Portugal Citizenship: 5→10 Years? Our Plan

Portugal citizenship might change from 5 years to 10 years — and it’s got a lot of expats nervous. In this video we break down what’s being proposed, what’s confirmed, what’s still unknown, and how to plan your life in Portugal either way.

We also cover a key detail many people miss: Portugal’s nationality rules have been updated to help protect applicants from residence-permit delays — meaning your “clock” may start earlier than you think, depending on your case.

(We’re not lawyers — this is practical commentary from expats living in Portugal. Always verify with official sources / qualified professionals.)

As always…check back in and, Track Us Down! 🌎
~ Doug & Monique ❤️✨

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Transcript

Portugal citizenship might go from 5 to 10 years. In this video, we're going to cover what is being proposed, what is already confirmed, and of course, what is unknown, and how to plan either way if you're an expat. If you're an expat here, that changes planning. Or does it? Welcome to Track Us Down. If you're just finding us, I'm Monique. And I'm Doug. Our channel is all about retiring early, moving abroad, but mostly living what we call a better second half of life. In this video, we will also cover a key detail many people miss. Portugal's nationality rules have been updated to protect you expats from residency permit delays, meaning your clock may have started earlier than you think, and that's a good thing. We'll talk about that coming up. Let's start with the facts. The facts as we know them are the Portuguese citizenship route was 5 years. That's what we came here for. We hope to get citizenship and it was 5 years. What is being proposed is changing that 5-year rule to 10 years. We had planned on 5 years. It seemed like a great plan to us, but every country has to do what's best for its own citizens and what's best for its own immigration. And isn't Portugal the only country really that has 5 years? I think they're one of the last countries, most countries it is a seven, if not a 10-year route to any kind of citizenship, if they even allow it at all. So, what they're proposing is for expats who are not of Portuguese descent, people like us who have come to Portugal, changing that 5 years residency, then you can apply for citizenship to you must live here for 10 years of permanent residency to apply for citizenship. And that affects a lot of people because people were counting on that five years. But that is solely what's being proposed. They've tried a few times to run it through their government, through their parliament, and make those changes. It's been shot down in the constitutional court and sent back to rewrite. Right now, it's still in limbo as to whether or when they're going to make those changes. I think they will make those changes eventually. It's just a matter of time. So, we all have to plan around that. So, I think the biggest unknown here is the timeline because I think like what Doug said is true. I think that that is going to be a change that they're going to make at some point, but does it affect the people who are already here? Or if you're somewhere else and you're hoping to come to Portugal and looking at that 5-year residency, when does that start affecting you? We're going to get into that a little bit later. And for us, we're almost at that 5-year mark. This summer will be our 5-year anniversary here when we are ready to apply for citizenship. And we're going to go over what our plans are and how we feel about that later in the video. We're pretty excited about it. The time has gone by quick. I can't believe we're already in our fifth year and we're starting to get everything together to apply for citizenship. We love Portugal. We love the people. We love the way of life and we're super excited about getting citizenship here in Portugal and in the EU. But will we be able to this year or are we going to have to wait another five years? That's what we're wondering. So, one of the things that people are talking about and they're talking about through this process going through the constitutional and legislative applications is a delay. This delay that's happening through AIMA when people are applying for their citizenship, their permits and they're so backlog that it's taking so much time for that to come through. So, one of the changes that came into effect in 2024 that actually protects you if you were applying for citizenship is that they will take into account the time when you applied for your residency permit. AIMA is quite delayed right now. So, if you have a long wait between the time that you applied for your residency permit and you got it, that time still counts towards your citizenship application. I think that so many people are frustrated with AIMA in general. We've been very lucky. The last time we applied for our second residency permit, it was still SEF. It hadn't switched to AIMA yet. And it was quite stress-free. It was online and it was easy. But we do know that AIMA's very behind and people are very frustrated. And the thing with AIMA seems to be from all the different people we talk to is that they ask different people for different things, different requirements, and everyone's situation seems a little different. So you there's not really any one big generalization