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Portuguese citizenship by descent after Organic Law 1/2026
Pick your Portuguese ancestor, say whether they naturalized before the next child was born and whether a grandchild file was already in.
Which Portuguese route opens for you?
Under Law 37/81 as amended in 2026
Possible, to check
| Route | Grandchild declaration (test since May 2026) |
| Registry fee | Not published on the registry guide |
| Published time | Not published |
Since May 19, 2026 the grandchild must also pass a test of Portuguese language, culture, history and national symbols.
Portuguese citizenship by descent still runs two generations deep, but the grandchild route got harder on May 19, 2026. On that day Organic Law 1/2026 amended the 1981 nationality law. A child born in the United States to a Portuguese father or mother is Portuguese of origin once the birth is entered in the Portuguese civil registry, at any age, with effect from birth. A grandchild of a grandparent who was Portuguese of origin and never lost it can declare the wish to be Portuguese, but must now prove knowledge of the Portuguese language and of the country's culture, history and national symbols, know basic rights and duties, sign a solemn declaration and show a clean criminal record. Files pending before that date keep the earlier rules. Great-grandchildren have no declaration route: only naturalization after 5 years of legal residence in Portugal. No registry fee and no average waiting time appear on the registry's guide pages.
What will the file cost?
US side of the file
$251
| 5 certified records (2 births, 2 marriages, 1 deaths) | $126 |
| Apostilles (5 records) | $100 |
| Naturalization proof | $25 |
| Translations (6 documents) | $0 |
| Portugal fee | not published |
Records from the old country are not counted: they are ordered there.
Rules read and verdicts built by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How verdicts are built
Three generations, three different rules
| Your Portuguese ancestor | Route | Conditions |
|---|---|---|
| Parent | Attribution, art. 1(1)(c) | Birth registered or declaration, any age |
| Grandparent | Attribution, art. 1(1)(d) | Ties, language, culture and history test, clean record |
| Great-grandparent | Naturalization, art. 6(8) | 5 years of legal residence in Portugal |
All three start from the same question: was your ancestor Portuguese of origin, and did they keep it? The registry checks whether an emigrant who took US citizenship lost Portuguese nationality under the law in force at the time. The family tree checker marks those cases as needing that check.
Children of a Portuguese parent
Article 1(1)(c) of the nationality law makes Portuguese of origin anyone born abroad to a Portuguese mother or father, as long as the birth is entered in the Portuguese civil registry or the person declares the wish to be Portuguese. There is no age limit, so a 60-year-old in Ohio whose mother was born in the Azores can still register. Citizenship counts from birth, not from the registration. One limit matters for older families: only parentage established while the person was a minor counts, unless it was established or recognized in a court action. The registry guide for children lists the declaration and the documents.
Grandchildren since May 2026
Before the reform, a grandchild declared the wish to be Portuguese and showed effective ties to the Portuguese community, usually by knowing the language. Since May 19, 2026, Organic Law 1/2026 adds the conditions of article 6(1)(c) to (h). In plain terms, the grandchild must:
- prove knowledge of Portuguese and of Portuguese culture, history and national symbols, by a test or a certificate;
- know the fundamental rights and duties of citizens and how the Portuguese state is organized;
- sign a solemn declaration of adherence to the democratic rule of law;
- have no final prison sentence of more than three years for the listed crimes, pose no security threat and not be under UN or EU sanctions.
The grandparent must have been Portuguese of origin and never have lost that nationality. Applications already pending on the day the law took effect are decided under the earlier text, according to article 7 of the amending law. The government had 90 days to adapt the nationality regulation, and the registry guide for grandchildren still describes only knowledge of the language, so check what it says on the day you file.
Great-grandchildren and others
A great-grandchild of a Portuguese emigrant has no attribution route. The 2026 law created a shorter path to naturalization for them, 5 years of legal residence in Portugal instead of the general period, which the same reform raised to 7 years for EU and Portuguese-speaking nationals and 10 for others. The naturalization route for descendants of Sephardic Jews was repealed at the same time. Minor children of someone who acquires Portuguese nationality can acquire it too, by declaration.
Documents and how to file
You need your full birth certificate, the birth certificate of your Portuguese parent, and for a grandchild also the birth certificate of the parent who links you to the grandparent. A Portuguese birth record can be skipped when you give the registry office, year and entry number. Each US record carries an apostille and a certified translation into Portuguese. Grandchildren add criminal record certificates from the countries of birth, nationality and residence since age 16, and proof of the language and culture knowledge. The document checklist covers US records and apostilles, and the cost calculator prices them.
From the United States you can file at the Portuguese consulate for your area, or send the file by registered mail to the Central Registry Office in Lisbon with your signature certified, as the mail filing page explains. Payment is by bank check in euros or by card on the registry's payment platform. Once the file is entered, an email gives you a code to follow it on the registry website. Biometric data is collected for the citizen card.
Fee and waiting time
The registry fee is not stated on the guide pages read for this site, and amounts quoted elsewhere could not be matched to a government page, so none is given here. No average processing time is published by the registry either. After registration, the public prosecutor has two years (nationality law) to oppose an acquisition based on a declaration, for instance for lack of effective ties.
Keeping your US passport
Portugal does not ask you to give up US citizenship. Portuguese nationality ends only when a person who holds another nationality declares that they no longer want to be Portuguese. The United States allows it too: see the US rules on dual citizenship and the comparison of countries. Living in Portugal changes your tax picture, covered on the dual citizen tax page, and an EU passport is the usual reason people look for a second passport. If your family also has Spanish roots, the Spanish page explains what is still open there.