NTuesday evening saw Chega propose an amendment to address the potential for a Portuguese citizenship revocation penalty for those sentenced to an effective prison term of three years or more.
The primary distinction between PSD/CDS and Chega lies in the minimum duration required for an acquired citizenship to be revoked due to criminal actions. While the Social Democrats and Christian Democrats advocate for a ten-year period following citizenship acquisition, Chega extends this timeframe to 20 years.
These proposals by PSD/CDS and Chega form part of a standalone set of amendments to the Penal Code addressing nationality loss as an ancillary penalty, set for a specialized vote in the Committee on Constitutional Affairs on Thursday. PS and other left-leaning parties oppose the principle of nationality loss as an ancillary penalty.
PSD and CDS-PP initially introduced a separate amendment proposal to incorporate nationality loss as an ancillary penalty in the Penal Code, removing this issue from the nationality law proposal.
This proposal has been separated into an independent bill distinct from the government’s nationality law revision, with PSD citing constitutional doubts.
“We also want to be clear that if this issue is sent to the Constitutional Court for review, it will not contaminate the nationality law process, which we reiterate is of vital importance to the country,” stated PSD deputy leader António Rodrigues.
Last week, PSD and CDS’s proposal stipulated a five-year crime period for nationality loss applicable to individuals who obtained citizenship in the last ten years.
The newly proposed text by PSD and CDS states: “The penalty of losing Portuguese nationality may be applied to an individual sentenced to an effective prison term of four years or more,” provided “the acts were committed within ten years following citizenship acquisition” and “the individual holds nationality from another state.”
The ancillary penalty of losing Portuguese nationality for naturalized citizens includes crimes “against life, physical integrity, personal freedom, sexual freedom and self-determination; related to terrorist offenses, terrorist group activities, and terrorism financing; criminal association, arms trafficking, drug trafficking, or psychotropic substance trafficking; or against the state.”
Chega’s latest amendment proposals aim to establish that a child of foreigners born in Portugal can only apply for nationality if “one of the parents has legally resided in Portuguese territory for at least three to five years”—a proposal adopted by PSD/CDS in their amendment.
Chega also argues that nationality applications can only be submitted by those who have not “benefited from social support in the last three years of residence,” alongside a series of associated documents.
Regarding the government’s bill, PS has also presented new amendments, aligning more closely with the timelines advocated by PSD and CDS.
PS now believes that children born on Portuguese territory, to foreign parents, should be entitled to Portuguese nationality if one of the parents has legally resided in the territory for at least two years at the time of birth. In PS’s previous version, the period was just one year.
Another alignment of PS with PSD is observed in nationality acquisition for citizens of Portuguese-speaking countries or the European Union. Nationality acquisition shifts to six years, up from the previous five years.
For third-country citizens, PS increases the time for nationality acquisition from seven to eight years, “without prejudice to a different period specified in an international treaty with reciprocal terms.”
