Filed before 19 May 2026? Portugal's test does not apply

If you filed your Portuguese nationality application before 19 May 2026 and it had not yet been decided on that date, the new knowledge test does not apply to you. Neither does the longer residence period. Your application is still assessed under the old version of the Nationality Law, with its 5-year residence rule. This isn't a reading or an opinion — it is written into Article 7 of Organic Law 1/2026.

It's worth stating plainly, because it is the question that has dominated every forum since May, and because the answer is good news for several hundred thousand people: if this is your situation, you have nothing to study. You can stop reading here. If you haven't filed yet, then the new 7 and 10-year residence rules apply to you — and so does the test.

1. 18 May 2026

   Organic Law 1/2026 is published in the Diário da República.
2. 19 May 2026

   The law enters into force. Anyone with an application already pending on that date keeps the old law: 5 years, no test.
3. 16 August 2026

   The government's 90-day deadline to amend the Nationality Regulation expires. Nothing is published.
4. 21 August 2026

   As of this check, the regulation defining the test is still unpublished, with no timetable in sight.

What Article 7 actually says

The provision is two lines long. It is headed «Aplicação no tempo» (application in time), and reads:

«2 — Aos procedimentos administrativos pendentes à data da entrada em vigor da presente lei aplica-se a Lei n.º 37/81, de 3 de outubro, na redação anterior à presente lei.»

In English: to administrative procedures pending on the date this law enters into force, Law 37/81 applies in its previous wording. Note how broad that is. It doesn't say the old law applies «as to the residence period» or «as to the test». It says the whole of Law 37/81, as it stood before May 2026, governs your case. Every requirement in your file is the old one, as a block.

The date comes from the law's own entry-into-force clause: it enters into force the day after publication. It was published in the Diário da República, 1st series, no. 95, of 18 May 2026 — so it took effect on 19 May 2026.

A reading note, because we have seen this confuse people: this statute actually contains two Article 7s. The one on timing, which is the one that matters here, belongs to the new law. The other sits in Law 37/81 as republished in the annex, is headed «Processo», and covers something else entirely — naturalisation being granted by decision of the Minister of Justice. If someone cites that number to you, check first which of the two they mean.

Portugal's Ministry of Justice put the same point in plain language in its official notice of 19 May: «Aos processos pendentes continua a aplicar-se a redação anterior da Lei da Nacionalidade» — pending cases continue under the previous wording.

What counts as «pending»

Pending means started and not yet decided. Both conditions matter, though the second rarely bites: if your case had already been decided before 19 May, it is closed and the new law doesn't reach it anyway.

The condition that matters is the first, and the test is the date your application was filed, not the date it is decided. The IRN — the registries institute that actually handles nationality files — said so explicitly in a notice on applications submitted online: for the purposes of applying the changes to the Nationality Law, the date of submission on the online platform is what counts.

The practical consequence reassures a lot of people: the state's own slowness cannot hurt you. Public estimates of the nationality backlog vary widely — figures around half a million have circulated, and the registry workers' union has pointed to numbers closer to 700,000 — but whatever the true figure, waiting three years for a decision does not change which law governs your case. The clock that matters stopped the day you filed.

One institutional point, because almost everyone gets it wrong. Nationality applications go to the IRN (Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado), under the Ministry of Justice — civil registry offices, called conservatórias, and their online platform. AIMA is a different agency and handles residence permits, not citizenship. Having a file pending at AIMA is not the same as having a nationality application pending, and it does not put you under the old law.

The question that has no official answer yet

Here we'd rather be honest than sound confident. The IRN's clarification speaks about the online platform. If you sent your file by post or courier in the days before 19 May, there is, as of this article's date, no official answer to a simple question: does the postmark date count, or the date the conservatória received and registered it?

This matters concretely for anyone who posted an application on 15 or 16 May, and we didn't invent the problem — it is one of the most repeated questions in applicant groups since the law was published. We found no statement from the IRN, the Ministry of Justice or any court addressing this specific point. Until one exists, we won't give you a confident answer, because there isn't one. If this is you: keep the dated proof of posting, and ask the conservatória in writing for your file's status, so the registered filing date is documented.

Who is not protected by Article 7

The provision protects procedures that had already started. It does not protect people who met the conditions but hadn't filed anything. That line is narrow, and it catches some genuinely hard situations:

• People whose «manifestação de interesse» had been approved but who were still waiting for the residence permit itself to be issued — without the permit, there was no nationality application to file.
• People who already met the old 5-year residence requirement but hadn't submitted by 18 May.
• People relying on routes the new law changed or removed, who never opened a file.

This boundary is being contested. A petition on the transitional regime of Organic Law 1/2026 is before the Portuguese parliament arguing exactly this: that this provision shields only formally pending procedures and leaves out people with legitimate expectations created under the previous regime, invoking the constitutional principle of protection of legitimate confidence.

Be clear about what that is and isn't. It is an argument in a petition, not a ruling, and we are not aware of any court having ruled on the point. If you are on this side of the line, the law that applies to you today is the new one — plan around that, not around the petition succeeding.

So does the test exist yet?

No. As of 21 August 2026 the regulation defining the test is still unpublished. Organic Law 1/2026 instructed the government to amend the Portuguese Nationality Regulation (annexed to Decree-Law 237-A/2006) within 90 days of publication — a deadline that expired on 16 August 2026 with nothing published. Because the provision attaches no consequence to missing it, no new date was set: there is no timetable running at all.

What exists meanwhile is the requirement written in the law itself. The knowledge point now requires applicants to prove, «through a test or a certificate», sufficient knowledge of the Portuguese language and culture, history and national symbols; the neighbouring point adds fundamental rights and duties and the political organisation of the State. How many questions, what pass mark, how many retakes, where you book it — none of that is defined. Anyone claiming today to have «the 800 official questions» is selling you something invented.

What to do, case by case

You filed by 18 May 2026 and are awaiting a decision: do nothing special. Keep the dated proof of submission — that document is what establishes which law governs your file. You don't need to study for any test.

You are about to file: the new rules apply — 7 years of legal residence for CPLP and EU nationals, 10 for everyone else, plus the knowledge requirement. Since the regulation isn't out, nobody can book an exam yet, but the subject matter set by the law is already known, and the waiting time is usable. The free 20-question mock is there to show you where you stand, no signup.

You're not sure which case you're in: the date that matters is when your nationality application reached the IRN — not when you arrived in Portugal, not your residence permit date, and not anything filed with AIMA. Confirm that one date before drawing any conclusions.