The government’s proposal includes a provision for the “accessory penalty of losing Portuguese nationality for naturalized citizens who, possessing another nationality, are sentenced to effective imprisonment of five years or more for acts committed within 10 years after acquiring nationality.”
The European Convention on Nationality, by the Council of Europe, to which Portugal is a signatory, allows nationality loss only in cases involving “crimes against the State, such as treason or espionage,” stated Ana Rita Gil, a public law specialist and expert consulted by the Assembly of the Republic.
The new law targets those sentenced to over five years for crimes against life, physical integrity, personal freedom, sexual freedom and self-determination, terrorist offenses, criminal association, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, or against the State.
The proposal previously under discussion included a transitional regime set for June 19, following claims by the government that the measure was part of its program and in response to high numbers of naturalization requests. However, it is reported that the government has abandoned this transitional regime.
“I believe removing the possibility of retroactivity, or retrospectivity to be more precise, is a good decision,” as “it was a provision that raised many constitutional doubts,” commented Ana Rita Gil.
The retroactive application of the law “compromised the legitimate expectations of many citizens who had submitted requests before it came into effect,” labeling those requests as “abusive when individuals were simply following the law,” added the jurist from the Lisbon Faculty of Law, highlighting the changes the new decree introduces for naturalized citizens.
“For 40 years, we had full equality between naturalized and native-born nationals, and none could lose nationality,” whereas “now we have naturalized individuals who, for ten years, are under a conditional nationality regime, potentially losing it for crimes that are not treason, espionage, or against state loyalty principles,” explained Ana Rita Gil.
This measure applies only to citizens who retain their original nationality.
Portuguese law does not permit the creation of stateless individuals, therefore, in countries that do not allow dual nationality, this sanction cannot be enforced.
Such is the case of countries like India, China, Pakistan, or Bangladesh, which revoke original citizenship when a citizen acquires another nationality.
“If individuals automatically lose their original nationality, they become legally stateless,” should the new Portuguese decree’s sanction be applied.
Ana Rita Gil argues that “the law must necessarily be interpreted to protect individuals who, upon acquiring Portuguese nationality, lost their previous citizenship.”
The decree itself stipulates this, stating that the accessory penalty of losing Portuguese nationality can only be applied to naturalized citizens with “another nationality.”
The number of prisoners sentenced to more than five years with Portuguese nationality for less than ten years is unknown, as courts do not distinguish between native Portuguese and naturalized Portuguese, according to the Ministry of Justice.
The Directorate-General for Reintegration and Prison Services (DGRSP) clarified that its statistics only “pertain to the length of sentences and prisoners’ nationality, without tracking when a person obtained a particular nationality.”
