Filed in May 2026? How the Portuguese citizenship 10 year rule treats your application

If you submitted your Portuguese citizenship application on or before 18 May 2026, the new 10 year rule does not apply to you: your file is assessed under the old five year residence period. Lei Orgânica 1/2026 was published in the Diário da República on 18 May 2026 and entered into force the next day, and its article 7 keeps the previous law for every procedure already pending on that date. If you submit from 19 May 2026, you need 10 years of legal residence, or seven years if you are an EU or CPLP national.

On this page we separate what is enacted law from what is only proposed, with a date on each point. We are not lawyers. Where the law is silent, we say so and point you to the people who can answer.

What is the Portuguese citizenship 10 year rule?

It is the new residence period for naturalisation, and it is law, not a proposal. The amended article 6(1)(b) of the Nationality Law (Lei 37/81) now requires legal residence of at least seven years for nationals of Portuguese speaking countries (CPLP) and citizens of EU member states, and 10 years for nationals of every other country. Before 19 May 2026 the period was five years for everyone.

The same law tightens the count, and this is the part we would read twice. Article 15(3) adds up legal residence periods, continuous or not, only if they all fall inside a window of 9 years for EU and CPLP nationals and 12 years for everyone else (6 years for stateless people). The old rule that counted the months spent waiting for a first residence permit, article 15(4), is revoked. Lawyers and press reports read it the same way: your clock now starts when AIMA issues your residence permit, not when you applied for it.

Is an application filed before 18 May 2026 under the old five year rule?

Yes. Article 7(2) of Lei Orgânica 1/2026 says that administrative procedures pending on the date the law enters into force stay under the previous wording of Lei 37/81. Article 8 sets entry into force on the day after publication, which was 19 May 2026. A file submitted on 18 May or earlier was pending on 19 May, so the five year period applies to it.

It is a submission date cut-off, not a decision date cut-off. As of 20 July 2026, most routes take three to four years to process. That wait does not move your pending file into the new regime, so a slow decision is not a reason to worry.

What counts as the filing date?

The date you submitted the application, as recorded by the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN). The IRN confirmed, as reported on 8 May 2026, that "será considerada a data de submissão do pedido na plataforma": the submission date on the online platform is the one used to decide which law applies. Traffic on the IRN platforms was very high in the days before the change.

So the date on your submission receipt is what matters, and we would keep that receipt somewhere safe. Booking an appointment, paying a lawyer or collecting documents does not count as filing.

The law does not say how a file that was incomplete on 18 May is treated if the IRN later asks for a missing document. We have not found a published IRN rule on that point. If your application was rejected outright and you had to submit a new one after 18 May, assume the new periods apply and get legal advice before you pay the fee again.

What did the Constitutional Court change, and what is still only proposed?

The Court removed parts of the first version but left the longer residence periods in place. Here are the dates, as they stood on 26 September 2026:

1. October 2025: Parliament approves the first nationality reform.
2. December 2025: the Constitutional Court, in ruling 1133/2025, finds four of seven contested provisions unconstitutional but upholds the 10 year period and the new start of the clock.
3. 1 April 2026: Parliament approves the revised text.
4. 3 May 2026: the President promulgates it.
5. 18 May 2026: published as Lei Orgânica 1/2026; in force on 19 May 2026.

Two related items are not law. The companion decree 49/XVII, which would have added loss of nationality as an extra criminal penalty, was declared unconstitutional by the Court on 8 May 2026 and vetoed by the President on 12 May 2026. A citizens' petition, 220/XVII/1, asks Parliament for a wider transitional regime covering people delayed by the administration. It has 4,819 signatures and its status on the Parliament portal is "presented to the Assembly". Nothing in it has been enacted, so do not plan around it.

Does the 18 May cut-off work differently for CPLP and EU nationals?

No. The cut-off is the same for everyone; only the new residence number differs. A Brazilian, Angolan or Italian who submitted on or before 18 May 2026 is assessed against five years. If you belong to one of those groups and submit now, you need seven years, counted inside a nine year window.

EU citizens have one open question. They do not hold an AIMA residence permit. They register with the câmara municipal and receive a registration certificate (CRUE), requested within 30 days after their first three months in Portugal. Article 15(2) keeps special residence regimes that come from EU law and CPLP agreements, but the text does not spell out how the IRN will date the start of an EU citizen's clock. An hour with a Portuguese lawyer is worth it before you count your years.

What else does a naturalisation file need besides the years?

Language, civic knowledge and a clean record. Article 6(1)(c) and (d) require proof, by test or certificate, of sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and culture, history and national symbols, plus knowledge of the rights and duties of nationality and of how the Portuguese state is organised. The language level is A2, usually shown with the CIPLE exam. Budget for these costs:

1. Naturalisation application: 250 euros.
2. CIPLE registration: 95 euros, charged by CAPLE, the University of Lisbon's language assessment centre.
3. Portuguese electronic passport after approval: 65 euros.

How do you check where you stand today?

Work through these steps in order:

1. Find the submission date on your IRN receipt. On or before 18 May 2026 means the five year rule.
2. If you have not filed, find the issue date on your first residence card. Under the new law, that is where your clock starts.
3. Add up only the periods covered by valid permits, and check they fit inside the 9 or 12 year window.
4. Book the CIPLE exam early, since a missing language certificate often holds up an otherwise complete file.
5. If you are an EU citizen, or your file was ever rejected and not simply completed, get legal advice before you submit again.

Permanent residence follows different rules from citizenship. Our post on why permanent residence is still five years covers that route, and where AIMA files wait in 2026 covers the permit side. To check which visa gets you started, use Visa Check.

Updated on 25 September 2026. Rules and prices change: confirm with the official source linked above before you act.