuguese parent, naturalisation in Portugal or marriage to a Portuguese citizen.
In some cases, children born in Portugal to non-citizens may be eligible for Portuguese citizenship. However this does not apply to children born to tourists or short-term visitors. Portuguese citizenship law is complicated by the existence of numerous former colonies and in some cases it is possible to claim Portuguese citizenship by connection with one of these jurisdictions. The most notable of these are Portuguese India (annexed by India in 1961), East Timor and Macau.
The current Portuguese nationality law, law number 37/81 of 1981, represented a significant restriction of the more universal jus soli citizenship of its predecessor, Law 2098 of 1959. It has been amended several times, gradually expanding the circumstances in which birth in Portugal to foreign parents will lead to Portuguese citizenship for the child, either automatically or by simple declaration. The 1981 law also increased the likelihood of jus sanguinis citizenship, when it intentionally expanded the pool of Portuguese citizens living outside Portugal by eliminating the earlier law’s provisions for loss of citizenship by voluntary acquisition of another nationality and by military service or public officeholding in a foreign country, and removed the government’s power to decree loss of citizenship on a dual citizen who acted like a foreigner. Amendments since 1981 further expended citizenship by descent to grandchildren, even where the intermediate generation does not have citizenship, and to people presumed to be descendants of Portuguese Jews expelled from 1496. Versions of the law as amended at any date up to the present are available by entering the date in the official Portuguese legislation Web site.
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