Joining a family's citizenship applications in Portugal

Yes, they can run together — and the main condition is not how closely you are related, it is the date. When two or more members of the same family file, on the same day, the declarations or applications that open Portuguese nationality files, any one of them can ask for those files to be joined, so that shared acts, enquiries and documents are used once instead of four times. The rule is article 40.º-A of the Portuguese Nationality Regulation, and it is almost never used, because almost nobody knows it is there.

Joining is not merging. Each person keeps their own file, their own decision and their own fee; what becomes single is the registrar's work on the paperwork that serves everyone — the marriage certificate, the parent's proof of lawful residence, the child's school enrolment. If you are assembling the family's folder now, read the language and process track first, then come back here to decide what goes in together.

We filed on the same day. Is that one file or four?

Four. Joining does not create a family application: it links files that stay individual, so the conservatória does not repeat the same enquiry four times. That is why the statute speaks of «using» shared material rather than of merging. The decision that reaches you at the end is yours, on your own grounds, and it can perfectly well differ from your spouse's.

Two practical consequences. First, a document already filed with the first applicant's case does not have to be ordered, translated and apostilled a second time for the next one. Second, if one of the files is refused, it does not drag the others down — it only affects what actually depended on it, and that dependency is what the law requires the registrar to respect when deciding the order of analysis.

Who counts as family, and how far out

The rule links applicants in four ways: marriage, de facto union, adoption, or kinship up to the third degree, in the direct or the collateral line. «Third degree» is not vague — the Civil Code counts degrees by the number of people in the line, leaving out the common ancestor, and that produces a hard edge.

The last row is the one that surprises people. Two cousins who arrived in Portugal together, shared a flat for a decade and file side by side at the same counter are, for this purpose, in the fourth degree, and joining on request does not reach them.

Which file pulls the others

There are two layers. By default, files are joined to whichever started first. But where the files depend on one another, joining follows the order of dependency — and so does the analysis.

In practice the dependency almost always exists, and it almost always points at the parents. Portuguese law says that minor or legally incapable children of someone who acquires Portuguese nationality «may also acquire it, by declaration». A child's application is not self-standing: it lives off the parent's acquisition. If both file on the same day, the parent's file is analysed first — not as a courtesy, but because the order of dependency requires it.

That is the simultaneous case. The sequential case, where the adult is already naturalised and only then deals with the children, has its own rules and its own guide: minor children after naturalisation. Work out which of the two you are in before you book a filing date — afterwards, the choice cannot be undone.

What if we did not file on the same day?

Then joining on request is unavailable, but the Regulation anticipated that and left a second door, in a paragraph that is rarely quoted:

Even where the conditions for joining are not met, you may name — for the registrar to consult — the nationality file number of a relative you consider relevant to your own decision. There is no date requirement here and no degree limit. If your brother filed eight months ago and his connection to the national community was accepted on the same facts you are about to plead, give the registrar his file number. It costs one line in the application form, and it is probably the cheapest thing you can do to move a case along.

Nobody at the counter mentioned this

That is itself worth knowing. The Regulation places a duty on the services competent to receive declarations and applications: they inform applicants that joining may be requested. It is not left to the clerk's discretion — it is an obligation of the office.

What to do about it is undramatic: ask for joining in writing, inside the application itself, and keep the filing receipt. That way the point no longer depends on anyone's memory. And if you filed at the same conservatória, note that the registrar may join the files on his own initiative, where the family relationship appears from the supporting documents or from the civil registry system. Asking in writing only makes sure he gets there.

What joining does not do

It does not cut the bill. The fees regulation taxes each procedure in its own right — 250 euros for acquisition by an adult, 200 euros where the applicant is legally incapable, 175 euros for attribution to an adult — and the joining rule provides for no discount, nor does the exemptions article carve one out. Four joined applicants pay what four separate applicants would pay. What you save is time, journeys and duplicated documents.

It does not freeze deadlines either. Each file keeps its own procedure: the summary check, the notice to cure defects, the decision. And it does not guarantee identical outcomes — if one applicant has, say, a pending criminal matter, the effect lands on that applicant's file. Fees, statutory deadlines and what happens when the conservatória runs late are in the guide to the process itself.

When the registrar separates them again

It happens, and it is provided for: where there is justified cause, the registrar may order any of the joined files to be separated, on his own initiative or at any applicant's request. It is the system's escape valve, and it exists for exactly the case where one file stalls and the others would otherwise be held back with it.

If your file is joined to one that has stopped moving, this is the request to make — and make it with the concrete reason written down: which file, why, and what is blocking. «Justified cause» is an open concept, and open concepts are decided on facts.

What to settle before filing day

Three things, in order. First, decide who files: if there are minors whose application depends on a parent's acquisition, same-day filing is what makes joining possible, and the parent's file will be the one analysed first. Second, list the documents that are genuinely shared — those are what justify the request, and they are what joining actually acts upon. Third, write the request to join into the application form itself, with the names and the family relationship spelled out.

One part of this cannot be solved by joining anything: language knowledge, and — once the new test exists — civic knowledge, are assessed person by person. If you want to see where each member of the family actually stands before booking anything, start with our free practice test and run it separately with each of them.