that's really come out of talking about AIMA. So the first time we're going to be really dealing with AIMA will be this summer. We look forward to getting all our paperwork together and putting in our application. We hope that things don't change before then. But if they do, that is the main point of this video and what we want to talk about. But before we do that, let's talk about a couple scenarios. If you're already here, you're already an expat in Portugal. What does this change from 5 to 10 years mean for you? So for us, we're approaching the actual application 5 years here. That'll be this summer. But what does that mean for you? If you're 3 years into a residency or four years into a residency, you are basically waiting for that unknown part. Things have been proposed, things have been confirmed, but there's still a lot of unknown in terms of the timeline. So it's really a waiting game for you. stay compliant with all the rules of residency so that if it still is at that 5-year mark, you can still apply. And many of us are here because of the NHR and we have that 10 years to think about and we want to stay regardless after that 5 years or not. So, if you're already in the process, hold tight because nothing is fully confirmed. Another scenario is if you are planning to move here to Portugal in 2026 this year, what does that mean for you? The main thing is right now nothing has changed. It is still being reviewed. It could change at any time, but nothing has changed yet. If it was us moving here and we had planned this great second half of life, moving to Portugal, a great country to move to in retirement, we would still be coming full force. We would be moving here and just playing it by ear. Portugal still has a great cost of living for expats and great weather, great people. we would still be moving here and we'd be just planning as if it was going to go through and pivoting if it didn't. And so why do we feel that way? Why would we continue on? Citizenship is great, but permanent residency is really good as well, and it's what most people get when they retire or move to a new country in their second half of life. A lot of people plan on moving back at a future date. So permanent residency is mostly what people go for. Citizenship has opened up to a lot of people and it's been kind of a bigger thing in the last few years, but it doesn't have to be that way. We always have to remember that countries adjust their policies all the time. They do it for their own citizens and that's exactly what Portugal is doing. They are just working their way through it and making the changes that they feel are necessary for their own population based their own citizens. We have to pivot with that. We're still very happy here. We can always plan for any changes, but we don't panic. And that's what we want to talk about. And I think that's part of our whole better second half of life is being able to pivot. Things will change. Even if things don't change this time, something else can change. Look how quickly the NHR changed in Portugal. And that's not just Portugal. Things are changing in Spain. Things have changed in France. Things change in other countries as well. We need to remain flexible and ready for those changes. And citizenship was our goal and it still is right now. It would be great to be a Portuguese citizen. We are all ready for that. We do have our A2 certificate in Portuguese. We are compliant with all the rules for a time in Portugal with our residency. So, we're ready. But if we have to, we can always apply for permanent residency here in Portugal, which would be an option. There's also the European Union residency, the long-term residency that you can apply for that allows you some freedom of movement within the EU, not all countries, but most countries. And that's something we can apply for, too, if that's what we choose. Both those things are worth doing a deep dive and looking into to see if they would be good for you as well. That's all the technical things. There's always some nuances. We might not have been exactly right on a few things. It's very debatable. You see it in the Facebook groups all the time, but I think people get too caught up in it. The main thing that we feel is that life is a journey and retirement, your second half of life, even more so. It's a journey and you have to be able to pivot. None of us really know where we're going to be in five years or 10 years when the NHR runs out or once we've gotten citizenship or we don't. I mean, our life circumstances can change and at any time you have to live for the here and now. You have to make the best of it here and now. And that's what we're doing with the scenario as it is right now. So, I think our biggest takeaway of all of this when we think about our situation is we have to be flexible. We're going to be pivot if we have to and we're going to be remain calm and see what comes our way. Of course, there are things that we can have ready and do to be ready in case things do change. Here are some of the things we're doing that you can do as well to be ready either way. So, we are definitely keeping track of our dates. We are keeping track of the date we applied for residency and keeping track of our dates here in Portugal. We're keeping all our paperwork orderly and ready. We have it all together. We take it to an expert