Great-grandchildren of Portuguese citizens now have a written route to citizenship
The 2026 nationality reform formally opened descent-based citizenship to great-grandchildren, provided they can prove a real connection to Portugal. It also scrapped the Sephardic route and ended automatic citizenship for children born here to foreign parents.
The short answer is yes, and it is one of the few openings in a package that tightened almost everything else.
Portugal’s 2026 nationality reform formally added great-grandchildren of Portuguese-born citizens to the descent route. Until now the third generation lived in a grey zone of interpretation and appeals; it is written into the law. The condition is not decorative: applicants must show an effective connection to Portugal, and certificates alone will not do it.
What counts as an effective connection
Genealogy on its own is not enough. Knowledge of Portuguese counts, and so does a real tie to the country: residence, property, active family links, involvement in Portuguese communities, regular and documented visits. Every file is assessed individually, and the 2026 assessment is openly stricter than it was three years ago, not least because the regulation setting out proofs and forms was itself running to a 16 August deadline.
In practice that means a great-grandchild application takes months of preparation. Birth and marriage certificates in an unbroken line, translation and legalisation where issued abroad, evidence of language, and a connection file that holds together when a stranger reads it.
What closed on the same day
Two doors, and both were busy ones.
The special regime for descendants of Portuguese Sephardic Jews, created in 2015, was repealed. Anyone without an application already filed no longer has that route.
And citizenship for children born in Portugal to foreign parents stopped being automatic. At least one parent must now have been legally resident in the country for five years. This is the change most likely to catch families out, because it contradicts what many people assumed was guaranteed by giving birth here.
What changed on the residence side
The wider framework moved too. A National Foreigners and Borders Unit, UNEF, was created under the PSP and reaches full operation in 2026. It is an enforcement arm; it does not turn AIMA into a police body, and AIMA keeps its administrative role.
There are genuine loosenings as well. Holders of a residence permit for employed work can now change employer by notifying AIMA, and holders of a self-employment permit can change the nature of their activity. Small edits in the text, large ones in a life.
Quick questions
Can grandchildren still apply?
Yes. The descent route for children and grandchildren is unchanged. What the reform did was add the next generation, with the effective-connection requirement attached.
Is a language test compulsory for great-grandchildren?
Evidence of Portuguese forms part of the effective-connection assessment. Treat it as a requirement rather than a bonus.
How long does it take?
It depends on the queue when you file, and an incomplete submission is refused at the door rather than corrected later, so check the document list twice. If you hold a residence permit while you wait, note that the same reform package also reopened Portugal’s airport e-gates to foreign residents.
The amendments to the regulatory decree on the foreigners law are published on the AIMA website.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
