Key figures — as of 2026-09-29: Naturalisation residency requirement rises from 5 years to 10 years for most non-EU/CPLP nationals, and to 7 years for EU/CPLP citizens — under Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, in force since 19 May 2026 — residency clock now starts on the date the first residence card is issued, not on application — pending files submitted before 19 May 2026 stay under the old five-year rule.
The headline number
Ten years. That's now the standard naturalisation wait for most foreigners building a life in Portugal — non-EU and non-CPLP nationals, including the majority of Golden Visa and D7 holders — under the reformed Nationality Law that took effect on 19 May 2026. The change, formally Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, amends the decades-old Lei n.º 37/81 and was confirmed in force by the Ministry of Justice the same day it took effect.
For citizens of EU member states and CPLP countries (Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Timor-Leste and Equatorial Guinea), the wait rose to seven years instead of ten. Either way, the residence period required for naturalization is extended to seven years for EU and Portuguese-speaking countries (CPLP) nationals and to ten years for all other nationalities, replacing the former five‑year standard.
Why the start date matters as much as the length
The bigger trap for planning purposes isn't just the extra years — it's when the clock actually starts. The law also tightens how residence time is calculated by counting only periods of lawful residence supported by valid work/residence permits and by starting the clock on the date the residence permit is issued rather than the date of application. That means the months — sometimes years — spent waiting for AIMA to process a Golden Visa or D7 application no longer count toward eligibility.
This detail catches out exactly the population GrowIN hears from most: most Golden Visa holders, as well as D7, D8, and D2 visa holders and other third-country residency applicants, must now use 10 years of legal residence as their new benchmark when planning for Portuguese nationality. Two applicants who moved to Portugal the same month can end up with wildly different eligibility dates depending purely on when AIMA physically issued their card.
Applications already lodged before the law took effect aren't affected. All requirements submitted before the entry into force of the new legislation will continue to be covered by the current regime, including the shorter deadlines, even if the administrative processing happens later. Anyone who hadn't yet filed, however — including people who had already quietly clocked five years of residence but never submitted paperwork — falls under the new regime by default.
GrowIN analysis: what the change actually costs in time
Strip away the legal language and the arithmetic is stark: for non-CPLP, non-EU nationals the wait has exactly doubled — a 100% increase on the old five-year benchmark. For EU/CPLP nationals it's a 40% increase. Put concretely: a US, UK, South African or Indian national who obtained a Golden Visa residence card in, say, 2022 and was mentally counting down to eligibility in 2027 is now looking at 2032 — five extra years of renewing residence permits, filing Portuguese tax returns, and maintaining whatever health cover or property commitments underpinned their original application. That's a materially longer runway to plan finances, schooling and long-term ties around, and it's the single figure worth flagging to anyone mid-process.
As GrowIN Portugal Editorial puts it: the reform doesn't just extend the citizenship queue — it moves the entry point, so time you thought you'd already banked toward eligibility may not count at all.
What hasn't changed — and what to watch
The reform left the descent route alone. Portugal's Nationality Law governs how foreign residents, investors, and descendants of Portuguese citizens can acquire citizenship through naturalization, birth (ius soli), marriage/de facto union, adoption, or descent. Citizenship through a parent or grandparent still carries no residency requirement, provided lineage and A2 Portuguese are in order. The Golden Visa residence programme itself is untouched — only the citizenship timeline that sits at the end of it has moved.
The government still owes the country an updated Regulamento da Nacionalidade, and lawyers continue to flag open questions — particularly for residency-stage Golden Visa holders who haven't yet filed, where it remains unclear how time already accrued under the old regime will be treated. Anyone close to a filing decision should check their exact residence permit issue date against AIMA's records and get case-specific advice before assuming either the old or new clock applies. For a full breakdown of the naturalisation, descent and marriage routes under the new rules, see our visas hub.
The safest assumption for now: if your residence card was issued on or after 19 May 2026 and you're not an EU or CPLP national, plan around a ten-year horizon, not five.