Can you take Portugal's citizenship test in English?

Short answer: nobody can tell you yet, and anybody who states it flatly is guessing. The civic knowledge test created by Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026 is defined by a regulation that had not been published when this article was written, and the statute itself does not name a language. What the law does settle is everything around the exam — and that part is settled unusually clearly. The framing of what is already decided is in our guide to the 2026 nationality test.

The rest of this article is the part English-language forums get wrong, because they answer a different question. Almost every English result for “Portuguese citizenship test” is about the CIPLE language exam, which is a separate thing that already exists. This one is about language as a rule of procedure: which language your file runs in, which documents you may hand over untranslated, and what the State does and does not publish in English.

One institutional point, because it saves a wasted trip

Nationality applications are filed with the IRN — in practice the Conservatória dos Registos Centrais, under the Ministry of Justice. AIMA handles residence permits. They are different agencies with different queues, and an English speaker who books at the wrong one loses the appointment, not just the morning. The filing process itself is in the guide to where the file actually goes.

The rule is one sentence long

The Portuguese Administrative Procedure Code — Decreto-Lei n.º 4/2015 — has an Article 54 whose entire text reads: «A língua do procedimento é a língua portuguesa.» The language of the procedure is Portuguese. No paragraphs, no exceptions, no carve-outs.

A naturalisation application is a special administrative procedure, and the same Code provides that its rules «aplicam-se subsidiariamente aos procedimentos administrativos especiais» — they apply subsidiarily to special procedures. So that rule reaches your file even though the Nationality Act never mentions language at all. Underneath it sits the Constitution: «A língua oficial é o Português.»

This is worth internalising before you plan anything. It is not a statement about how helpful the counter staff will be — many are very helpful, and many speak English. It is a statement about what you can require. You cannot require the procedure to run in your language, and no reading of the Code gives you that.

So will the exam itself be in English?

Almost certainly not, but the honest form of that sentence matters. Sub-paragraph (c) of Lei n.º 37/81, as amended by Lei Orgânica n.º 1/2026, requires the applicant to prove, «através de teste ou de certificado» — through a test or a certificate — sufficient knowledge of «a língua e a cultura portuguesas, a história e os símbolos nacionais». Paragraph (d) adds fundamental rights and duties and the political organisation of the State.

Notice what that wording does: it puts the Portuguese language inside the subject matter of the exam, not merely around it. An exam that tests your knowledge of Portuguese while being conducted in English would be an odd object. But that is an argument from coherence, and it is not a rule. The statute does not fix the exam language, and the regulation that would fix it is still unpublished — its 16 August 2026 deadline came and went. Plan for Portuguese — the cost of being wrong in that direction is a few wasted study hours; the cost of being wrong the other way is a failed application.

The one place the law does accept English

It exists, and it is narrower than it looks. Article 37(2) of the Nationality Regulation (Decreto-Lei n.º 237-A/2006) says foreign-language documents must come with a translation, «salvo se estiverem redigidos em língua inglesa, francesa ou espanhola e o conservador de registos ou o oficial de registos não determinar a apresentação da respetiva tradução».

Read the second half of that clause carefully, because the first half is what gets quoted. English, French and Spanish documents are not exempt from translation. They are exempt unless the registrar decides otherwise. It is a power the office holds, not a right you hold, and it is the only linguistic concession in the whole Regulation. Budget for the translation and be pleased if you do not need it. What goes in the file, and in what form, is covered in the document checklist.

What the State publishes in English, and how far behind it runs

There is more English than people expect, and it is less current than people assume. As of 16 August 2026, the nationality service pages on justica.gov.pt declare themselves pt-PT and offer no English version. The gov.pt portal, by contrast, does publish an English service page, declared en-GB.

That English page carries its own notice saying the information is being revised following the latest changes to the Nationality Regulation. It still has untranslated headings — one section asks, in English, “Who can pedir a nacionalidade portuguesa?” — and it still lists routes by the old criterion of «at least five years» of legal residence, where the statute now requires seven or ten depending on nationality. Use it for orientation. Do not use it to count your years; for that, see the guide to the new deadlines.

Coming from a Portuguese-speaking country does not settle it either

This one catches Brazilian, Angolan and Mozambican readers regularly. The Nationality Law creates a presumption for nationals of Portuguese-speaking countries — but the presumption covers «o requisito da primeira parte da alínea c)», the requirement in the first part of point (c). The first part of (c) is the language. Culture, history and national symbols sit in the second part, and point (d) — rights, duties, organisation of the State — was never inside the presumption at all.

The presumption also has a release valve: it yields where a lack of command of Portuguese, shown by the applicant before the competent services, is «manifesta». Who is and is not covered is mapped route by route in our guide to the exemptions.

Even your name has a language question

Barely written about anywhere, and unlike most of this page it has a settled answer. If you acquirenationality, Article 39 of the Regulation lets you request that your given name be «aportuguesado» — rendered into Portuguese, done «por tradução ou adaptação, gráfica e fonética», by translation or by graphic and phonetic adaptation. It is an option you ask for. Do nothing and nothing happens to your name.

On the attribution side, the same Regulation is blunter: those given Portuguese nationality «podem manter a composição originária do seu nome» — they may keep their name as it was. Which of the two applies to you is the subject of attribution versus acquisition, and it decides more than your name.

What an English speaker should actually do

Stop waiting for an English-language route to the exam; none is promised anywhere in the current law, and the drafting points the other way. Put the effort into the language requirement instead, which is the one part of this that is fully defined today and does not depend on the missing regulation: there are six accepted proofs, several of them free, set out in how to prove A2 without sitting the CIPLE — and if you would rather just sit the exam, weigh it against the Portuguese language test for citizenship, which is a lower bar than most English speakers assume. Keep your English-language documents, and price a certified translation into the plan rather than assuming the registrar's discretion will save you. And if you file through the online channel, note that it is open to lawyers and solicitors rather than to applicants directly — which is a practical reason English speakers often use one.