Citizenship for stateless persons and refugees in Portugal

Stateless persons: four years (art. 6.º n.º 3)

The Government grants Portuguese nationality to stateless persons who have resided legally in Portugal for at least four years and who cumulatively meet the conditions of art. 6.º n.º 1 c) to h): language and culture (by test or certificate), knowledge of rights, duties and the State’s organisation, the solemn declaration, no effective sentence over three years for the listed crimes, no security threat, no UN or EU restrictive measure. The subsistence condition (i) and the seven/ten-year residence (b) do not apply. The four years may be interrupted, within a window of six years (art. 15.º n.º 3). The procedure is free (n.º 12).

Statelessness is proven under art. 36.º of the Regulation: by the means of the applicable conventions and, failing those, by documents from the authorities of the countries with which the person has relevant links — country of origin, last nationality, the parents’ nationality. If a country asked by the IRN does not answer within three months, non-acquisition of its nationality is presumed. Portugal has no separate statelessness-determination procedure; the proof is made inside the nationality file.

A child born in Portugal who has no other nationality is Portuguese by origin from birth (art. 1.º n.º 1 g), and a nullity of a nationality act is never declared when it would leave the person stateless (art. 12.º-A n.º 2).

• 4 years of legal residence for stateless persons, in a 6-year window
• 0 € — the procedure is free
• Refugees: ordinary periods, asylum residence counts (art. 15.º n.º 1)
• Language and culture conditions apply to both groups

Refugees and subsidiary protection: ordinary periods, full count

The Nationality Act gives refugees no shorter period, but art. 15.º n.º 1 defines legal residence as residence under the Foreigners Act or under the asylum regime. A person granted refugee status or subsidiary protection under Lei n.º 27/2008 holds a residence permit; those years count in full towards naturalisation — seven years for nationals of EU or Portuguese-speaking States (rare among refugees), ten years for others, within the 9- or 12-year window. The time spent as an asylum applicant before the decision is counted only if covered by a provisional residence permit issued under the asylum law, which the Regulation and IRN practice treat as legal residence; we verify the titles held.

Refugees meet the other conditions like any applicant: A2 Portuguese and, once regulated, the culture and history test; rights and duties; the declaration; the criminal, security and sanctions conditions; subsistence. One accommodation exists in the Regulation for people who cannot obtain documents from their country: in special cases the Minister of Justice may, on a reasoned request, waive any document that should accompany a naturalisation request (art. 26.º) — the Portuguese asylum decision and UNHCR documents support that request.

Documents

• Portuguese residence permits (asylum or subsidiary protection) or the AIMA certificate of periods of residence;
• proof of statelessness (stateless applicants) or the asylum decision (refugees);
• birth certificate or, where impossible, the IRN waiver request with evidence;
• Portuguese criminal record (obtained by the IRN) and, where obtainable, certificates from countries of residence after 16;
• A2 certificate or recognised course certificate;
• the request form (naturalisation) and the solemn declaration; biometrics at filing.

Questions