The Nationality Law that has caused so much angst within and without parliament was finally approved in an overall vote in parliament yesterday, with the centre-right government getting the support it needed from CHEGA, Iniciativa Liberal and JPP MP Filipe Sousa.
All the left-wing parties (PS, Livre, Bloco de Esquerda, PAN and PCP) voted against.
The bill now goes to Belém for review/ final rubber-stamping by the President of the Republic.
How has the law initially presented, and vetoed by President Marcelo, changed?
This version now includes a reformulation presented by CHEGA, according to which anyone who obtains nationality by manifestly fraudulent means will lose it.
Nationality will only be granted after 10 years of legal residence in Portugal, with a seven-year period for citizens of Portuguese-speaking countries and the European Union.
Among other changes, there will be a new requirement to prove, through a ‘test or certificate’, ‘sufficient’ knowledge of the Portuguese language and culture, history and national symbols.
Applicants for nationality may not have been convicted, with a final and unappealable decision, to a ‘prison sentence of two years or more’.
It will also be necessary to provide proof of means of subsistence for those residing in national territory.
Children born in Portugal will only have nationality if ‘one of their parents has been legally resident in the national territory for at least five years’.
Children born to parents who are in this country illegally will not be considered Portuguese citizens
Loss of nationality for serious crimes also approved
Alongside the vote on amendments to the Nationality Law, PSD/CDS, Chega and IL approved, an amendment to the Penal Code providing for the possibility of a judge applying the loss of nationality as an additional penalty for serious crimes.
According to the final version of the proposal now approved (and on its way to President Marcelo), a judge may apply the penalty of loss of Portuguese nationality “to an agent who has been sentenced to an effective prison term of four years or more”.
The approved amendments also state that “anyone convicted of loss of nationality as an additional penalty for committing (serious crimes) may only apply for its reacquisition, under the general terms defined in the Nationality Law, 10 years after the expiry of the period of definitive cancellation of the entry in the criminal record of the respective penalties”.
In the words of minister for the presidency António Leitão Amarom greeted by enthusiastic applause, “today Portugal becomes more Portugal. Today we voted and decided who are our people”.
Sources: SIC Notícias/ Diário de Notícias
