Portugal's new nationality law: the 7 and 10-year rules

The new rule fits in one sentence: 7 years of legal residence for CPLP and EU citizens, 10 years for everyone else. It used to be 5 for all. The next sentence is where the doubts live — when the clock starts, and who escapes the new rules entirely.

When the clock starts

Counting starts from the issue date of your residence permit — not from arriving in Portugal, not from filing with AIMA. For anyone who spent years waiting for regularisation through a “manifestação de interesse”, this stings: the waiting time before the permit doesn't count.

A concrete example. Someone who arrived in 2021, filed their manifestação in 2022 and received the permit in 2024 counts from 2024 — eligible to apply in 2031, not 2028.

This rule has applied since 19 May 2026 — it is a change, not a constant. Until 18 May 2026 the time since you filed for a temporary residence permit counted too, provided that application was later granted. The same person in the example, doing the maths in 2024 or 2025, counted from 2022 — and was right at the time. The rule moved under them; they did not misread it.

Did you enter under the CPLP Mobility Agreement? The principle is the same — the clock starts at the permit's issue date — but some details only apply to you: which documents count as a permit, what happens to time spent on a CPLP residence visa, and how interrupted periods add up. They are collected in when the clock starts under the CPLP Mobility Agreement.

Who escapes the new rules

Article 7(2) of Organic Law 1/2026 is categorical: applications pending when the law entered into force are decided under the old law. File by 18 May 2026 and you keep the 5-year rule and face no knowledge test — even if your case takes years to decide. IRN confirmed the submission date is what counts.

And the queue is long: over half a million pending applications, with average waits around 3 years. If you filed in time, the backlog doesn't hurt the rules that apply to you.

Married to a Portuguese citizen: a case of its own

The marriage and civil-union route has no residence period and doesn't formally require the test as a precondition. It has a different mechanism: the Public Prosecutor can oppose the acquisition in the early years, citing lack of effective ties to the community — and knowledge of the country weighs as evidence there. Six years of marriage, or common Portuguese children, put that opposition out of reach.

In practice: if you marry and apply early, being able to demonstrate a connection to Portugal matters — and knowing the country is the most direct demonstration there is.

The deadlines that don't exist yet

The test regulation is still pending, and its legal deadline — 16 August 2026 — passed without it and without a new one. Until it is published nobody can book any exam: the requirement exists in law, the instrument does not. Current status in the complete guide.

If your application will fall under the new rules, waiting time is study time. Start with the free mock exam — 20 questions across the law's 5 themes, no signup.