The nationality law that makes it more difficult for those living here, who belong here, who know no other land, and complicates family reunification, a nationality law that works against families and leaves children unprotected, is a bad law for everyone. It is a law that impacts fundamental values of a decent society, and I believe Portugal wants to be a decent society,” she said.
While not denying that there are problems to solve in the country regarding integration, Catarina Martins assured that as President of the Republic, she would not promulgate the law.
“Problems are solved, not compounded by creating new problems on top of them,” she said, adding that “when there are issues that need to be resolved by giving people access to integration mechanisms, a new problem should not be created that prevents families and leaves children unprotected because this only makes society more vulnerable.”
The amendments to the Nationality Law, which originated from a government proposal, were approved on Tuesday in a final global vote by PSD/CDS, Chega, and IL, surpassing the required absolute majority threshold of 116 out of 230 deputies.
As announced on Friday, during the nationality law review process in the specialty phase, in the Constitutional Affairs Committee, PS, Livre, Bloco de Esquerda, PAN, and PCP voted against. The JPP deputy Filipe Sousa voted in favor.
In the final version of the proposal, obtaining nationality will be possible only after ten years of legal residence in Portugal, with a period of seven years for citizens from Portuguese-speaking countries and the European Union.
Among other changes, a new requirement will be introduced to prove, through a “test or certificate,” that nationality applicants “sufficiently know the Portuguese language and culture, history, and national symbols,” and children born in Portugal will only have nationality if “one of the parents has legally resided in national territory for at least five years.”
On the other hand, at the proposal of the PSD/CDS government, the naturalization of those born in Portugal to foreigners illegally in the country will end. The law currently in force opens the possibility of naturalization to those who are “children of foreigners, regardless of status.”
