Portugal’s Socialist Party (PS) filed formal amendments to the government’s citizenship reform bill on October 17, 2025, proposing a three-tier framework that would establish a seven-year naturalization timeline for most foreigners while protecting existing Golden Visa investors from retroactive rule changes.
Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms, and Guarantees Committee (CACDLG) received the 13-page legislative package, representing the first concrete counterproposal to the center-right government’s June plan to double naturalization periods from five to ten years.
The document emphasizes protecting “the special ties we have with the EU and with the CPLP” while preventing rules that would “excessively prolong naturalization over time.”
The amendments now enter committee review, where CACDLG members will conduct three readings before any floor vote can occur.
The bill requires a strong majority of favourable votes (116 out of 230 MPs) for passage because nationality law is an organic law under the Constitution, as Monteiro explains, a threshold that forces cross-party negotiation regardless of government coalition strength.
The PS amendments would establish distinct residency requirements based on national origin and application timing.
She describes it as “much more balanced and legally coherent” than competing versions, noting it “sets five years for CPLP and EU nationals, and seven years for all other foreigners, instead of ten.”
Comprehensive Protections for Current Golden Visa Holders
Current Golden Visa holders and applicants would receive comprehensive protection through Article 5, Section 3, which specifies that “the residence periods in national territory provided for in the previous wording of Article 6, Section 1(b) and Section 7” would apply to anyone holding or having applied for residence authorization when the law takes effect.
Portugal issued a record 4,987 Golden Visas in 2024, marking a 72% increase from 2023, according to data from the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA).
The PS memorandum explicitly states its intent to establish “rules for entry into force and production of effects that are not only not retroactive, but also protect the legitimate expectations of applicants.”
The amendments’ transitional provisions would operationalize this distinction by grandfathering residence permit holders into the old citizenship framework while implementing new rules prospectively.
Current Golden Visa holders and anyone who files for residence authorization before January 1, 2026, would receive full five-year pathway protection.
Those who file after that date without existing residence permits would face the new seven-year timeline for non-CPLP/EU nationals but avoid the government’s proposed decade-long wait.
The first version of the government’s proposal appeared in June, followed by intense debate over its constitutionality, according to Madalena Monteiro, founder of Liberty Legal. The government paused discussions during the summer and returned to the topic in October, she notes.
The PS framed its intervention as necessary to ensure nationality law “continues to be an instrument to value Portuguese citizenship and for the integration of citizens from other countries who have settled in Portugal and intend to become active members of the national community,” according to the party’s explanatory memorandum.
Nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries (CPLP) and European Union member states would qualify for citizenship after “at least five years” of legal residence, while nationals of other countries would face “seven years” under Article 6, Section 1(b) of the proposed text.
The party justifies differentiated treatment by arguing the need to “ensure that the specificity of citizens of the CPLP and the EU have adequate treatment” in law, given “the existence of more intense connections with Portugal,” according to its policy memorandum.
Monteiro characterizes the PS submission as “a good and reasonable proposal” that “keeps predictability for long-term residents and avoids punishing people for delays that are not their fault.”
The transitional provisions would create a grandfathering window extending through December 31, 2026.
Monteiro explains that “the PS amendments include a grandfathering clause, so anyone who already meets the current requirements when the new law enters into force can still apply under the existing five-year rule until December 31, 2026.”
Article 5, Section 2 maintains that “the previous wording of Law No. 37/81 of October 3 applies to people who meet the requirements for attribution and acquisition of nationality provided therein on the date of entry into force of this law and who initiate the respective procedure by December 31, 2026.”
Monteiro adds that “those who already hold or have applied for residence permits will continue counting time under the old regime.”