if we need to for review, whether that's a lawyer or some kind of accountant. We're doing all our research ahead of time. So, in the event that we are able to apply for our citizenship this summer, late summer, we are going to be ready to do that before they make any changes so that we can be in that process and be part of that grace period between the time we applied and any changes that occur. We're also staying compliant with the residency requirements. And this is a big one because sometimes people get frustrated and they don't keep track of the time that they're outside of Portugal. We believe that that could be really important when applying for citizenship or even permanent residency to be able to prove that we have spent the time here in Portugal that's required of us. So, keeping track of those dates is important as well. And that goes for your banking information as well. you may have to show at some point that most of your spending has occurred here in Portugal and you've been compliant with those residency rules. The next thing that we've done that we would highly suggest you do, whether it's for citizenship or just because it's an important thing to do if you are going to build a life here in Portugal, is learn some Portuguese. Now, we went through the government classes, which we highly recommend you look in your area wherever you are in Portugal because there is no exam then for the A2. It is part of the classroom work and it's received at the end but it is long. It's it's many hours twice a week but it was awesome. We had a great time and it was really really worth it to learn the basics of Portuguese. So start working on your A2 certification. Absolutely either way. And with that with learning our basic Portuguese it has brought us even more into the Portuguese culture. We can understand people when we go to a restaurant or we go to the grocery store at our gym. I can understand what they're saying more and more. That is so important. They accept you more. You feel more part of this community. It just draws you in. We've really enjoyed learning the language. It's hard. We're not quite there yet, but we're learning. And the last thing, the main thing that we're doing right now, and we highly recommend, is just don't panic. Do not get caught up in all the Facebook rumors and all the Facebook gossip because most of the people on there do not even know what they're talking about. And if they do, if they are, they're just fixating on it too much. Things will happen as they happen. We all know that things happen slowly here in Portugal. Portuguese patience. Portuguese patience. So, just take things, let things go for a while. Come back to it. Whatever changes will happen will happen. You actually really don't have much control over that as an expat. So, we have to be able to pivot. Just don't panic. Enjoy life. And that's what the second half of life is all about. That's what our channel is really all about is about enjoying the second half of life and really looking it at it as the next journey as if you're 20 and the whole world is ahead of you. So we're here come what may we're going to make the best decision for us and that's what you should be doing for you. But you can have some things ready to go either way and do your own research. Like Doug said, Facebook isn't a great place to research and even chatting with 10 different people, you get 10 different opinions. You might want to do your own research on what you actually need. I actually don't understand why people get so worked up in the comments on Facebook and in the Facebook conversations about this whole thing. It's going to happen. Just let it happen however it happens and pivot. That is what the second half of life is all about. And that should be what your retirement is about here abroad. Keep your life light and easy so that it can be moved. That is the best advice we can give on this. But we are excited and actually very hopeful that whether this goes through later that maybe we make the cutoff and that we can get that Portuguese citizenship and we will take you along for that journey because it's pretty exciting. And if not, we'll pivot and see how it goes. If not and we don't make it, then we will continue on with our permanent residency here for the next number of years because things change for us in the next 5 years. We don't know where we're going to be or what's going to happen with our family here back in North America. So, we will pivot. will just stay permanent residents then. But what about you other expats like us who are moving here to Portugal who are already here? What's your plan A? What's your plan B if you can't get citizenship? Did you even even plan for citizenship? Are you just planning to be permanent residents? We'd love to start a discussion in the comments down below. We'd love to hear from you what your plans are and what your thoughts are on this whole citizenship debate that's been going on in the Legislative Assembly. And remember, if you enjoy videos about retiring early, moving abroad, or just living a better second half of life, please remember to subscribe to our channel and give us a thumbs up. We really appreciate your support. We hope you continue to follow along. Thank you so much for spending a little bit of your time with us today. And as always, check back in, and, Track Us Down!