Portuguese Citizenship by Descent

Portugal's grandparent route survived the 2026 reform. If a grandparent was a Portuguese national and did not lose that nationality, you can declare that you want Portuguese nationality of origin under Article 1(1)(d) of the Nationality Law. You do not have to live in Portugal. You do have to show 'effective ties to the Portuguese community', and since the 2026 reform you must also meet integration requirements: Portuguese language (in practice an A2 certificate, usually the CIPLE exam; presumed for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries), knowledge of Portuguese culture and civics, a commitment to democratic principles and a clean criminal record. The grandparent must have been Portuguese from birth and never lost that nationality.

Children of a Portuguese citizen are simpler still: they are Portuguese by origin and only need the birth recorded with the Portuguese civil registry, through a consulate or online.

Lei Orgânica 1/2026 was published on 18 May 2026 and took effect the next day, after the Constitutional Court's preventive review struck down some unrelated provisions. For descendants it did three things: it kept the grandparent declaration, it added a new great-grandparent route, and it abolished the Sephardic route.

The great-grandparent route is not a from-abroad option, and not a right: the government may grant naturalisation to great-grandchildren of a born-Portuguese national after five years of legal residence in Portugal, and the result is derived rather than original nationality. For most people abroad, a better plan is for the parent to claim first as a grandchild, after which the child registers as the child of a Portuguese citizen.

The law that let descendants of Sephardic Jews expelled from Portugal claim nationality (introduced in 2015) was tightened in 2022 and then abolished by Lei Orgânica 1/2026. The Jewish Community of Lisbon stopped accepting new certification requests on 4 May 2026. Applications already in the system are still being decided, but new applicants cannot use this route. Many older guides still describe it as open.

For a grandchild claim you need your own birth certificate, your parent's birth certificate, your grandparent's Portuguese birth record, and marriage records linking the generations, apostilled and translated where they are not in Portuguese. Add the A2 certificate and criminal record certificates from the countries you have lived in.

Files go to the Central Registry in Lisbon and commonly take more than a year. Portugal allows dual nationality, so you keep your current citizenship.