Portuguese citizenship by descent - Artigos 1

The Portuguese government grants naturalization to foreign-born individuals with at least one unrenounced ancestor on the second degree of the Portuguese citizenship succession line.

How to do it/required documentation:

• The signature must be notarized by a public notary, and its certification must be Apostille-authenticated.
• The applicant’s birth certificate must be Apostille-authenticated and officially translated. 
• This certificate must demonstrate that the applicant’s parents recognized him while he was a minor.
• Certificate of birth for the Portuguese grandparent.
• Certificate of birth for the parent who is the grandparent’s offspring. This certificate must demonstrate that the applicant’s elders recognized his parent while he was a minor.
• Document demonstrating that the applicant has an extensive understanding of the Portuguese idiom. The following documents may be presented as evidence of Portuguese language proficiency:

1. Diploma issued by a public or private Portuguese institution in accordance with Portuguese law.
   Certificate of approbation in an examination administered by any of the institutions listed in (a).
2. Certificate of exam certification issued by Portuguese Consulates while the petitioner was residing abroad. In this case, you can demonstrate your proficiency in Portuguese by registering for the examination administered by the Center for the Evaluation of the Portuguese Language (CAPLE) and earning the Initial of Portuguese as a Foreign Language (CIPLE). The examinations are held in May and November.
3. Certificate of Portuguese as a Foreign Language Proficiency issued by one of the accredited Portuguese evaluation institutions.

In the case of someone who has attended a public or private school in any of the Portuguese-speaking countries, a Diploma issued by these teaching institutions may serve as evidence of idiomatic Portuguese proficiency.

If the applicant is illiterate, he must provide evidence of his Portuguese proficiency commensurate with his ability to demonstrate he knows the idiom.

• Criminal Clearance issued by the country in which the applicant was born, where he holds citizenship, and all countries in which he has resided since attaining the age of sixteen, along with the respective translation if not issued in Portuguese. The applicant is exempt from submitting the
• Portuguese Criminal Clearance, as it may be obtained obligatorily by the Portuguese government Power of Attorney if the application is to be submitted by a lawyer or other authorized representative.

Every document must be apostilled, and non-Portuguese documents must be translated into Portuguese.

Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado, I.P.-ordered Portuguese bank payments denominated in Euros from a Portuguese-representative entity.

Send all documentation to:

Conservatória dos Registos Centrais
Rua Rodrigo da Fonseca, 200 1099-003 Lisboa Portugal